RESEARCH READY

Preparing and
importing survey data
for NVivo (Windows)

Compatible file types and software

You can import survey data into NVivo from:

• An Excel file (.xls or .xlsx)

• SurveyMonkey
• Qualtrics
• A comma separated values file or tab separated values file (.csv file or .txt)

Setting up your survey in Excel for NVivo import

Once in NVivo, changes cannot be made to survey data. It is worth taking the time to set it up your survey properly before
importing it into NVivo. You might like to create a separate worksheet specifically for importing into NVivo. See Figure 1.

• The questions are in the column headings in row 1. Make sure that they are brief. If you want them to appear in
NVivo in a particular order, number them as 01, 02 etc. Otherwise, the order will be alphanumeric in NVivo.

• Only the first row should contain column or field names, (e.g. ID, Gender, Age, Question 1).

• Make sure that one column contains a unique identifier (e.g. an ID number for each survey respondent).
It’s helpful to place this column first.

• When there is no response for a closed ended question, leave the cell blank.

• Make sure that the answers to closed ended questions are brief.

Figure 1
RESEARCH READY

Guidelines on importing surveys into NVivo

SurveyMonkey or Qualtrics Survey Import Wizard

• If your SurveyMonkey or Qualtrics survey has long questions
(more than 250 characters) you need to shorten them in the
Import Wizard.
• If you have long answers to closed ended questions you
need to export the survey into Excel and shorten the answers
there before importing into NVivo.
After preparing your survey, follow the Import Wizard prompts
in NVivo – it will not only import your survey but set it up for
analysis. If you are using NVivo Plus, you also have the option
to code automatically for themes and sentiment, but you will
need to check and refine the autocoded material.
Figure 3

TIP: When you create your survey in

SurveyMonkey or Qualtrics, keep the answers
for closed ended questions shor).

• If you are importing from SurveyMonkey or Qualtrics you

will have direct access from NVivo to your account.

• If you access Qualtrics through your university or organization,

you will need to ask for the university’s or organization’s
API token.

See more information about the Qualtrics API token.

Excel
If you are importing from Excel, close the Excel file first.

Figure 2

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