Advanced Coding Queries

You can use advanced coding queries to search for source content that has been coded at multiple nodes—and you can use operators to further refine the search.  For example, you could explore the hunch that 'men enjoy being active members of the community'  

 Content coded by any case where Gender = male

  AND Coded by all of these nodes: {enjoyment, community}

To build an advanced coding query:

  1. Create a coding query. Refer to Simple Coding Queries for more information.

  2. Click the Coding Criteria tab.

  3. Click the Advanced tab.

  4. In the Define more criteria panel, choose whether you want to search for content coded at (or NOT coded by)

  1. Click the Select button and choose the required nodes or attribute value.

  2. From the By Any User drop-down list, you can select to include coding done by any user or choose only the coding done by specific users.

  3. Click the Add to List button.

The criteria is added to the Search for content matching these criteria list.

  1. To build on this criteria:

  1. Click the AND drop-down list and select the required operator  

    Operator

    Description

     

    AND

     

    OR

    NEAR Content

    Where coding at the selected node is near coding at another node in the criteria list.

    Preceding Content

    Where coding at a node comes before the coding at another node in the criteria list.

    Surrounding Content

    Where coding at a node (already added to the list) surrounds coding at another node.

     

  2. If you choose the NEAR or PRECEDING Content operators, the Coding Search Operator dialog box is displayed and you can specify the options for proximity and retrieval  

    Option

    Description

     

    Proximity

    To define what you mean by Near or Preceding, select an option from the drop-down list:

    Overlapping: displays content that has been coded at both nodes.

    In Custom Context: displays content that is within a specified context, Click the Specify button and define the required context for text, audio/video and pictures. For example, for documents you might define Near as within 5 words while for audio/video it is within a 5 second timespan.

    From the Find Matches drop-down list you can also choose the In Broad Context or In Narrow Context options. When you choose either of these options, the values default to those defined in Application Options. You can update the values for this specific query.

    In Same Scope Item: displays the content that has been coded within the same source or node. For example, community is considered near motivation when they are found in the same source.

    In Same Coding Reference: displays the content within the same occurrence of coding. For example,community is considered near motivation when they are both codedat helping people.

    Finds for first search item

    Displays content matching the criteria defined for first search item

    Finds for second search item

    Displays content matching the criteria of second search item

    Content between finds

    Displays content between first and second search items. This option is only available if both of the above check boxes are selected and Overlapping is not the chosen Proximity option.

    Compare proximity between text and non-text items

    Determines how proximity is evaluated in video, audio and picture sources.

    By default, the matching content must be contained in the same component of a source. For example, coding in text is matched only with coding in other transcript text and not with video. Thus, video coding would not be matched with transcript coding for the same timespan and vice-versa.

    If you click this option, matching content can be in either the media or the transcript, the picture or the log.

     

  3. Select Coded by (you can also choose Not Coded by) from the drop down list.

  4. Select the required nodes or attribute value.

  5. Click the Add to List button.

  6. If required, use the arrow buttons to force the 'order of processing'. Select an item from the criteria list and click the required arrow button. Example

    Content (coded by enjoyment

      OR coded by fun)

    AND Coded by community  

    The OR nodes are surrounded by parentheses so that NVivo processes them as a unit—being at the top of the list means they are processed first.

  1. To add or edit items in the Search for content matching these criteria list:

  1. Select the item you want to edit.

  2. Click the Remove button.

The item is removed from the list and is available for edit in the Define more criteria panel.

  1. Edit the required criteria, for example, change AND to OR.

  2. Click the Add to List button to return the edited item to the criteria list.

  1. From the In drop-down list, select the items you want to include in the query. For example, search all sources or selected nodes.

  1. From the Where drop-down list, you can specify to search project items created and/or modified by any or selected users.

  1. Determine how the query results are stored in the Query Options tab  

    Option

    Description

     

    Option

    From the drop-down list, select how you would like to save the results of the query:

    Preview Only

    Displays matching content in a preview node.

    Create Results as New Node

    Creates a new node, codes all matching contents at the node, and saves it in the selected node folder.

    Merge Results into Existing Node

    Codes all matching content at an existing node. Click the Select button and choose the required node.

    Create Results as New Set

    Creates a new set that includes all project items matching the search criteria.

    Add Results to Existing Set

    Saves the matching items in an existing set. Click the Select button and choose the destination set.

    Create Results as New Node Hierarchy

    Saves the results as a tree using the node name as the parent and matching items as the children.

    Location

    If you are saving the results as a new node, click the Select button to define the location. For example, to save the results as a new free node, select the Free Nodes folder.

    Name

    If you are saving the results as a new node or set, enter a name for the new item.

    If you are merging the results into an existing node or set, click the Select button and choose the destination item.

    Description

    If required, enter a description for the new node or set.

    Spread to

    Refer to Spread Coding to the Context for more information.

    Open results

    Click this checkbox to display the query results in Detail View.

    Create results if empty

    If the query does not return any results, click this option if you want to create an 'empty' node.

    This option is only available if you have chosen to save the results as a new node, set or node hierarchy.

     

  2. If you have selected the Add to Project checkbox, click OK to save the query set-up.

  3. Click the Run button.

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