Translating NVivo files to RQDA

So finally we can do something useful. I won't go into too much detail about the trial and error process that resulted in this script Migrate NVivo to RQDA, but happy to chat with anyone who's interested.

Long story short,

python "Migrate NVivo to RQDA" <Your NVivo file converted to SQLite>

produces an RQDA file, which you can load into RQDA. Once again, here is one I prepared earlier

Part 3

So the first thing I wanted to do was fix up those strangely coded fields. After a fair bit of messing around I worked out that all that had happened was that the hex value 0x377 had been added to the Unicode value of each of the characters. So I wrote a quick Python script Translate to undo that mess. To use it, just type:

python Translate <name of your SQLite file>

Note also that must only do this once - otherwise the decoding will be re-applied and you're fields will be messed up in the opposite direction.

What’s the problem?

As researchers, we spend interminable hours collecting the raw materials for our work - data (qualitiative data that is). Many of us then proceed to spend still further interminable hours coding that data into one of the several Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) computer applications. In the process we create more data - lots of it. At that point, most of us effectively hand over the keys to that data to the owners of those applications. That is, we authorise the application to be the only means of accessing the data. This is a problem because:

1. If the software is proprietary (as the most widely-used applications are) and we (or our institution) cease paying the licence fee then we lose all access to our data. We cannot access the data that we invested huge amounts of time in at all.

2. We cannot manipulate our data (let me repeat that: our data) other than in the ways that the application allows us to.

What’s the answer?

Part 2

So now we have our NVivo file reloaded as an SQLite database file. For instance, here is NVivo's sample project 'Environmental Change Down East'. The easiest way to look at is is with an SQLite GUI browser, such as SQLiteBrowser available for Windows, Linux or Mac. But you can also use the command-line version of SQLite, which is what I will use to demonstrate a few things. Start it with:

$ sqlite3 <filename>
SQLite version 3.8.7.4 2014-12-09 01:34:36
Enter ".help" for usage hints.

Part 1

Since most of my work on QDA has involved Nvivo (I'll tell you what's right and wrong with NVivo another time), one of my first projects was to figure out how to access NVivo's data files. It turns out this isn't so complicated (at least if you are comfortable with Microsoft SQL Server - but don't worry if you aren't) as those NVivo files (with extension .nvp) are actually just Microsoft database files and can be offloaded into more friendly formats (like SQLite - by far the simplest, not to mention portable, reliable, and free, database application).