Centre for

Staff and
Educational CSED
Development

NVivo 
Using Pictures,
Audio and Video
D1
 NVivo 9:
Using Images,
Audio and Video
Version 1.0

Steve Oldfield (CSED)

October 2011

This document is produced by the Centre for Staff and Educational

Development at UEA. It provides a quick guide to handling images, audio and
video based data in NVivo 9 for those who have experience of using NVivo. It
follows on from document D120 – Introduction to NVivo 9.

---------- University of East Anglia 2011 ----------

This material may not be used in part or whole for financial gain without prior permission. It
may otherwise be freely copied provided that due acknowledgement is given to the Centre for
Staff and Educational Development, UEA Norwich, and that the wording of this statement of
copyright is reproduced.
 CONTENTS

1. NVivo and Audio Visual Data

Images, Audio and Video ........................................................................ 1
Permitted File Types ............................................................................... 1
Log Entries and Coding........................................................................... 2

2. Using Images
Images ..................................................................................................... 3
Coding Images......................................................................................... 3
Querying Images ..................................................................................... 4
Assigning Log Entries to Images ............................................................5
Copying Regions of an Image .................................................................6
Links in Images .......................................................................................7

3. Using Audio and Video

Audio and Video Files ............................................................................ 8
Playback .................................................................................................. 8
Transcribing ............................................................................................9
Selecting Sections of Media Files .........................................................10
Assigning Selections to Transcript Rows .............................................11
Tidying Up a Transcript ........................................................................11
Finding Your Way Around the Transcript ............................................12
Coding Audio and Video Files ..............................................................13
Coding Timespans or Coding Transcription Rows ...............................16
Querying Audio and Video Files...........................................................17
Links in Audio and Video Files ............................................................19
About Video ..........................................................................................20
 NVivo and Audio Visual Data 1

1. NVivo and Audio Visual Data

Images, Audio and Video

Nvivo 9 assists the coding and analysis not only of texts, but of images, audio
and video-based data. This opens up all sorts of opportunities for the researcher
and may sometimes make it less necessary to have interviews transcribed in full,
with great savings in time and cost.
Naturally there are some differences between how you work with text compared
with how you will work with audio-visual material, but there are many
similarities too.

Permitted File Types

Here is a reminder of the types of file that can be imported into an NVivo
project (taken from document D120 – Introduction to NVivo 9).

Documents Various (not relevant to this course)

Images bmp, gif, jpg, jpeg, tif and tiff

Audio mp3, wma and wav

Video mpg, mpeg, mpe, wmv, avi, mov, qt, and mp4

Other Various datasets (not relevant to this course).

If an individual audio or video file is under 20Mb it will be embedded in the

project, otherwise a link will be made to it.

Import all file-types in the same way:

Click on Project Menu, Import Internals...
Select appropriate files, Click OK
This shows how audio-visual
files appear inthe Internals list:

Baked_Banana.mp3 (audio)
Presentation.wmv (video)
statue.bmp (image)
2 NVivo 9: Using Images, Audio and Video

When you open audio-visual data, you will be given a Media Tab which
provides tools for working with the material:

The tools are similar to what you would find on any CD or DVD player. You
can see that you would control the playback (pause, stop, skip etc) of an audio
or video file using the buttons in the middle.
The first slider (below ‘Explorer’ Tab in the picture) is for volume, and the
second slider (just below this) is for controlling the speed of playback.
The buttons to the right of this are to do with selecting part of the audio or video
file from the time line, and for changing the playback mode, eg for when you
want to transcribe a recording.

Log Entries and Coding

With all audio-visual files you can create log entries which you can associate
with the entire file or part of it. These can contain transcriptions of what people
are saying, or notes of actions, or any ideas, insights or descriptions that you
care to include.
Here is a typical log used for a transcript of an audio file:

You can also code all or part of an audio visual file at any of your nodes, and
use queries to interrogate this data the same as you would the text-based files in
the project. Any difference in Coding Queries will occur in the results you see,
which will now sometimes be highlighting on an image, or co-ordinates for a
region of an image, rather than just text.
A Text Search Query will include text in log entries, so here we found the word
“banana” in part of the transcript of an audio file:
 Using Images 3

2. Using Images

Images

Working with images is not so very different from working with text.
You import an image as you would any other internal (it may take a while if it is
a large file), and open it in the same way by double clicking on its name in the
Sources list.
You can zoom in or out of an image; use
Zoom on the View Tab, or the slider on the
right of the Status Bar.
The whole image or an area of it (a ‘region’) can be selected and coded at a
node. Also a log entry (containing notes, ideas or comments) can be assigned to
a selected region.

Coding Images

With the image open on screen:

Click and drag to select an area of the image
Right-click on the selected area
Click on Code Selection, Code Selection At Existing
Nodes, choose node(s) to code at, Click OK

You can also turn on the Coding Stripes – a stripe spans the vertical dimension
of the coded region, as it does for coded text.
4 NVivo 9: Using Images, Audio and Video

Right-click on a stripe, click on Highlight Coding

The coded area is shown with pale yellow highlighting.
When you open a node that has been used to code regions of an image, you will
see something like this:

The image file is identified by name

(ie Queue) and the co-ordinates of
the separate region(s) coded at the
node (ie Boredom) are given.

Click on the name of the image to see the coded area.

Querying Images

Below a compound query was used to locate two nodes (Boredom and Read
while waiting) being near each other, and asking for the results to be shown
with a narrow context. The region outlines have been exaggerated for clarity in
this document.
Region coded at Read while waiting Region coded at Boredom
 Using Images 5

Result of the query showing a narrow context/area around the two regions

Assigning Log Entries to Images

Using a log entry you can associate comments, ideas, insights etc to whole
images or to regions of them. When you first open an image source, one blank
log entry exists (click on Click to edit if you don’t at first see it). The moment
you type something in the slot a new blank log entry will appear below it.
To create a log entry for the whole image:
Right-click on image, click on Insert Row, type entry
in Content cell

To create a log entry for a region of the image:

Click and drag to select a region, right-click on it,
click on Insert Row, type entry in Content cell

Notice the co-ordinates of the region appear in the Region cell (the point of
origin is the top left corner of the picture). To see a region:
Click on the numbered cell on the left

The region is highlighted in magenta

6 NVivo 9: Using Images, Audio and Video

If you click on the numbered cell of a log entry for the whole image, all of it
will be highlighted in magenta:

To move a log entry up or down the list:

Right-click on row number, click on Row, Move Up or
Move Down

To delete a log entry:

Right-click on row number, click on Delete, Yes

To show or hide the log entries:

Click Picture Tab, click in Log box

To adjust density of coded areas:

Click Picture Tab, use slider

Copying Regions of an Image

Click and drag to select the
region
Right-click on selection, Copy

You can paste the region into

any document or memo, or
into another application such
as Word or PowerPoint.
Here it has been pasted into
an NVivo memo:
 Using Images 7

Links in Images

You can use most kinds of links within images. To create a link:
Click and drag to select a region of the image
Right-click on the region, then on Links
For a Memo Link you can right-click anywhere in the image – you don’t need to
select a region first.
Click on Memo Link, See Also Link, or Annotation and
create them in the normal way

See Also link shown in pink

Annotation shown in pale blue v

Memo Link is indicated by an icon next to the image name in the Sources list.
A See Also Link is shown as a pale red region in the image. To follow it:
Right-click on the region
Click on Links, Open to Item...

An Annotation is shown as a pale blue region in the image. To follow it first

ensure that annotations are turned on:
Click on View Tab, Annotations
Click on the blue annotation region in the picture

Notice that the relevant Annotation is highlighted with a grey background

beneath the image. See Also links are also shown beneath the image.
Click on Annotations or See Also Links tabs
8 NVivo 9: Using Images, Audio and Video

3. Using Audio and Video

Audio and Video Files

Audio and Video files are handled in the same way as far as playback,
transcribing and coding is concerned. The only difference being that with video
files there is a portion of the screen showing the video playback. For this reason
we first look at working with audio files, and there is a section at the end
showing how video files will appear.

Playback

Open the audio (or video) file by double-clicking on

its name in the normal way

The audio recording is presented as a waveform on a timeline with a scale

showing minutes, seconds and tenths of seconds, eg 0:35.2

Playback is controlled from the Media Tab...

Click on Play/Pause and Stop buttons to play the

recording
The Play button changes into the Pause button.
Notice the Media Playhead marker (see right) which shows the
current position in the recording.

To alter playback Volume and Speed:

Drag the Volume slider
 Using Audio and Video 9

Drag the Speed slider

Transcribing

You can transcribe all or part of an audio/video recording, and the transcribed
passages will be clearly associated with the appropriate part of the recording.
Use the Play Mode buttons on the Media Tab,
these how playback will behave when you click
on the blue Play/Pause button.
Normal Synchronize Transcribe
Normal
Click on Normal when you want to play an audio or video recording just to
watch it and not to transcribe anything.
Synchronize
This synchronizes the audio/video with the transcript so that as you play the
media or scroll the transcript you can see which part of the media belongs with
which part of the transcript.
Transcribe
With this chosen, when you play the media a blank log entry is added to the
transcript. In this you can type what is being said, or make any other notes
about what is heard or seen. Press Pause at any point when you need to, but if
you press Stop the current log ends and a new log entry row appears.
With an audio file open...
On the Media Tab, click on Transcribe
To ensure you are at the start of the recording...
Click on the Go To Start button
Get ready to start typing, and remember that you can slow down the playback
and pause whenever you need.
Click on the Play button
A transcript row is added with the starting time in the Timespan column.

Transcribe what you hear, using Pause if you need to

10 NVivo 9: Using Images, Audio and Video

If you are not a touch-typist you can of course listen to a few words, pause, type
those words, play some more etc. If it runs away with you, or you need to hear
something again, just pause and rewind and play again.
Press Stop when you have completed the entry
The End Time is added to the the Timespan field.

You don’t have to carry on transcribing from the current media playhead
position. To transcribe a different part of the recording:
Set the Play Mode back to Normal
You can now safely play the recording without transcribing to locate the
position you want to start transcribing.
Drag media playhead to desired start position
Set the Play Mode back to Transcribe and continue
In this example the second transcript row begins just after the 12-second point,
it doesn’t continue from the previous row.

To stop transcribing altogether:

Set the Play Mode back to Normal

Selecting Sections of Media Files

With audio or video sources you can select a section of the file for transcribing,
playing, coding, linking or annotating. Only one selection can be made at a
time, if you make a second selection the first one is lost.

To select a section of a media file:

Click and drag the mouse over a section of the
timeline (notice the box that appears)

To select a section of a media file while playing it:

Drag the playhead to a point just before you want to
start selecting, then click on the Play button
 Using Audio and Video 11

On the Media Tab click Start Selection

when the playhead reaches the start
point
To stop click on Finish Selection
Then click on the Stop button

Here a section has been selected and the playhead has been stopped just after the
end of the selection was marked.

Assigning Selections to Transcript Rows

Having selected a section of a media file using the above methods, you can then
assign it to a new or existing row in your current transcript.

To assign selection to a new transcript row:

Right-click on selection and click Insert Row
OR
Press [Ctrl]&[Insert]

To assign selection to an existing transcript row:

Click on the left-hand numbered cell of an existing
empty row
Click on Media Tab, Assign
Timespan to Rows

With either method, the timespan of the selection is displayed in the row.

You can type any comments or transcription.

Tidying Up a Transcript

Here are a few things you can do to tidy up and rationalise the transcript rows
after you have been doing this for a while.

To delete a transcript row:

Right-click in the numbered cell on the left
Click on Delete, Yes
12 NVivo 9: Using Images, Audio and Video

To merge adjacent transcript rows:

This is useful if you have stopped at an odd point and you really should have
continued a bit longer. If the continuation is in the next row, then...
Drag down left column to select adjacent rows

Right-click on a highlighted numbered cell, then on

Merge, Merge Rows

You can easily edit the merged entries – in this case we’d probably remove the
gap in the text between “actually” and “duplicate”.

To sort into timespan order:

Right-click on the Timespan column heading, then on
Sort By Timespan

Finding Your Way Around the Transcript

To play the audio relating to a transcript row:

Ensure Play Mode is set to Normal or Synchronize
Right-click on the numbered cell on the left of the
row, and click on Play Transcript Media
Notice how the
relevant portion of the
recording is identified.

To see what a transcript row relates to:

Synchronised playback allows you to see which parts of the recording relate to
individual transcript rows. To use this:
 Using Audio and Video 13

Set Play Mode to Synchronize

Play the recording

Notice that as the media playhead moves onto an area you have transcribed, the
timespan cell of the relevant transcript row is shown with a cream background.
In the example above, the media playhead is at the 7.6 seconds position, and this
falls within the first of our transcript rows.

Coding Audio and Video Files

Coding audio or video files is similar in some ways to coding documents. You
can either code a portion of the timeline, or code part of your transcript.

To code a selection on the timeline:

Click and drag the mouse over a section of the
timeline
Right-click anywhere on the timeline, then click on
Code Selection, Code Selection At Existing Nodes…
Choose a node or nodes, then click OK

To code transcript text:

Drag over some transcript text
Right-click anywhere on the transcript row, then
click on Code Selection, Code Selection At Existing
Nodes…
Choose a node or nodes, then click OK

As you can see below, specific timed segments of the timeline can be coded (eg
0:48.3 - 0:59.6 is coded at the node Boredom).
You can also code text in a row of the transcript then the whole row is shown
coded (eg some text in row 4 is coded at the node Food).
14 NVivo 9: Using Images, Audio and Video

Using Shadow Coding:

In the above example Shadow Coding is turned on. To turn it on or off:
Click on View Tab, Shadow Coding
With Shadow Coding turned on, timeline coding is also shown to the right of
the transcript rows, but is shown cross-hatched rather than in solid colour. This
can be seen with the nodes Boredom and Smart appearance.
Similarly the coding of transcript rows is also shown beneath the timeline, but
again it is cross-hatched, not solid. Coding at nodes Illness and Food is shown
this way.
With shadow coding turned off, the coding is not echoed between the timeline
and the transcript rows. In this example Shadow Coding is turned off:
 Using Audio and Video 15

If you open a node that was used to

code an audio or video file, you will
see something like this (see right):
Notice that for some coding
references the timespan in the audio
or video recording is given, but in
other cases you will see the
transcribed text that was coded.
You won’t know from this view what
was happening where a timespan has
been coded, but you have an
indication of what percentage of the
overall recording they represent.

To go to the referenced source:

Right-click on the timespan or the text of a coding
reference

In this case we right-clicked on a timespan:

Click on Open Referenced Source...

Each timespan coded at this node (eg

Boredom) is indicated with a mustard
coloured stripe on the top part of the timeline,
but the particular timespan you have selected
has a blue border around it.

To play back the selected timespan:

Right-click on the blue-bordered timespan shown on
the timeline
Click on Play
16 NVivo 9: Using Images, Audio and Video

In the example below we right-clicked on text:

Click on Open Referenced Source...

This time it is the coded transcribed text that is highlighted.

Notice that the free node ‘Concentration’ has been used to code both the
timeline and transcripted text (see solid and cross-hatched stripes here).

Coding Timespans or Coding Transcription Rows

When coding audio and video sources you have to be very clear whether you are
coding portions of the timeline or coding text in transcription rows. They are
treated separately by NVivo. In practice you would most likely be coding one
or the other.

Coding in the timeline Coding in the transcription rows

Coding in the timeline is appropriate where your concentration is on the audio

and where you might have decided not to do much in the way of transcription.
However, if you want to examine closely the things people say and the words
they use, you will probably have transcribed the parts you are interested in, and
you may choose to concentrate on this transcribed text.
The main problem with mixing up the two comes when querying the audio or
video source. If, for example, you use a compound query to see whether coding
at one free node (used on the timeline) comes close to coding at another free
node (used on text in transcript rows), even if they overlap the query will return
no result.
 Using Audio and Video 17

This is illustrated in the example below where the nodes ‘Food’ and ‘New
Measures’ were used in the timeline and in transcribed text respectively. They
appear to overlap, but the compound query returned no result.

In a second example a portion of the timeline has been coded at both ‘Food’ and
‘New Measures’:

The same compound query is run again and this time the overlapping coding is
found.

Try to decide where your focus is before you start coding.

Querying Audio and Video Files

Creating and using a query for an audio-visual file is just the same as querying
a source document, and provided the coding has been carried out thoroughly and
sensibly there should be few problems. The main difference is in the results.
Here are some examples:
18 NVivo 9: Using Images, Audio and Video

A Text Search Query will list files containing the sought text. Here a file has
been opened and the found text is highlighted:

This Coding Query shows a timespan and text from a transcript row, both in
the same source and coded at the same node:

In the following Advanced Coding Query we were looking for audio sources
associated with member of staff Barbara Daines (ie coded at her ‘case’ node)
and where speech patterns A and K occur (coded at the nodes Pattern A or
Pattern K):

The result shows two transcribed recordings made by Barbara in which the
patterns of speech were found:
 Using Audio and Video 19

Links in Audio and Video Files

Annotations, See Also links and Memo links can all be used with audio or video
files. To create a link:
Click and drag to select a portion of the timeline
OR
Click and drag over transcribed text
Right-click on the selection, then on Links
For a Memo Link you can right-click anywhere in the open source – you don’t
need to select anything first.
Click on Memo Link, See Also Link, or Annotation and
create them in the normal way

A Memo Link is indicated by an icon next to the image name in the Sources
list.

See Also Links are indicated by pale red shading, and Annotations by blue
shading (neither is very vivid on the timeline), see below...

Beneath the open source are tabbed lists for Annotations and See Also Links:

Where See Also Links go to video or image objects, a thumbnail image is

displayed:
20 NVivo 9: Using Images, Audio and Video

About Video

If you have already worked with Audio files in NVivo, there is not much more
to learn when it comes to working with Video. Transcribing, coding and
querying are all the same. The only real difference is that you now have visual
information to accompany the sound so you can comment on the setting,
movement, body language,colour, dress etc.

The image below shows what a transcribed video clip might look like. This
particular clip has music but no dialogue, so the action has been described in the
transcript and notes can be made about key actions such as body language, what
appears to be happening, unusual actions etc. Transcription is exactly the same
as for audio files and the video image is placed on the left as a still image would
be.

The split between the video and transcript can be moved to show more or less of
either one, for example, here we gave more space to the transcript:

The image below shows coding stripes and shadow coding, which is the same as
for audio:
Using Audio and Video 21