Welcome!
We would love to hear your impressions of this guide or any suggestions for improvement. Please contact us via email at libres@deakin.edu.au with any feedback.
About NVivo
NVivo 12 is software designed to enable qualitative and mixed-methods research. The developer is QSR International.
Although some of NVivo's advanced features are for dedicated qualitative researchers, NVivo can also provide significant help with any kind of analytical writing.
In this guide we focus on literature reviews. The same techniques are potentially applicable to:
- conference papers,
- articles,
- commentaries,
- book reviews,
- legal memoranda or submissions,
- student essays.
Install or Upgrade NVivo
You can download QSR NVivo 12 for free from the Deakin Software Library. Both Mac and Windows versions are available.
There are important compatibility limitations when working across both Mac and Windows platforms. We discuss these in further detail on the next page of this guide.
If you have installed an earlier version of NVivo, we strongly recommend upgrading to version 12. Deakin's NVivo 11 license expired in October 2018.
Introductory Video Tutorials from QSR
QSR publishes introductory NVivo video tutorials for both Windows and Mac.
The first video in each QSR series is embedded below.
Video: Analysis in NVivo (Windows)
Click the play button below to watch the video Analysis in NVivo (Windows) (01:00).
Video: Analysis in NVivo 12 Mac
Click the play button below to watch the video on Analysis in NVivo 12 Mac (00:57).
Additional NVivo Resources
Additional resources are available from NVivo's developer QSR and third parties.
QSR YouTube channel
QSR's NVivo Youtube channel contains a wealth of training videos.
Here are links to three videos that relate specifically to literature reviews.
QSR Publications and Webinars
QSR's recent publications introduce important aspects of NVivo for literature reviews/analytical writing:
For users interested in NVivo's more advanced features, QSR also offers:
- The User Guide, NVivo 10 for Windows: Getting Started
- live and on-demand webinars
Third Party Video Tutorials
As NVivo 12 was released only recently, at this stage available third party resources relate to either NVivo 10 or 11.
- A popular tutorial entitled Improving Your Literature Review with NVivo 11 for Windows (42:00) was made by Ana Garcia of La Trobe University Library in 2015.
More recently, Dr Alan Shaw (Strategic Planet, 2017) made twin video guides directed at literature reviews:
Third Party Publications and Resource Guides
Flinders University has published a detailed guide focused on using NVivo and EndNote For Literature Reviews. Also available from Flinders is an NVivo Advanced Workbook relating to in-depth qualitative research.
La Trobe University publishes an NVivo Library Resource Guide.
ANU provides an NVivo Library Resource Guide.
Further Help
For software download issues, contact the Deakin IT service desk.
At this stage the Library is unable to provide comprehensive support for NVivo, but if you are interested in further information or assistance, please contact the Library Research Team. We will do our best to help!