Word Frequency Queries

Word frequency queries enable you to list the most frequently occurring words in selected sources, nodes, sets and/or annotations. This can be a useful way of identifying themes or concepts—see example  .

 

Click the column headings to change the sort order

 

 

 

 

Double-click a word to see all the references

 

 

 

 

Right-click and create as a node to gather all the references.

 

 

To define the criteria for a word frequency query:

  1. In Navigation View, click on Queries.

  2. On the Main toolbar, click the New button:

            |

  1. Click the Word Frequency Query in this folder option.

The Word Frequency Query dialog box is displayed.

  1. From theSearch in drop-down list, select whether you want to search in text and/or annotations.

  1. From the Of drop-down list,  select the items you want to include in the search  

    Option

    Description

     

    All Sources

    Include all sources in the word frequency query.

    Selected Items

    Include selected items in the word frequency query:

    Items in Selected Folders

  2. From the Where drop-down list, you can choose to search items created/modified by any or selected users.

  1. Choose how many words you want to display. In the Display Words panel, select All to display a count for all words in the selected items.

OR

  1. If you want to exclude short  words from the results, enter a number in the With minimum length field. For example, if you set the minimum length to '3', then one and two-letter words are not shown in the results.  By default, this field is set to '1', so that all words are displayed.

  2. If you want to save the query, click the Add to Project check box at the top of the dialog. Enter a name and description in the General tab  

    Option

    Description

     

    Query type

    Displays the type of query you are creating. You cannot change the contents of this field.

    Name

    Enter a name for the query.

    Description

    If required, enter a description of the query.

    Location

    Displays the folder that contains the query. You cannot change the contents of this field.

    Created

    Displays the date and time the query was created. You cannot change the contents of this field.

    Modified

    Displays the date and time the query was last modified. You cannot change the contents of this field.

     

  3. To run the query, click the Run button.

After running a query, you can:

Preview all the references for a selected word  

In the preview, you see each occurrence of the selected keyword in context (KWIC). By default,the context is 'narrow', meaning five words on either side. You can expand the context—for more information, refer to Viewing the Coding Context.

You can also change the definition of narrow, to show more or less words on each side of the selected word—refer to Setting Application Options (General Tab) for more information.

Save the references for a selected word as a node  

If you open the node in your current NVivo session, you see each occurrence of the coded keyword in context (KWIC). By default, the context is 'narrow', meaning five words on either side. If you open the node in a new NVivo session, only the coded keyword in each occurrence is shown. In both cases, you can expand the context— for more information, refer to Viewing the Coding Context.

You can change the definition of narrow context, so that you see more or less words on either side of the coded keyword—refer to Setting Application Options (General Tab) for more information.

About the Results

The results are displayed as a summary or tag cloud.

TheSummary tab lists the words from the most to the least frequent, returning  the following information about each word:

The Tag Cloud tab displays up to 100 words alphabetically in varying font sizes, where frequently occurring words are in larger fonts.

When determining the frequency of words, NVivo applies the following rules:

If your sources are in a non-English language,  you can change the text search index language, so that NVivo uses a different list of stop words. Refer to the General tab in Setting Project Properties for more information.

If you want to include stop words in the word frequency query, set the text search index language to 'None'. For more information, refer to the General tab in Setting Project Properties.

 

Related Topics