Working in Teams Using NVivo

Table of Contents

• The Manual Way
• NVivo 13 Collaboration Cloud
• Collaboration Cloud for NVivo 14 & 15
• Additional Resources

The Manual Way

Overview

To work as a team in NVivo 12 (this way also works for NVivo 13, 14 or 15), one person needs to be designated the project lead. They would set up the NVivo project file, adding all the documents needed, setting up codes/nodes along with their properties and hierarchies (if a codebook has been agreed upon), and setting up other details, such as case classifications. Then they would share the master project file with team members. Team members would make a copy of the file and work on it. After they have done their work, they would pass their copy of the project file back to the project lead. The project lead would then merge their copies back into the master project file. More details can be found in this article on how to setup an NVivo master project for research teams (written for NVivo 11, but still applies to 12). 

Tips

• Licenses: Normally team members would each be working on their own computers with their own NVivo licenses, and all team members need to be using the same version of NVivo. Consult NVivo’s compatibility help pages for more information.
• Windows vs Mac: NVivo recommends that all team members are either all working on Windows or Macs for compatibility issues. Consult NVivo’s help pages on working on Windows or Mac for more information.
• Sharing Copies of the Master File: How you share/transfer your master file and copies will depend on how large your project file is and if you have to keep it secure. Depending on the situation, you could use UofT’s services, such as OneDrive or Sharepoint.
• Back up and File Names: It is recommended that you always have a backup of the master project file before you do any merging, in case the project file is corrupted during the merge, or you want to roll back to a previous version of the project. There could be a lot of copies of the project file, so make sure to establish and follow a file naming convention, such as appending a team members’ initials and the date to the project copies’ file names.
• Initials: When you first installed NVivo, you would’ve been prompted to set your initials. Anything you create or change in NVivo, will be tagged with your initials. Watch out if multiple people on the team have the same initials - make everyone's unique! You can adjust your initials, or make NVivo prompt for initials every time it opens. Consult NVivo’s help pages for Windows or Mac for more information.
• Codes: If team members are creating new codes, it might be helpful for them to put their initials in the title of the codes/nodes to quickly see who created what (note that if the codes/nodes list is opened up fully, you will also see initials next to codes/nodes in the created by column). Alternatively, you could create folders under Codes for each team member to put new codes they create. If team members create new codes, they can also take advantage of the Code/Node properties to make notes about the code/node and provide some examples to remember what it means and when it is used.
• Comparing Multiple Coders: After merging project files, NVivo will open a report showing you changes. You can also create custom reports from the Share menu (Windows only). Consult NVivo’s pages on reports for Windows for more information.
  Another way to view changes, is that when using coding stripes, in addition to codes, you can also select users, to see who coded what and compare (Windows only). Coding stripes are useful to turn on not just when looking at a document, but also when looking at the references for a particular code.
  Another option is to run a coding comparison report to see the percentage agreement and where there are differences.
  You might want to combine the approaches, if you can – run the coding comparison report to find out which files have the biggest differences in coding, then use coding stripes on that file to look at the details. Consult NVivo’s help pages on coding stripes for Windows, and on coding comparison reports for Windows or Mac.
• Communication: Team members should meet often to discuss the coding, how the project is going, themes emerging, etc. You can also use memos in NVivo to record thoughts about the project and share thoughts with others.
• Local Files: Lumivero (the company that makes NVivo) recommends that ideally you work off a copy of your project file stored locally on your computer instead of working off a file stored on a network drive, external drive, or cloud storage service. If the project file isn’t local, there is a potential that it could get corrupted. Another reason to have lots of backups! Consult NVivo’s help pages for more information on saving project files for Windows or Mac.
• Test Merge/Pilot: First try doing a small amount of coding on one or two files, and then do a merge back into the master project file. This gives you an opportunity to try out the full merging process and look at the options for comparing multiple coders’ work before getting too deep into the project. Also, you might want to try a pilot, where team members do a full code of one or two documents, and then meet to discuss the results/challenges, etc. before tackling the full project.

NVivo 13 Collaboration Cloud (Old Collaboration Cloud - not recommended)

NVivo Collaboration Cloud does not work with NVivo 12, only NVivo 13. Researchers often anticipate that it will function similar to a Google document, but that is not how it works. It provides cloud storage to store an NVivo project file. There is some integration with NVivo, but each person still has to download the master project file (from the Collaboration Cloud), work on it, then pass it back to the project lead to merge the changes. So, it is not much more than what you could do with UofT’s cloud services, such as OneDrive. See NVivo’s Collaboration Cloud pages for Windows or Mac for more information. There are currently no plans for UofT Libraries to subscribe to NVivo Collaboration Cloud. This method is not recommended, but it is mentioned so as not to confuse it with the new Collaboration Cloud (see below) because this old version still shows up in various menu options when using NVivo. Note: That when considering cloud solutions for your research, there may be research ethics considerations, such as what access does Lumivero have to your data and where is your data being stored. Read the terms and conditions carefully before proceeding.

Collaboration Cloud for NVivo 14 & 15 (New Collaboration Cloud)

Collaboration Cloud for NVivo 14 provides real-time collaboration on an NVivo project. It works with NVivo 13, 14, & 15 (although the real-time collaboration features do not work with NVivo 13). Team members can be using a mix of PCs and Macs now, which is a huge improvement over the other methods that limit team members all to the same operating system. One person would be the project owner and would create, upload, and share an NVivo project with collaborators. Collaborators would clone the project and work on their local copy. Project files are automatically synced periodically. It is prudent though to make sure to backup the project files periodically outside of NVivo, as sometimes the project file can become corrupted when using this system. There are currently no plans for UofT Libraries to subscribe to Collaboration Cloud for NVivo 14, but individual researchers could purchase an annual subscription to use with teams of up to 5 members. Note: That when considering cloud solutions for your research, there may be research ethics considerations, such as what access does Lumivero have to your data and where is your data being stored. Read the terms and conditions carefully before proceeding.

Additional Resources

• NVivo's Strategies for Teamwork
• Delve's Guide to Collaborative Qualitative Analysis
• Delve's Guide to Intercoder Reliability

Also, visit our Getting Started page for more information, tutorials, and workshops on NVivo!