Sarah,
Here is my summary of the differences between the QSR products.
Below is a comparison of N4/5 and NVIVO (N5 is the latest version of N4
Classic - basically it is
more user friendly but it is for pcs only.)
The advantages of NVIVO over N4/5 include:
In NVIVO,documents are far easier to prepare. In N4/5 there is more to
learn
about how to prepare your documents in the word-processor so they are able
to be imported into N4/5. In NVIVO you can simply save them as a rich text
file and they are ready - (you can keep formatting features such as
bold,italics etc which you can't for N4/5). If you prefer you can
transcribe your documents directly into NVIVO by passing the whole
importation process. This is particularly useful for observations and
reflections which you can type directly in NVIVO. You can use hyperlinks to
the data (described below) to support your reflections.Because of the rich
text feature, there are many ways you can mark up and annotate the text -
using formatting features or colour.
Coding is much easier in NVIVO. There are many ways you can code, including
drag and drop coding. You can see how you have coded as you code and you
can see what codes you already have (the first of these features is not
readily observable in N4/5). There is no fixed text unit limitation as there
is in N4/N5, so you can highlight exactly how much of the text you want to
code.
There are hyperlinks so you can link from a point in one document to a point
in another document. Very useful when you are building an argument in your
journal document. You can also link to files outside of NVIVO including
audiotapes, videos, photos, spreadsheets - any file which your computer can
open. (this does not exist in N4/N5)
There is a modeller where you can model your ideas about the research.
Elements in the models have a hyperlink back to the original data in the
project (this does not exist in N4/N5).
The Search Tool allows you to cut your data in different ways - pull out
different combinations of coding and restrict analysis to only certain sets
of your data. It is based on N4/5's Search Tool (called Node Searches in
N5) but it has been refined and made more flexible.
Disadvantages of NVIVO:
It is a more complex piece of software so there are more features to learn.
However, experienced qualitative researchers are usually very impressed with
the different ways of analysis NVIVO supports.
NVIVO requires a higher specification machine. I recommend a minimum of 128
MB RAM (it will run on less but will be very slow). Also you should have a
high resolution screen (at least 1024 by 768 pixels) and the larger the
screen the better (to take advantage of being able to have many windows
opened at once). NVIVO/N5 is only available for pcs. N4 Classic is
available for both pcs and macs.
NVIVO is not recommended at the moment for projects with a lot of data e.g.
hundreds of documents. It works best at the moment with projects of up
to 350 documents. N4/5 is the choice for very large projects.
Both N5 and NVIVO have two way links with statistical packages such as
SPSS (any package which has a spreadsheet structure). It is quite
straightforward to import statistical data as attributes of your qualitative
interviews and do further analysis in N5 or NVIVO to cut the data in
different ways.
Summary
NVIVO is the more cutting edge package. It gives you the flexibility to
mark up your transcript with rich text and it handles memos and attributes
in a more
elegant fashion. If there are many attributes you may want to analyse in
your
project, NVIVO handles these in a more elegant manner. You are also not
limited (as you are in N5) to a fixed text unit when you code. And it has a
more powerful search tool to cut the data in different ways which you will
need for thematic analysis. However, it is for pcs only.
N4/5 is for very large projects. It is also good for more structured
projects where you can use the command language (macros) to automatically
code for information you already know. (NVIVO does not have a command
language at the moment.) You may also like to work with it for smaller
scale projects if you do not need all the bells and whistles NVIVO provides.
It is not as complex a piece of software as NVIVO so for simple thematic
analysis, you may prefer it.
I hope this helps to convince them that they are two different pieces of
software.
Silvana
Dr. Silvana di Gregorio
SdG Associates
Research & Training Consultants
Tel/Fax: +44-(0)20-8806-1001
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web-site: www.sdgassociates.com
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