Create reports using the Report Wizard


Reports let you view and print summary information about your project.

You can use the Report Wizard to make your own reports. The Wizard guides you through the process of building and running a report and is the easiest way to create a report.

NVivo also includes a Report Designer that lets you design or modify a report.

NOTE Reports and extracts do not contain content from your sources or nodes. If you want to view source content based on selected criteria you can create a query.

What do you want to do?


 


What is the difference between the Report Wizard and the Report Designer?

You can use either the Report Wizard or the Report Designer to build reports.

If the resulting report is not exactly what you intended, you can make changes to the report using the Report Designer instead of starting the Report Wizard again.

You can also modify reports (including reports you create or the predefined reports) using the Report Designer. For example, you can:

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Consider the type of report you want

Before launching the Report Wizard or Report Designer it can help to think about the following:

It can help to draw your desired results on a piece of paper, then you can implement your design using either the Report Wizard or Report Designer.

Refer to Example reports for ideas of reports and instructions on how to create them using the Report Wizard.

NOTE

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Use the Report Wizard

To launch the Report Wizard:

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How would you like to build your report?

Choose whether you want to build your report from:

Which fields do you want on your report?

If you are building a report based on a view, you can choose the fields you want on your report, for example—source name, type and coverage.

If you are building your report based on an extract, the fields are automatically selected for you.

Do you want to filter your report?

If you are building a report based on a view, you can filter the data that is displayed in the report. For example, you can choose to report on sources created by specific users or nodes that have been assigned a specific color.

To create the filter:

  1. Click the Add button.

  2. Click in the first empty box and select the field you want to filter on.

  3. Click in the next box and select the type of filter—do you want to filter anything that 'equals' the specified text or is 'greater than' a specified value?

  4. Click the Select box to choose a parameter or leave the default if you want to prompt the user for a value when they run the report.

If you are building your report based on an extract, this step is omitted.

For more information on filters, refer to Add a filter to the reports and extracts you build.

Do you want to add any grouping levels?

In this step, you can specify grouping levels for your report. Information is often easier to understand when it is divided into groups. For example, you could specify grouping by source type. All audio sources would be listed in one group, all document sources in another group, and so on.

You can also click Group Options and specify any summary values that you want to display in the report. For example, you could display a total number of coding references for each group. You can also specify whether you want the totals to display above or below each group. For more information, refer to Summary and group options.

What sort order do you want for detail records?

You can specify up to four levels of sorting in either ascending or descending order. For example, if you are reporting on your nodes, you might want to sort in descending order of coding references to display the most coded nodes at the top.

How would you like to lay out your report?

If your report includes grouping levels, you can choose Stepped, Block, or Outline layout. Otherwise, you can choose between Columnar and Tabular. As you click on the different options, you can see an example in the preview window. Experiment to find out which layout works best with your data.

You can also choose Portrait or Landscape orientation.

What style would you like?

You can choose one of five styles for your report. As you click on the different options, you can see an example in the preview window.

What name do you want for your report?

Enter a name for the report. You can also add a description and a title.

Select the Open report in Report Designer check box if you want to modify the report before you run it—for example, you might want to add a logo to the report. If you do not select this check box, NVivo runs your report when you click Finish, and then displays the results in Detail View.

The report is stored in a Reports folder and you can run the report again as your project progresses.

NOTE You can cancel a report that is taking too long to process—click Cancel in the Progress group on the Explore tab.

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