Qualitative Analysis in Practice: Learning NVivo with Dr. Audrey Trainor

Alternative text: Dr. Audrey Trainor stands at the front of the room, leading an NVivo qualitative analysis training for the CE-IDEA team.

On September 20, 2024, the CE-IDEA team participated in an NVivo qualitative data analysis workshop led by Dr. Audrey A. Trainor, Professor at New York University and a valued member of the CE-IDEA Advisory Board. The workshop provided team members with hands-on opportunities to learn, practice, and critically reflect on qualitative coding using NVivo.

Dr. Trainor walked us through the ontological and epistemological decisions that shape qualitative analysis, highlighting how choices such as chunking versus splitting data, developing and revising a codebook (nodes), and engaging in ongoing memoing are deeply tied to researchers’ analytic commitments. These conversations helped ground NVivo’s tools within a broader understanding of qualitative rigor, reflexivity, and meaning-making.

Throughout the workshop, team members had hands-on opportunities to sample code together, explore NVivo’s functions in real time, and troubleshoot questions as they arose. Working through these processes collectively made the session feel both practical and collaborative. By the end of the workshop, the CE-IDEA team left with a shared analytic language, greater confidence using NVivo, and a deeper appreciation for qualitative coding as an iterative and reflective process. Beyond this session, Dr. Trainor continues to provide ongoing qualitative methodological support to the CE-IDEA team!