NVivo 13/R1: Coding references

Explains NVivo coding references, how they’re counted, coverage calculations by file type, and options for viewing context, spread coding, and un-coding.

Aug 26, 2026
Knowledge

Title

NVivo 13/R1: Coding references

Answer

Coding references

When you code text or all or part of an image or media file to a code or case, the coded content is called a 'reference'.

When you open the code or case in the Detail View, the Reference tab is displayed, showing all the references that have been coded to it. (If the same content has been coded by two people, it appears as 2 separate references.)

Image references are displayed (i.e. the coded part of a picture or region of a PDF) but for audio and video, only the start and end times are shown—you must open the source file to play back the reference.

Reference View showing all content coded at a node.

1 The name of the file that the reference comes from—also the number of references to this code in that file and the percentage of the file that the references make up. You can open the file with the hyperlink.

2Displays the first reference that was coded in the file—includes the percentage of the file that the reference represents. For example, a coded section might represent 80% of the overall document—this would indicate that most of the file has been coded to the code in this reference.

3 The Summary tab lists all of the files that have been coded to the code or case.

NOTE

If the code has aggregation turned on, the content will also include all the references from child codes.
You can find specific words or phrases in the code.
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

How references are counted

The Reference tab of a code displays the total number of references for each file. This is based on coding by all users—for example, if two team members have coded the same content to the code, the coded content is counted as two references:

Reference View total number of references for a file.

How coding coverage is calculated

The method of calculation for coding coverage varies depending on the type of file:

File Type	Coverage calculation
Document	The percentage of characters coded to the code.
PDF	The percentage of characters coded (as text selections) at the code, and the percentage of the page area coded (as region selections) at the code.
Dataset	The percentage of characters coded to the code—only characters in codable columns are counted when calculating the percentage.
Audio or video	The percentage of the timespan coded to the code, either directly or indirectly (by coding the transcript). When you code content in the transcript: The timespan of the transcript row is used to calculate coverage. So, if a row has a five-minute timespan and only the first sentence is coded to the code, the coverage is based on five-minute duration. If a transcript row is not associated with a specific timespan—in other words, if timespan field for the row is blank— the coverage is calculated as 100%.
Picture	The percentage of pixels coded to the code, either directly or indirectly (by coding the log). When you code content in the log: The region of the picture that corresponds to the entire log row is used to calculate coverage. So, if a row represents a region that is 25% of the entire picture, no matter how much content in that row is coded to the code, the coverage is always 25%. If a picture log row is not associated with a particular region—in other words, if the region field for the row is blank—the coverage is calculated as 100%.

NOTE If the code has aggregation turned on, then coding to any child codes is included when calculating coverage.

Work with references

View the context that your references sit in, increase or decrease the amount of content in a reference ('spread coding' or 'uncode'), or open the source file a reference comes from.

By default, only references themselves (i.e. the coded content only) are displayed when a code or case is opened in the Detail View. However, for text references, you can view greater or lesser amounts of the context that selected references sit in. The context-viewing options also apply to the spread coding function.

The show-context and spread-coding options are:

Narrow: the 5 words before and after a text reference, or, for datasets, all the text in the cell.
Broad: the surrounding paragraph or, for datasets, all the text in the cell (the same as narrow option).
Custom: Set the number of words before and after a text reference to view or add.
Entire File: The entire file that the text, image or media reference belongs to.

View coding context

See surrounding text for selected references.

On the code or case Reference tab, select the reference (or a part of the reference) or references you want to show context for.
In the View menu, select Coding Context.
Select the amount of context you want to display: None, Narrow, Broad, Custom or Entire File.

Spread coding

Expand a reference to include text around it.

On the code or case Reference tab, select the reference (or part of it) or references you want to add to.
On the Home tab, click Spread Coding and select the amount of additional text to add: None, Narrow, Broad, Custom or Entire File.

Remove a reference or part of a reference (uncode)

To remove content from a reference:

On the code or case Reference tab, select the content you want to uncode.
On the Home tab, click Uncode then, in the Uncode Selection section, From This Code or Case.

Open the referenced file

To open a referenced file from within a code or case:

On the Reference tab, click the hyperlink for the file that you want to open—hyperlinks are underlined blue.

URL Name

NVR1Mac-Content-nodes-review-references-in-a-node

NVivo 13/R1: Coding references

Information

Coding references

How references are counted

How coding coverage is calculated

Work with references

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