| NVivo 14 | |
| Developer: | Lumivero |
| Latest Release Version: | NVivo 14.23.0 |
| Latest Release Date: | 14 March 2023 |
| Operating System: | Microsoft Windows, macOS |
| Genre: | Qualitative data analysis |
NVivo is a qualitative data analysis (QDA) computer software package produced by Lumivero (formerly called QSR International). NVivo is used across a diverse range of fields, including social sciences such as anthropology, psychology, communication, sociology, as well as fields such as forensics, tourism, criminology and marketing.
NVivo is intended to help users organize and analyze non-numerical or unstructured data. Its developers state that it helps qualitative researchers to organize, analyze and find insights in unstructured or qualitative data like interviews, open-ended survey responses, journal articles, social media and web content, where deep levels of analysis on small or large volumes of data are required.[1]
The software allows users to classify, sort and arrange information; examine relationships in the data; and combine analysis with linking, shaping, searching and modeling. The software can identify trends and cross-examine information in various ways using its search engine and query functions.[2] NVivo accommodates a wide range of research methods, including network and organizational analysis, action or evidence-based research, discourse analysis, grounded theory, conversation analysis, ethnography, literature reviews, phenomenology, mixed methods research and the Framework methodology.[3]
Tom Richards and Lyn Richards developed NUD*IST (Non-numerical Unstructured Data Indexing, Searching and Theorizing), a software program designed for detailed analysis of unstructured textual data, with the initial version for DEC-10 in 1981.[4] [5] [6] In 1997, an updated version of NUD*IST was named N4.
In 1994, Qualitative Solutions and Research Pty Ltd was set up at and then spun out of La Trobe University to support the development and marketing of NUD*IST, and shortly after the release of N4 (NUD*IST Rev 4) it began working on a ground-up redesigned sibling product, with many more features, initially named NUD*IST Alive then branded as NVivo.[7]
Development of the original product continue alongside the new one, with the final version, N6, being consolidated into NVivo 7 in 2006. NVivo for Teams, which allows multiple users on a server to work on a project at the same time, was first released in 2010. NVivo was released for Mac in 2014. Mac versions of the software tend to have fewer features.[8]