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Projects typically contain nodes for themes or topics but they may also have nodes for people, organizations or other 'cases'. For example, consider this passage of text:
I feel very worried about climate change, especially the impact on my children. We live on the coast so I am particularly concerned about rising sea levels and the destruction of the beautiful coral reefs. The problems seem overwhelming and I don't know where to start.
You might code the passage at the following 'theme' nodes:
climate change
rising sea levels
coral reefs
feeling overwhelmed
To collect descriptive information about the speaker, you could also code the passage at a case node:
Mary (female, aged 40)
Unlike theme nodes, this node has demographic attributes—you specify these attributes by 'classifying' the node. As you code more content at classified nodes you can use queries to ask meaningful questions—How do young women respond to the challenge of climate change? Do their attitudes differ from those of older women?
Before you can classify nodes you need to setup (or import) node classifications. Node classifications describe the type of case—for example,
Person
Organization
Institution
Site
For each classification you can add the attributes you are interesting in collecting:
Person
Age group
Country of birth
Sex
Organization
Industry
Sector
Size
When you create a node (or edit its properties) you can assign it to a classification and define the attributes:
| Classification | Person | ||||||||
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In List View, select the nodes you want to classify.
On the Home tab, in the Item group, click the arrow under Properties, and then click Classification and select the classification you want to use.
NOTE
You must create at least one classification before you can classify nodes, refer to Create node classifications for more information.
You can also set the classification for a selected node on the Attribute Values tab in the Node Properties dialog box.
The selected nodes are assigned to the classification but you need to define the attribute values for each node—refer to Set the attribute values for a node.
To set the attribute values for a node that has already been assigned to classification (perhaps you classified multiple nodes at once):
In List View, select the node.
On the Home tab, in the Item group, click the Properties image.
The Node Properties dialog box opens.
Click the Attribute Values tab.
Click the arrow in the Value field to select a value for each attribute. To add a value, click in the Value field and enter a new value.
Click OK.
NOTE You can also set the attribute values for a classified node via the classification sheet—refer to Use the classification sheet to see attribute values for more information.
To see all the nodes in a selected classification:
In List View, select the classification.
On the Home tab, in the Item group, click the Open image.
The classification sheet is opened in Detail View. The nodes in the classification are displayed in the first column.
The classification sheet lists all the nodes in a classification and shows the attribute values set for each node.
For example, you could open the Respondent classification sheet to see all nodes that represent survey respondents along with their demographic attributes:
| Age group | Sex | Country | Occupation | |
| Nodes\respondent\Anna | 18-25 | female | UK | teacher |
| Nodes\respondent\Jack | 25-35 | male | UK | scientist |
| Nodes\respondent\Maria | 35-45 | female | USA | diver |
You can enter or update node attribute values via the classification sheet.
Refer to Use the classification sheet to see attribute values for more information.
If you have a text file or spreadsheet that contains demographic information about people, organizations or other 'cases' you can import it into NVivo. For example, you could import a spreadsheet containing descriptive information about the participants in a focus group.
Refer to Import (or export) classification sheets for more information.
You can create and classify case nodes based on the information in a dataset. For example, you can automatically create nodes for each respondent in a survey and then assign attribute values based on the classifying fields in the dataset.
If you have already created the case nodes (either manually or using the Auto Code Dataset Wizard), you can use the Classify Nodes from Dataset Wizard to set the classification and attribute values of your nodes.
To classify nodes using attribute values in a dataset:
Open the dataset or select it in List View.
On the Analyze tab, in the Classification group, click Classify Nodes from Dataset.
The Classify Nodes from Dataset Wizard opens.
Follow the steps in the wizard to create or update nodes and their attribute values. Refer to Using the Classify Nodes from Dataset Wizard for more information.
When you are done with the wizard, click Finish.
CAUTION Changing the classification of a node may result in the loss of data—for example, if you assign a node to the classification person, with values for age and sex, and the new classification does not have these attributes the values are removed.
To change the classification of a node
In List View, select the node.
On the Home tab, in the Item group, click the Properties image.
The Node Properties dialog box opens.
Click the Attribute Values tab to see attribute value settings.
From the Classification list, select a different classification for the node.
Click OK.
NOTE
When you change from one node classification to another, NVivo looks for common attributes and updates the values in the new classification. If existing attributes are not available in the new classification, the values are lost. If there are different attributes in the new classification, then the values are set to the default.
To update the attribute values, click the arrow in the Value field to select a value for each attribute. To add a value, click in the Value field and enter a new value. You can also set attribute values via the classification sheet—refer to Use the classification sheet to see attribute values for more information.
To quickly change the classification for a selected node in List View—on the Home tab, in the Item group click the arrow under Properties and select a new classification.