Displaying data with NUD*IST
A range of tools is provided which help you see and appreciate the results of your analysis, both while it is in process and when you have finished it. As indicated above, you can ask for a ‘report’ about any of the nodes. This will provide you with all the text units which have been coded at that node and, optionally, headings and sub-headings. You can, additionally or alternatively, also view associated memos and a summary covering things like the definition you have given for the node and other descriptive data. Reports such as this, which are editable text files, from a valuable resource for your own report of the project. Telling quotations and other extracts can be used to illustrate your account and to provide evidence for claims you are making:
Data can also be obtained from NUD*IST in tabular form. For example, the result of a matrix or vector index search can be generated as a file providing displays of the type proposed by Miles and Huberman (1994). The index tree itself (or particular parts of it) also provides a valuable graphic display.
Summary
The account presented here necessarily only scratches the surface of the various features of what is a sophisticated and complex analytic tool. If you think it may be for you, there is no substitute for actual hands-on experience. A combination of working through Gahan and Hannibal (1998), the tutorials provided with NUD*IST, use of the extensive ‘help’ functions, attendance at a practical workshop and (if at all possible) assistance from an experienced user, should get you going.