A gentle introduction to using NVivo to analyse qualitative survey data

Abstract

While there are a myriad of tools that can be used to analyse quantitative data, computer-aided qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS) seems less common in the library world. In this presentation, Paul will provide an overview of how one such software package, NVivo, can be used to help analyse the results of qualitative data gathered as part of an online survey. We’ll discuss the challenges of working with and making sense of a large amount of text. We’ll then take a look at how NVivo “understands” qualitative data gathered during an online survey, and how you can quickly code written responses into categories and themes that can be used to help you understand what your patrons are trying to tell you. This will be a show-and-tell presentation, but by the end, participants will have an understanding of how NVivo can be used to make sense of a large number of qualitative survey responses. Participants will understand what is meant to code data, organize those codes into themes, and how to slice and dice this information by the demographic, or classifying, data that is also collected by an online survey tool. This presentation should be of interest to all types of libraries. A presentation at the "Demystifying Statistics and Evaluation in Libraries" Satellite Meeting, organised by the Statistics and Evaluation Section and held at the University of Utrecht in Utrecht, The Netherlands from 17–18 August 2023.