Sets (NVivo 15 Windows)

Sets are collections of project items. They can include data files, codes, cases, memos, framework matrices, query results, and coding matrices.

Use sets to—for example—organize work, group items related to a particular theme, collect images for a photo gallery, or as the scope of a query or visualization—once a set is defined you can easily perform different analyses on it.

Static sets are created manually, by selecting each member of the set individually. For dynamic sets you configure a set of criteria and all items that meet the criteria belong to the set.

Items in sets are not removed from their original locations in the Navigation View—they are simply links to the original items. This means that if you delete an item from a set it remains in the project. However, if you delete a member of a set from its original location it is also removed from the set.

Static Sets

Static sets are collections of project items that you manually select. Sets can include any number of items, and any project item can belong to multiple sets.

Create a static set

1. On the Create tab click Static Set > New Static Set.

Alternatively, select items first and create a set for them:

1. Select one or more items in the List View.
2. On the Create tab click Static Set > Create As Static Set.
   The set is added under the Sets section in the Navigation View.

Add items to static sets

1. Select one or more items in the List View.
2. On the Home tab, click Organize > Add to Static Set
   or
   on the Create tab, click Static Set > Add to Static Set.

Dynamic Sets

Dynamic sets consist of project items that, at the time you open the sets, meet search criteria you have defined for each set. Each time you open a dynamic set the search criteria are applied again, so the results—the members of the set—might change. As a clear example, a dynamic set can display all codes you created in the last week.

NVivo provides the following system-defined dynamic sets:

• All codes—all the codes, cases, relationships and coding matrices in your project
• All Files—all the files in your project
• All Files Not Embedded—all media files in your project that reference media files stored outside the project

If you use Advanced Find on the Explore tab you can save your search criteria as a dynamic set—select Add to project as dynamic set.

Create a dynamic set

1. On the Create tab click Dynamic Set.
2. On the General tab, enter the name and description of the set:
3. On the Search Criteria tab, configure your search criteria.
   You can run the search immediately by clicking Find Now.
   New sets are added under the Sets section in the Navigation View.

To see the contents of a dynamic set at the present time, click the set under Dynamic Sets in the Sets section of the Navigation View.

If you want to save a dynamic set at a particular time—perhaps to compare with the same set at a different time—open the set, select all its members in the List View, and create a static set with them (see above).