Manage query results (NVivo 14 Mac)

When you run a query, by default the results are displayed as a preview in the Detail View. You may review the results and then discard them or (for some types of queries) you may want to store the results in your project.

Preview your results

When you run a query, by default, the results are displayed in the Detail View as a preview.

Click the expand icon (in the top right of the Detail View) to expand the Detail View and create more space to work. See Customize the workspace (NVivo 14 Mac)

You can explore and interact with the results of a query when it is displayed as a preview. For example, you might run a Text Search query to find all references to the word balance. When the results are displayed in Detail View you can explore the references and click on the Word Tree tab to understand the contexts in which the word appears.

After you have explored the results in the Detail View you can decide whether or not you want to save them. You may have no need to save the results—if you do not save them, they are discarded when you close the Detail View window.

The preview results of text search, coding, compound, matrix and crosstab queries can be converted into project items and stored in your project—for more information, refer to The Query Results folder.

You cannot store the results of word frequency, coding comparison or group queries.

If you want to share your results with others or work with them in another application, you can export them Export query results (NVivo 14 Mac).

The Query Results folder

When you save query results as a code or coding matrix, the default location is the Query Results folder—a good place to keep result codes until you decide that you want to add them to your code hierarchy.

If you delete or update project items that are included in saved query results—the results are updated to reflect the changes. If you add new items that match the query criteria they are not automatically included in the results. To make sure that your query results accurately reflect the current state of your project, it is best to run the query again.

You cannot change the content coded to a code when it is in the Query Results folder, because it represents the results of the query at the time you ran it. You can open the code and review the references. You can select content in the code to annotate, link or 'code-on' to other codes. However, if you want to code additional content to the code, spread coding to surrounding content, or uncode some of the references, you will need to copy the code into your Codes folder.

You can copy a code from the Query Results folder to your Codes folder at any time—once it is in your Codes folder you can work with it in the same way that you work with any other code. If you delete (or move) the code from the Query Results folder, you will not be able to view the query that generated it.

Copy a results code to codes folders

When you store codes in the Query Results folder, their content is fixed—it is a snapshot representing the results of the query at the time you ran it. This means you cannot code additional content to the code or uncode any references that you decide are not relevant.

You can copy the code into your Codes or Cases folder at any time if you want to bring it into your code hierarchy and be able to code and uncode code references.

NOTE  If you delete or move the code from the Query Results folder, you will not be able to view the query that generated it.