NVivo (Software)

The trustworthiness of qualitative research depends upon the integrity of data gathering and analysis, the robustness of processes, and the demonstration of thoroughness. One tool that assists a researcher to manage these tasks well is the NVivo data management and searching program, which enables a researcher to demonstrate the integrity, robustness, and therefore, trustworthiness of an investigation.

NVivo Screen View

Source: Used by permission of QSR International.

The benefits of NVivo lie in its user-intuitive interface and its extensive data storage, search, and retrieval capacity. The program uses a coding system that underpins generation of relationships between elements in the data. It is an effective relational database that provides the researcher with the flexibility to

• test tentative theorizing about relationships within the data;
• discover and explore new relationships as data analysis unfolds;
• map relationships;
• track data analysis; and
• log and save search results.

Another essential feature is the ability of NVivo's memos to record the researcher's thoughts and processes alongside, but not within, the data analysis. Creating memos for this purpose provides a rich source of information about research processes, theorizing and searching implications that are particularly useful when a project is protracted, and involves multiple researchers or is multinational. Because memos are separate from the actual data, the independence and integrity of data are maintained by ensuring against contamination from the researcher's perspective. In this way, trustworthiness are in-built into the data management process, provided the researcher is mindful about using the potential of the software with integrity.

These features make NVivo a sophisticated addition to a qualitative researcher's toolkit, but it remains the researcher's responsibility to ensure the authenticity of the research project and output by aligning methodology, epistemology, and ontology. Because NVivo makes it easier for researchers to demonstrate robustness in their practice by assisting the management of data and by establishing trustworthiness, the research process becomes more transparent and therefore is open to closer scrutiny. As a result, the researcher needs to think carefully through the methodological approach [Page 565]as well as the process of analysis. The aim is to ensure that the research questions are answered from the relationships emerging out of the data being searched.

NVivo does not analyze data for the researcher. It is a management tool enabling greater depth in analysis and facilitating the searching of large quantities of transcript data so that the researcher can make considered judgments. Although NVivo is able to assist the researcher to manage data efficiently in rapid time frames, it takes time to learn to how utilize NVivo's power so that the researcher's first judgment will be to ascertain the efficacy of this tool in each research project.