NVivo can be a helpful tool for literature reviews because it allows you to organise, summarise and search the literature you have found on a particular topic. If you have already used referencing software, such as EndNote, to store your references, you can import them into NVivo using the instructions in the Importing from EndNote section of this module (or a similar process if you use different referencing software). Alternatively, if you have not added your references to referencing software, you can import files from a saved location on your computer using the instructions in the Importing materials saved on your computer section.
Once you have added your literature to an NVivo project, you can create codes and search project materials as described previously in this module. This page provides some examples of codes and searches that may be useful for a literature review, as well as some other features that can help you work with your literature.
In brief, it covers the following:
To follow some of the examples on this page, you can either use the project you created in the Setting up a project page or use the Virtual Reality and Health sample project (as detailed in the Sample projects page).
Annotations can be used for a range of purposes, such as highlighting a word or phrase that needs further explanation, or clarifying or commenting on a particular aspect of an argument.
To add an annotation to a document, open the document and highlight the text you wish to annotate. Then either right click and choose ‘New Annotation’ from the menu that appears, or click on the down arrow for the ‘Annotations’ icon above the document (the icon that looks like a speech bubble) and choose ‘Add Annotation’. You can then type your annotation.
To show or hide the list of annotations at any time, select or deselect the ‘Annotations’ check box on the menu at the top of the screen. Alternatively, click on the down arrow for the ‘Annotations’ icon above the document and select or deselect ‘View Annotations’.
To delete an annotation, make sure the annotations are displayed, then select the item number for the relevant annotation, right click and choose ‘Delete’. You can also view a list of the documents you have annotated by clicking on Annotations in the Navigation View (in the ‘Notes’ group). Double click on any of these documents to view its annotation(s).
Memos are documents in your project that you can use to paraphrase what you have read and store your own insights, observations, interpretations and notes. Each memo is generally linked to an item in your project, although you can also create memos that are not linked to an item if you wish.
If you have imported references from referencing software such as EndNote, a memo will be created for each reference by default, containing the abstract, keywords and notes. To check whether a particular reference has a linked memo, right click on the reference in either the List View in the middle of the screen or the Details View on the right. Then choose ‘Memo Link’ (or ‘Links’ and then ‘Memo Link’) from the menu.
If a memo already exists, you will have the option to open or delete it. If there is no memo, you will have the option to link to a new or existing memo. You can add your own content to a memo by opening it and selecting the ‘Edit’ box above it. Once you have finished, click the ‘Edit’ box again to turn off edit mode.
You can also view a list of memos in your project by selecting Memos, or a sub-folder of Memos, in the Navigation View (in the ‘Notes’ group). For example, the sample project includes the Analysis memos and Article summaries sub-folders. Double click on any memo to open it.
You may prefer to code directly from the references in your project, or you may wish to paraphrase the information and add your own observations to linked memos, then code from these instead. You can also use a combination of both approaches.
The process of coding for a literature review is the same as that described in the Codes & coding page of this module. You will generally create codes for particular topics and themes that occur in your literature. However, there are also some additional codes that you may find useful when using NVivo for a literature review. For example:
If you create these or similar codes, you can store them together in a Literature Review folder. To create this folder, right click on Codes in the Navigation View, select ‘New Folder…’ and give the folder an appropriate name. You can then create the codes in this folder, or copy and paste (or drag and drop) them into the folder if you have already created them somewhere else.
One reason you might create a References code is to help you find additional articles related to the topic of your literature review. To do this, code the reference section of each of your existing articles to the References code. Then run a word frequency query on this code only by choosing ‘Selected Items…’ and selecting the References code in step 2 of the instructions. You can then double click on any word in the search results to view the references that contain that word.
You can use a cluster analysis to identify which of your articles are most similar, which may help you decide the order in which to read them. To do this, select all or some of your articles, then right click and select ‘Visualize’ and ‘Cluster Analysis of Selected Items’. The articles will then be displayed in a diagram, with more similar articles appearing closer together. You may therefore find it helpful to read articles that are grouped closely together at around the same time.
Finally, if you would like to keep everything together in your NVivo project, you may wish to create a working document for your literature review. To do this, open the folder where you would like to store the document (or create a new folder), then right click in the List View and choose ‘New File’ and ‘New Document…’. Enter a name for the document and click ‘OK’. A blank document will then open in the Details View.
Basic Microsoft Word functions for working with your document are available in the ‘Edit’ tab at the top of the screen. As with memos, you can turn edit mode on or off by clicking the ‘Edit’ box. You can use the document to keep track of your literature search strategies, the databases you have used and other useful information.
If you wish, you can save the document to your computer at a later date. To do this, right click on it in either the List View or Details View, choose ‘Export’ and ‘Export Document…’ (or just ‘Export Document…’), then browse to the location where you would like to save it and select ‘OK’.