Create cases manually

Cases are people, places, organizations, events or other entities that represent the focus of your research.

If you are analyzing interviews, focus groups, surveys or social media, NVivo can automatically create cases based on your data. This is especially useful if you are working with a large number of cases.

If you have a smaller number of cases, or are working with different types of qualitative data, you can set up your classifications and cases manually.

Create a case in List View (without coding)

  1. On the Create tab, in the Nodes group, click Case.
  2. Enter a name for the new case.
  3. (Optional) Enter a description of the case. This can help ensure consistent coding (particularly useful if you work in a team).
  4. (Optional) Select the Aggregate coding from child nodes check box if this is a parent case and you want it to include all the references contained in any child cases. Aggregate nodes (gather all content in a parent node)
  5. (Optional) You may want to classify the case—choose a classification and assign attribute values

Create a case while coding (using the coding panel)

Use the coding panel to quickly create case nodes while you code.

  1. In Detail View, select the content that you want to code.
  2. Click Code at the top of Detail View. Keyboard Shortcut Press ⌘ + /.
  3. Under Code at New, click Case, and then enter a name and description for the case.

NOTE

  • To indicate that coding is successful, a confirmation message is briefly displayed in Navigation View.
  • You can use keyboard shortcuts in the coding panel—for example, use the arrow keys to navigate, press ENTER to confirm a selection.
  • The case is created at the top level in the Nodes folder. If you want, you can move the node to a different location in the node hierarchy. Reorder and organize nodes
  • You can add a description or edit the node name in the Case Properties—select the node in List View, then on the Home tab, in the Item group, click Get Info.