If you want to make comparisons based on the attributes of people, places, organizations or other 'units of analysis' then cases provide a useful way to do this.īut if your project does not require these types of comparisons, then there is no need to create cases. Whether you need to set up cases depends on your research question and methodology.

You can store these attributes directly in NVivo or in a separate file (text file or spreadsheet) and import it later. For example, asking whether young people see issues differently from older people requires that you record the age of your participants. When collecting data, record the descriptive information to support the comparisons you want to make. For example-you might make a case for a participant called Ken, assign attributes like Age Group, Gender and Education level, and then code all of Ken's content at the case: When you begin a project, it is a good idea to decide on your units of analysis and plan for the cases you will need to represent them.Ĭases can have attributes (variables) such as Age, Gender or Location. You can open a case to see all the information that has been coded there-for example, you could review everything that Mary said or everything about Harkers Island. Your project might have cases for people, places, organizations, events or other entities that you want to analyze and compare.Ĭases are like containers that hold all the information related to a person, place or other unit of analysis. In NVivo, cases represent the 'units of analysis' in your research study-for example, the people you interviewed or the communities you studied.

Nvivo interview coding