Qualitative Data Analysis with NVivo Training Course

This five-day NVivo training course takes participants from no prior experience to confidently analysing qualitative data in NVivo, the most widely used qualitative data analysis software in research and evaluation. It covers setting up a project, importing interviews, focus groups and documents, coding, organising codes and cases, running queries, and producing a clear, defensible account of what the data shows.

Qualitative data is rich, and that is exactly what makes it hard. A handful of in-depth interviews can run to hundreds of pages, and a single focus group can hold more insight than a survey of a thousand people. The problem is what happens next. For most researchers the analysis lives in their head, in highlighter pens, and in scattered notes, and when someone asks how they reached a finding, there is no clear answer to give.

This course replaces that with a structured, transparent way of working. NVivo gives the work three things it usually lacks: a single place to hold all your material, a systematic way to code and organise it, and an audit trail that shows how you moved from raw transcript to finding. Across the week, participants work through a real qualitative project from import to first findings, learning not just which buttons to press but how to code well and analyse with rigour.

The course is deliberately practical and African-first in its examples, drawing on the kinds of interviews, consultations and programme feedback that researchers, evaluators and policy teams across the continent work with every day. Participants leave able to run a qualitative analysis they can stand behind and explain.

• Explain the qualitative analysis workflow and where NVivo fits within it.
• Set up an NVivo project and import interviews, documents, PDFs and other data.
• Create and organise codes into a clear, logical and defensible structure.
• Code text systematically and consistently, and review coding with coding stripes.
• Use cases and attributes to describe participants, sites and groups.
• Write memos and annotations that capture analytical thinking and decisions.
• Run text search, word frequency and coding queries to explore the data.
• Produce a clear summary of findings supported by coded evidence and an audit trail.

This course is designed for:

• Researchers working with interviews, focus groups or open-ended data
• Monitoring and evaluation officers handling qualitative information
• Postgraduate students and academics
• Social scientists and public health researchers
• Programme and policy staff analysing consultations and feedback
• Consultants delivering qualitative studies
• Anyone new to qualitative data analysis software

The course uses a hands-on, project-based methodology. Participants work through a single qualitative dataset across the week, so each technique is learned by applying it to real material rather than in the abstract.

• Guided walkthroughs of NVivo
• Coding exercises on real transcripts
• Memo and annotation practice
• Query and exploration exercises
• A running project taken from import to first findings

Organisations that invest in this training for their teams will benefit from:

• Qualitative findings that are rigorous and defensible
• A clear audit trail from data to conclusion
• Faster, more organised analysis of interviews and feedback
• Better use of consultation, evaluation and research data
• Reduced reliance on external analysts
• Insight that complements quantitative reporting

Participants who enrol in this training will benefit from:

• Confidence to run a qualitative analysis unaided
• A systematic, defensible way of working
• A practical, in-demand research skill
• The ability to organise and make sense of large amounts of text
• A reusable NVivo project structure to build on

At Strategic Revenue Africa, our certification goes beyond proof of attendance—it represents practical competence and measurable capability. Upon successful completion of our training programs, participants are awarded a Certificate of Completion from Strategic Revenue Africa, recognizing their ability to apply acquired knowledge in real-world settings. As an organization focused on architecting sustainable revenue and strengthening organizational performance, our certifications signal that participants are equipped with skills that drive results, not just theory.

No prior qualitative analysis or software experience is required. Participants need a laptop with NVivo installed, either a licence or the free trial, for the practical sessions. NVivo runs on Windows and Mac, though the Mac version has slightly fewer features.