Blog

Anticipating Project Manager Issues with Monte Carlo Simulation to Meet Deadlines and Plan Contingencies Project management is a multifaceted endeavor that involves careful planning, resource allocation, risk assessment, and timely execution. Despite thorough planning, unexpected issues can arise that can derail project timelines and devastate budgets. But with Monte Carlo simulation, a powerful technique that […]

Learn about Dr. Bhattacharya’s qualitative research in the field of decolonizing and gain insights into balancing research, mentoring, and supervision. In the realm of research, it's a well-known fact that qualitative research holds a distinct position as it is complex, theoretical, and abstract. As we delve deeper into this field, we realize the depth and […]

Effortlessly improve your decision making through risk modeling and analysis with @RISK software – a powerful add-in tool for Microsoft Excel. By using the Monte Carlo simulation technique, @RISK computes and tracks all possible scenarios in your risk model, and the probability each will occur, to help you judge which risks to take and which […]

As 2023 progresses, manufacturing companies continue to focus on supply chain management issues. In an April 2023 survey conducted by CNBC, only 36% of supply chain managers said they expected inventories to return to normal by year’s end. The New York Federal Reserve’s Global Supply Chain Pressure Index, which collates data from a range of […]

If you’re wondering ‘what is a literature review’ or trying to figure out how to write a literature review, you’ve come to the right place. While a literature review can be a summary of sources, it can also discuss published information in a variety of formats on a specific subject area and tends to have […]

Lumivero Support Center Now Live on the Lumivero Community Site We’re excited to announce a powerful new customer support center for NVivo, Citavi, and Sonia located on the Lumivero Community site. Our modern support structure now features a user-friendly design, improved communication with the support team, and access to the knowledge base – all in […]

Develop your data analysis skills and connect with experts across industries at the free, Lumivero Virtual Conference! The conference spans two full days from Sept. 27-28, features eight industry-leading keynote speakers, and is designed for anyone who wants to dig up deeper insights from their data. Learn how to take your qualitative and mixed methods […]

Deep Sensory Analysis Made Easy + Speed Up Your Sensory Data Preparation If you’re struggling with deep sensory data analysis or spending excess time adapting your sensory data format, these new XLSTAT features are for you! The latest edition of XLSTAT has been optimized to save you time and take your sensory analysis to the […]

The increased costs, lack of reliable transportation, and scarcity of supplies all clearly tell the story that’s reigned on news feeds since 2020; The global manufacturing sector is still adjusting to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine and there remains high supply chain risk. A September 2022 analysis of the […]

A Conversation with Dr. Dana Lanell In a recent podcast episode, we had the privilege of delving into the complexities of the evaluation profession with Dr. Dana Lanell, an esteemed Assistant Professor of Psychology and Evaluation at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. The conversation was rich with insights into the often-misunderstood field of evaluation. Starting out, […]

How to Optimize Production and Inventory and Improve Tolerance Stacking Through Risk Analysis and Forecasting Supply chain management issues continue to be top of mind for manufacturers, specifically issues relating to optimizing production and inventory. According to a survey of more than 200 manufacturers published by Deloitte in September 2022, part shortages impacted 57% of […]

How to Keep Supply Chains Flowing Amid Global Threats with Risk Analysis for Optimizing Manufacturing For manufacturers, COVID-19 revealed many vulnerabilities in today’s complex global supply chains and highlighted a need for optimizing manufacturing supply chains. Lockdowns shut factories, border closures disrupted shipping routes, and sudden shifts in consumer demand resulted in swollen inventories for […]

You already know that your favorite statistical analysis tool is packed with features to help derive new insights from your data, but are you using it to its full potential? With XLSTAT’s advanced PROCESS, EEMD, Time Series, MFA, and Semantic Chart features, you can test mediation and moderation hypotheses, perform advanced time series analyses, and […]

Free NVivo 14 Tutorials The NVivo you know and love is better, faster, and more rigorous than ever. With new team collaboration capabilities, Citavi integration, and enhanced research tools, NVivo 14 is designed to help researchers deliver deeper data insights in real-time with your colleagues using NVivo Collaboration Cloud. Plus, see how simplified account management […]

Organizations of all types use analytics to approach decision-making more objectively, accurately, and confidently. These techniques help decision-makers at all levels to be better-informed and to think in unbiased terms. Study after study shows that businesses who apply some level of rigor and analysis to complex decisions routinely enjoy better outcomes. But what is analytics? […]

According to Wikipedia, data analysis is “the process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions, and supporting decision-making.” There are many other definitions, of course, but the decision support aspect of this description is particularly important. There’s no disputing that data analysis is about better understanding […]

Research and technical writers at every level across all disciplines and industries experience the unique challenges of academic and professional writing – finding the right voice, composing compelling arguments, and weaving in qualitative and quantitative data. Those considerations are on top of the constant struggle to organize immense amounts of data, identify common themes and […]

Behind the Data Podcast, Episode 52: TikTok Microvlogging to Engage Non-Profit Stakeholders On the most recent episode of NVivo’s Behind the Data Podcast, Dr. Stacy Penna spoke with Dr. Kim Wiley, Assistant Professor of Nonprofit Leadership and Community Engagement at the University of Florida. When the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled her field research plans in 2020, […]

Working in a research team can be a rewarding experience, but it can also be challenging. Here are ten tips for research teams to work better together: Define Roles and Responsibilities: Clearly define the roles and responsibilities of each team member to avoid confusion and misunderstandings. Communicate Effectively: Effective communication is key to successful teamwork. […]

A new version of @RISK is available with advanced features for ScheduleRiskAnalysis– allowing you to apply powerful risk analysis to your project schedules.

The industry-leading risk analysis software is now even better! With more than 35 years of continuous software development, @RISK stands the test of time and continues to deliver unparalleled quality and reliability.   In this latest version, there are 12 new features designed to help you analyze the potential impact of risk factors on your projects […]

We’re excited to announce that a new version of XLSTAT is available! Thanks to our users’ suggestions, XLSTAT is constantly improving and building upon its 30 years of continuous evolution.  It's clear to see why XLSTAT is the top choice for data analysis software among more than 150,000 users across 120+ countries. With XLSTAT, you […]

Work placements can be one of the most rewarding experiences – and most daunting – in a student’s life to date. It is likely to be a little of both as bringing new people and insights into a student’s world will stretch them intellectually and emotionally.  To set a student up for success, it is […]

Streamlining the Dissertation Writing Process In a groundbreaking study on IT auditor competency, audit quality, and data security, Dr. Blake Curtis discovered a significant technical competency gap among Big Four IT auditors and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). His findings led him to become a published author and join several advisory boards, but he credits a […]

The long-term weather forecast can be summed up in one word: extreme. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), years of research into the impact of rising global temperatures indicates that extreme weather conditions are becoming more common. This includes heavy rainfall events that can lead to flooding. A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) analysis […]

The recent Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank crisis sparked significant concern and sowed distrust in the financial system among both the banks’ customers and the general public…

In Light of the First Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank Crises The recent First Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank crises sparked significant concern and sowed distrust in the financial system among both the banks’ customers and the general public. While bank collapses of this scale have not been seen […]

The newest version of NVivo is a significant step forward in an age when collaborative research is critical. As we bring NVivo 14 to the market, we’re addressing some increasingly essential needs of the research community: The ability to work as a team quickly and efficiently from anywhere and on any operating system The need […]

Wir haben Citavi 6.15.2 veröffentlicht und laden Sie ein, diese Version zu installieren, um die unten aufgeführten Fehler zu beheben. Falls Sie nach dem Öffnen eines Projekts nicht über ein verfügbares Update informiert werden, können Sie das Update auch von hier herunterladen und installieren: https://www.citavi.com/de/download. Ihre bestehenden Citavi-Projekte und die Einstellungen werden durch das Update […]

We just released an update to Citavi 6 (Citavi 6.15.2). We encourage you to install this version so you can take full advantage of the bug fixes listed below. If an update notification does not appear automatically in Citavi, you can download and install the Setup at https://www.citavi.com/en/download. Your Citavi projects and settings will not […]

Managing uncertainty in project schedules has never been easier thanks to DecisionTools Suite’s newest feature, ScheduleRiskAnalysis (SRA). SRA lets you perform risk analysis using Monte Carlo simulation on scheduling models created in Microsoft Project or Oracle Primavera P6, all within Microsoft Excel. By conducting risk analysis, you can figure out when projects might miss deadlines […]

What is Culturally Responsive Research? Conducting culturally responsive research is crucial when working with vulnerable populations in order to support and respect the participants’ experiences. In this post, we will give a variety of definitions for culturally responsive research and provide six examples of how researchers are using culturally responsive research methods with links to […]

Xanne Janssen has been awarded $25,000 over two years – hear from her about the study she is conducting.      Xanne Janssen is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychological Sciences and Health, at the University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom. Her project, “Parents’ barriers and facilitators to building better days” has been awarded the […]

Take charge and delegate tasks to your new personal research assistants Once you've done the bulk of your research and are heavily involved in the writing process, you will likely no longer be searching for new sources as frequently. Here are our four suggestions for efficiently keeping on top of new developments in your field.  […]

How can I find the journal article my professor mentioned?  My professor recommended a journal article for my research paper... but she didn't mention the exact title, author, or journal name. Now how on Earth can I find it?   Alex   Dear Alex, Ideally your professor will give you the link to the full text of the article or even print out the article for you. But that doesn't always happen. It could be that at the end of your talk she says that she saw an article in IEEE last year on visual analytics for author names and that […]

Go forwards in time with citation tracking A couple months ago in our blog post on bibliography hacking, we looked at how you can use a bibliography to find additional sources. But what if you want to find out who cited the article you have in your hands after it was published? Is there also a way to […]

Let your sources' bibliographies do your searching for you Do you often feel like you’re searching for sources in the all the wrong places? Or maybe you’ve been able to locate one or two relevant sources but are struggling to find additional ones? If so, the bibliography hacking method might be worth a try!  What is bibliography hacking?  Bibliography hacking is a […]

Tips for saving webpages, blogs, and articles We all know people who prefer to print things they find online before reading them. For me, it’s my father. I had to laugh when he showed me the print-outs of a travel blog he had discovered while preparing for an upcoming bicycle trip. He was happy that […]

Three Solutions for Inadvertent Pilers Are your stacks of papers and books growing at such an alarming rate that you're worried about being buried alive if they ever topple over?  Does looking at the height of the pile cause you stress? Do you feel like a failure when you can no longer find the documents […]

And other questions regarding self-citation You’re an undergraduate student with a double major in Political Science and Chinese Studies. You write a research paper for one of your Political Science courses on the history of China and how it influences modern-day politics. You do a lot of research for it, and you get a good […]

Use summaries to better understand difficult academic texts On Monday morning my co-worker asked me about my weekend, as he always does. I replied, “I went to a friend’s place for a party.” That was it.  My whole weekend in just nine words. Nothing could be more normal, but why didn’t I begin by recounting […]

Stop pulling all-nighters for good “Guess I’ll just have to pull another all-nighter,” was a phrase I said all-too-often during my studies. It seemed that whenever a test was coming up there was never enough time to prepare earlier. At the same time, I wanted to get the best grade possible. So, there was no […]

Two approaches for starting your writing sessions  Now that it’s summer, if you’re a graduate and postgraduate student, you’re likely settling in to a writing routine to try to make progress on your dissertation. When your schedule is more flexible, it can sometimes be difficult to know how to start each day. As such, we thought it would be nice to compare two basic approaches to tackling your day: the “eat your frog” and the “easy wins” approaches.  […]

Don't buckle under the strain of your thesis or other large endeavor! Start feeling better now with our tips. After grad school I thought the days of sobbing over a paper I couldn’t bring myself to start were behind me. Then, last year I started a continuing education course to improve my skills in an area I had little experience in: video.   With the fun and exhilaration of acquiring new skills came a dark side I had not anticipated: a feeling of inadequacy and extreme stress the likes of which I had not had in a while. The course […]

Our 6 top tips for a successful new semester A new academic year is a great chance to start over. It’s a time to say goodbye to the bad habits that may have plagued you in the past and start developing good ones to help you succeed. We’ve culled some of our top tips from […]

All about Academic Writing Month For many academics, the month of November is associated with making progress on a writing goal. In this blog post, we’ll discuss why that is, how Academic Writing Month started, and why there's such a need for it. Academic Writing Month (AcWriMo) was inspired by “National Novel Writing Month” (NaNoWriMo), […]

8 strategies that can help Nearly all of us have been there: sitting in front of the blank page not knowing where to start, a growing knot in our stomach and the temptation to get up and do the laundry instead, since then at least we’d be doing something useful. In our last blog post, we wrote […]

How to make sure you don't  forget anything important Is the deadline for your research paper or thesis getting closer and closer? In an ideal world you’d already be finished with your work and have ample time to make your last checks before printing out the final version. That’s at least how I always imagined […]

Taking your research paper one step at a time Whenever it’s morning in the office and the telephone is ringing, countless emails remain unread in my inbox, and questions from Citavi users continue to pour into our help desk, I often wish I could do and think about five things at once. I wish more […]

Why smartphones are so distracting and how you can build your concentration skills Think back to the last time you were really concentrated on your writing and completely in the zone. Can you remember what you were doing being completely effortless, time passing by quickly, and actually enjoying putting words on the page (or screen)?  For many of us, this “flow” state is not something we experience often, especially when engaged in […]

Metacognition, metalearning, and learning how to learn Fluent in 3 months, the 4-hour chef, The first 20 hours, Ultralearning – books on rapid learning often reach the top of The New York Times Best Seller list. Claiming to help their readers learn subjects quickly and often based on the author’s own experiences accomplishing amazing learning feats, they promise […]

How doing nothing can help you reach your academic goals. As a student, professor, or researcher it’s a given that you need to work hard. There’s always another paper to write, another grant proposal to finish, new results to analyze. And as you progress in your academic career, the responsibilities accumulate more and more. Teaching, […]

How the fresh start effect can help with your New Year's Resolutions I am willing to bet money that no one gets into New Year’s Resolutions with as much passion as my father does. At the end of each year, every year, my dad will sit down and write out his goals for the new […]

11 tips to help you get the most out of your citation software Reference management programs are one of the best tools an academic can use. They can keep you organized and save you from having to complete tedious tasks. However, they can also cause unnecessary headaches if you're not familiar with some basic knowledge […]

Three steps for taking control of a growing collection of sources. It's go time. Your advisor's parting words are still ringing in your ears, "Good luck with your Bachelor's thesis!" You've chosen your topic, gotten it approved, and now it's time to get started. But where on earth to begin? First, you want to get some […]

The single best piece of advice for getting unstuck when writing a dissertation – or anything else A while back I wanted to start doing some creative writing, and I picked up a classic guide to writing fiction called Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. The whole book is a treasure trove of great advice kindly and […]

Try the Creativity Tip that Helped David Bowie get Unstuck You’ve been there before. Your sources are spread out before you, you’ve done the reading, and you are intimately familiar with their contents. Now, like a puzzle, you just need to figure out how all these ideas fit together. If you could only find the […]

Why you should avoid secondary citations Did you hear what Anna said? I heard from a friend who heard from her boyfriend’s brother that she said she was mad at you… Sound familiar? We all know how our words can get taken out of context when what we say is told to someone else. That […]

How the information literacy skills you learn in your studies can help Amidst all the uncertainty of the current pandemic, one thing has become crystal clear: misinformation can spread as quickly as a virus. I’ve seen many posts on social media shared by friends about supposed cures or precautions one should take to avoid getting […]

What you need to know before using reference management software Imagine you want to hang up a picture, so you pick up a hammer to pound a nail into the wall. However, you’re not paying attention, and when you swing the hammer, you miss and hit your finger. Ouch! You might be tempted at first […]

Whenever I start a research paper, I either feel like I can’t find anything on my topic or that I'm only finding useless information. Am I doing something wrong?  Lisa  Dear Lisa,  I know exactly how you feel. My best friend’s wedding is coming up, and I need a dress. THE dress.  It can’t be […]

A selection of posts from the first year of the blog The blog team is taking a break this week, but we dove into our archive to find some posts from our very first year that we think are still worth a first or second look: The Perfect Fit: 5 steps for finding academic sources […]

Reading on screen versus on paper may impact how much you remember. Here’s what you can do. Coursework and research projects require a lot of reading. As more and more articles and books become available in electronic format, it's likely you’ll be doing much of this reading on a screen. However, research studies have shown that you may retain less information when you read something on screen rather than on paper.  Reading on screen versus on paper  Researchers have found problems with retention when reading onscreen materials. One study of tenth-grade students found that they had better recall and had better reading comprehension when they read a text on paper versus on screen. Another study from 2005 looked at changes in reading over the course of the last ten years. It showed that when people read on-screen, they tend to jump around more in the text rather than reading in a linear, focused manner.   What’s more, some researchers contend that by reading often in this way, we might be rewiring our brains in a way that prevents us from reading intently and deeply when we need to. Yikes. What can you do? First, do note that while there are individual studies showing a disadvantage when reading texts that involve higher levels of concentration on a screen, there don’t seem to be hard conclusions yet and some of the research is problematic.    Still, if you suspect you focus less when reading on screen, it might be a good idea to print out the papers that are especially important for you to comprehend.   Three tips for […]

Knowledge beyond the ivory tower Whenever I watch someone perform a magic trick, I wonder, “How did he or she do that?” In vain – as everyone knows, a magician will never reveal their tricks. It’s a different matter with academics. Although you might also first wonder how one of your colleagues obtained the results […]

Helpful online tools for academics When was the last time technology left you stranded? For me it was when I was stuck on hold with my Internet provider and praying that my connection problems would be resolved soon. I simply couldn’t continue working without the Internet! At that moment, it became painfully clear to me […]

Nine questions that can help you find the perfect fit It’s not easy to find just one pair of shoes that’s right for every occasion. The same is true for reference management software. There’s still no one-size-fits-all solution that appeals to everyone and that can help with all academic tasks. That’s because each person will […]

Making sure everyone has a piece of the (knowledge) pie Imagine that you buy a bushel of apples from your local supermarket and then bake an apple pie following your friend’s instructions. Now imagine that your friend will only let you eat the pie if you pay her. Something similar takes place in the traditional […]

When to use them and what to watch out for Whenever I hear the term “social media” I think about the platform I personally use most frequently: Facebook. Like most people, I utilize it primarily for entertainment. Rather than high-value intellectual content, my feed is comprised of funny videos, vacation pictures from my friends, or […]

And how your reference management software can help In our last post, we looked at some strategies for being more creative from the book Creativity in Research. While you can certainly implement the suggestions from that book without any additional software, apps and other tools can sometimes help give you additional motivation to stick to your goals […]

And how you can find peer-reviewed journals for your first research paper Did you just get assigned your first research paper and are wondering about the requirement to use “peer-reviewed” or “scholarly” journal articles? You’re not alone. I worked as an intern for a while at my university’s library, and I still remember the day […]

Start off your studies strong Being a first-year student is difficult enough when you don’t have a pandemic going on around you. You have to navigate a new environment, fulfill new expectations, and plan out your studies for yourself. You’re trying to make new friends and live up to the tougher demands of your coursework. […]

What to focus on for long-term change, plus helpful tips you can use now Academic research requires creativity. Whether it’s putting together an original research topic, applying a novel methodological approach, or making a truly humanity-changing discovery, such as finding a cure for cancer, innovation is expected, and it is what pushes your field further. […]

Schnell und langfristig kreativer mit diesen Tipps Ohne Kreativität gäbe es keine Forschung. Wenn Sie Ihre Forschungsfrage formulieren, einen neuen methodischen Ansatz austesten oder eine Entdeckung machen, die die Menschheit wirklich verändert, dann bringt Ihre Innovation Ihr Forschungsfeld weiter. Es ist die Triebfeder Ihrer Handlungen als Wissenschaftlerin, dass Sie sich immer neue Ideen einfallen lassen […]

Reach great heights by building upon the achievements of others As a student, you may often feel daunted by your professors. During my college years, I remember that I often felt intimidated by the depth and breadth of information and theories my literature professors were able to cite ad hoc during their lectures. How did they know all of […]

A look at the Planned Accidents blog authors' idea generation and writing process In this third post in our creativity series, blog authors Jenny and Jana answer questions about  the blog writing process. Read our inteview below to learn how they come up with new ideas, how they research and organize their work, what their […]

And how can you use reference management software when you're working with it? Many of our readers are likely aware that Citavi was recently acquired by QSR International, an academic software company that makes the leading QDA software NVivo. However, if you don’t use qualitative analysis in your field, you might only have a vague idea of […]

5 tips for Citavi (and other) webinars This blog post is especially meant for Citavi instructors, their colleagues, and future Citavi Champions who want to share their knowledge and way of working with Citavi with others. But it’s also useful for anyone who leads webinars on other topics as well. Here are tips I’ve picked up over […]

Who gets thanked in the acknowledgements section in theses and dissertations and why As a Citavi customer proudly told me that he had completed his dissertation and that I had helped him to do so, I couldn’t have been happier. But I was especially touched when he told me that he had added my name to the […]

Since the beginning of the year there have been a lot of changes made to Citavi, which we're excited to tell you about in this features roundup. When Citavi Web was first released last year, it was with the understanding that parity between the Windows version and Citavi Web would come over time. We've heard […]

Dissertation writing requires you to develop a complex argument supported by appropriate evidence. To do this effectively, you’ll need to learn how to organize your arguments, transition between ideas, and meet the demands of writing at an academic level. Too often, written scholarly work lacks a clear, organized and credible academic argument. This lack of […]

Most of us can imagine the academic who effortlessly turns caffeine into written words and might actually be a machine. It’s easy to think that everyone else is finding it easier to write than you do. But most academic writers don’t enjoy the writing process every single day. They often find that committing their research to paper […]

Published: Jan. 2, 2023 Updated: Sept. 1, 2023 The escalation of Russian’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to crude oil price volatility and a surge to over $130 a barrel in the spring of 2022. These high levels for oil prices, which have not been seen since 2008, […]

On the first day of research, my data gave to me... (Part two) Today we continue our 14 days of research journey with 7 more interesting elements of NVivo to discover. Click here if you’ve not read the first part of this series. 8 Interviews Auto-coded  If you make one resolution for 2023, make it […]

Evaluation of Student Success within Social Work Education’s Signature Pedagogy Over 250 Sonia users came together in October to share best practices and learn more about Sonia's newest features and functions during our Asia-Pacific and North America Virtual Sonia User Group meetings. In the next five blog posts will present some key highlights from our […]

On the First day of research, my data gave to me... Join us as we help you to (re)discover some of the key elements of NVivo that will help set you up for success in 2023. Our 14 days of research (in honour of NVivo 14, which is coming early 2023), selects some of the […]

Evaluation of Student Success within Social Work Education’s Signature Pedagogy Field education is the “signature pedagogy” of social work education (CSWE, 2008). As a result of the focus on field education in the preparation of social workers for professional practice, the evaluation of students in their field placements has been a vital form of determining […]

Between the Data Episode 47: Post-Intentional Phenomenology: Considerations and Principles Social science researchers have long utilized phenomenological research methodologies in their qualitative research to study consciousness from direct experience. While this approach to the human experience offers significant insight, it can miss contextual data due to ignoring the environment of the experience itself. The complexity […]

Continuing with this series of articles introducing cost estimating with @RISK, we will compare the use of the most popular distributions of this technique: the Triangular and the PERT. We know that cost estimation is one of the most critical parts of project management. In addition, we know that three-point estimation – with PERT or […]

Academic Writing Month runs in November and challenges participants to set and meet a writing goal during the month.   To help everyone participating, we’ve done a round of up our best scholarly writing resources and will also release great new writing content regularly during November.   Let’s go!    [Blog] What is #AcWriMo?   […]

Manage uncertainty in project schedules like never before with Monte Carlo simulation. Perform risk analysis on Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project models in the @RISK for Excel environment. Answer questions like “Will this project finish on time?” or “Will we be within budget?”.

Beauty has long been a topic of interest, from philosophers who struggled to define it to artists who sought to portray it. And now, with an entire industry devoted to products and procedures that claim to enhance it, it is a treasure trove of research with implications for everything from sociology to marketing. Researchers also […]

Originally Published: Nov. 1, 2022 Updated: Sept. 1, 2023 At the time of this article's publication in November 2022, the U.S. dollar was at its highest level since 2000, up more than 20 percent over other major currencies such as the British pound, the euro, and the yen. The economic forecast was for more volatility […]

This article offers a simple and concise explanation of the Monte Carlo simulation, a technique that combines statistical concepts (random sampling) with the ability of computers to generate pseudo-random numbers and automate calculations, for basic cost engineering. The key to Monte Carlo simulation is to create a mathematical model of the system, process, or activity […]

The 2022 FIFA World Cup is right around the corner and the tournament predictions are pouring in. While checking team rankings and relying on gut instinct might be the classic approach to choosing your champion in your FIFA World Cup bracket, risk analysis software is changing the game by helping to quantitatively predict match outcomes. […]

NVivo was used to enable a recent study that identified family history as the most significant factor in assessing personal breast cancer risk, but health behaviors and environment were also influences. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month—which makes it a good time for everyone to assess their risk of developing the disease. Advances in genetic […]

As the world of work moves ever faster, it’s never been more important for academia to connect with business and the workplaces into which students will emerge. One approach finding significant favour is Work-integrated learning (WIL), an umbrella term for a range of experiential education opportunities which involve an external stakeholder – typically a potential […]

A Purchasing Strategy Example Considering Suboptimal Decisions Lumivero’s PrecisionTree software allows you to analyze the probabilities of different outcomes, and their impacts, in sequential, multi-stage decisions. The decision trees in PrecisionTree show the probabilities of these outcomes assuming that the optimal decisions are made at each of the decision nodes (points in the process where […]

Dr. Janet Salmons interviewed by Dr. Stacy Penna, Engagement and Enablement Director NVivo Podcast Between the Data Ep 44 Launched by SAGE Publishing in 2009, MethodSpace is an online community for the discussion of social and behavioral research methods, which gives scholars and students a space to share experiences and solve problems on a global […]

Real estate investment opportunities come in all shapes and sizes – from new developments that traditionally provide reliable, predictable income, to troubled properties that could have significant financial potential if developed and managed properly. The key to success with these opportunities – particularly when dealing with dilapidated properties or Fannie Mae foreclosures – is identifying […]

Dr. Pablo Valdivia & Rosmery-Ann Boegeholz interviewed by Dr. Stacy Penna, Engagement and Enablement Director NVivo Podcast Between the Data Ep 43 It’s hard to think of a time when social media wasn’t a part of our lives. Indeed, for many young people, it always has been. Unfortunately, in a media-saturated culture that prizes unrealistic […]

Scholarly Writing Institute Recap Enhance your writing skills and discover digital tools to assist with the publishing process. NVivo and Citavi have once again partnered with Dissertation by Design to present the free Scholarly Writing Institute. Dissertation by Design is an organization that works with all scholarly writers, including students, academics, and research professionals. The […]

Many who have been exposed to Monte Carlo simulation learned about it in the context of financial modeling such as asset management, cash flow analysis, or actuarial study.  And that’s with good reason: The applications of Monte Carlo simulation for giving valuable insights into areas of financial uncertainty are limitless. 

A common first step in litigation strategy is to calculate the case’s settlement value. As discussed in our past legal blog series, settlement calculations can quickly become inundated with countless variables and uncertainties. These legal uncertainties raise questions about estimating damages, a crucial step in the value calculation.

Previously we discussed the importance of crafting decision trees in litigation strategy and why patent litigation is an expensive, time-consuming process. In part three, we will be focusing on how to leverage Palisade’s @RISK software to overcome decision analysis challenges and calculate probabilities of all possible scenarios occurring to determine fair market value of intellectual property (IP).

To lay the groundwork for swift settlements, many legal firms use PrecisionTree software to map out all possible routes a litigation path can take by building quantitative, probabilistic decision trees that calculate case outcomes along the way. This decision-making software can calculate for risks and rewards, forecast case budgets, identify key investigation areas, and create impartial, realistic models to cut down on time and costs.

In litigation, you often get stuck in inefficient negotiations. Between 95-97% of patent lawsuits settle before trial, but not before amassing an average of more than $2 million in expenses, according James C. Yoon, partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. If a long negotiation is disadvantageous for both parties, why does it take so long to reach settlement?

Business continuity and emergency response managers know that recovering from a crisis requires proactive planning – regardless of whether you can see trouble approaching. Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic have taught us to expect the unexpected. So called “black swan” events, dubbed such because they are supposed to be rare, are not as unusual as the moniker suggests.

The practice of thematic analysis is widely used in qualitative analysis but sometimes not acknowledged or confused with other approaches. Here at QSR International we break down the ambiguities of thematic analysis as an approach, and hope this interpretation can breathe new life into it, as new and emerging forms of content become more integral […]

On any given day, close to 80% of NVivo users are busy analyzing interviews. Like you, they're looking for the best way to make sense of their data so they can deliver robust results. If you’re new to NVivo or just getting started with analyzing interviews (thematic analysis) it can be hard knowing where to […]

Across all disciplines, there is growing pressure to obtain grants to advance research. There are many reasons why funding is necessary to further research, from conducting trials, analysis and testing, to acquiring equipment, creating prototypes or paying for researchers’ time and travel. It all costs money. Let’s face it – applying for research funding is […]

Recorded interviews are one of the most popular forms of qualitative data collection. They are nearly always transcribed and the analysis is conducted on the transcribed text. But is that enough? What is the path forward with the transcription process?  Let’s discuss the different approaches to transcription, analyzing the text, and making transcription go beyond […]

Conducting a thorough critique of the literature is incredibly important, but as a writer, you may feel daunted by the enormity of the task. Following these 10 tips can help you focus your writing efforts. These tips can also help you write a literature review that moves beyond summarizing the research and toward critiquing it […]

I have been helping academics and others on their writing and writing productivity for over twenty years (and over ten years as a coach--time flies!!). While I have many technical tips and tools that explore with folks, much of what I do is helping scholars maximize their psychosocial resources and resilience. In other words, I […]

Long supply chains for technology companies in the United States combined with the need for timely delivery of products to customers has brought challenges to planning. The global pandemic added even more complexity to meet demand for timely delivery. Dell Technologies adopted a hybrid replenishment strategy using both ocean and air shipping to ensure inventory and service levels while reducing logistics costs. The supply chain strategy team evaluated the static initial inventory policy to identify an optimal solution that would minimize total fulfillment cost.

Setting aside the issue of expertise, even mid-career academics have a hard time imagining how they could make the investment of time to write a textbook. But if you’ve been teaching the same course for a number of years and have begun to add your own twist to it, there is a possibility that you […]

November is Academic Writing Month (AcWriMo)! Along with the bounty of resources and advice that Academic Writing Month brings, it is important to acknowledge the frustration and deep worry about failure that is part of the process. Towards that end, I advocate getting rid of the saying publish or perish and replacing it with Publish […]

After joining the newly formed Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, I was tasked with leading a project to centralize and streamline the new college’s field placement data management. We were working with various spreadsheets up to that point, which was slow, inconsistent, and inefficient, so no longer viable.   >> Read […]

We’re delighted to have our new Product and Community Director, and field placement expert, Sally Warlow, presenting a webinar on how she spearheaded an initiative to implement new placement processes and scale the use of Sonia from two to 17 programs, supporting thousands of students  at one university.   >>Watch the webinar now You’ll learn how Sally […]

This is a continuation of Part I in this series on Decision Tree Analysis. Life is full of tough choices. Most of us muddle through them using best guesses and gut feelings. But have you ever wondered if there might be a more sophisticated way to make decisions? Many businesses, researchers, and organizations have asked […]

Conducting analysis of decision making under uncertainty using decision trees serves several purposes.  This can be done easily in Excel spreadsheets with PrecisionTree software. First, a decision tree is a visual representation of a decision situation (and hence aids communication). Second, the branches of a tree explicitly show all those factors within the analysis that […]

The use of custom Excel programming and @RISK APIs allows the automated analysis of historical data and construction of sophisticated risk models. Here, we present an application in the energy sector as an example. As part of its Custom Development services, Palisade developed an add-in that automates the construction of a risk analysis model to assess the Value-At-Risk  […]

Create a Better Field Placement Experience Improving field placement communications with the right plan, framework, and approach can help save time, increase productivity, and create a better placement experience for all involved. For placement program managers, creating an effective communications plan comes with challenges. Without the right plan, methodology and technology, critical pieces of communication […]

Field placements, experiential learning, student placement or work-integrated learning – it doesn’t matter what you call it, on-the-job learning for students is fast expanding and is here to stay.   Innovative universities and programs recognize the need to use technology to support the delivery of field placements in a way that is efficient, meets privacy […]

Palisade's former CEO, Randy Heffernan, was featured in the May 2021 issue of Risk Management Magazine. In this article he shared, in part: Monte Carlo simulation performs risk analysis by building models of possible results by substituting a range of values—a probability distribution—for any factor that has inherent uncertainty. It then calculates results over and […]

Utilizing a software called @RISK we evaluated the NASA bearing data to determine the best-fit distribution. It turns out that for the bearing data, the lognormal distribution is the best fit. Click here to read the article.

The prospect of graduating from spreadsheets or sticky notes to placement software is exciting. There are so many time and cost savings, plus the ease with which compliance, reporting and risk can be managed.  However, it can be overwhelming for placement managers to navigate the world of placement software when it’s new to you. We’ve […]

With Citavi now part of the QSR International family, we’ve released a new NVivo and Citavi integration into the latest version of NVivo (released in March 2020) that makes it easier for researchers like you to write and reference. The new integration means you can take advantage of quick imports of literature into NVivo for […]

I don’t know a researcher on the planet who doesn’t wish they could publish faster. If you work with NVivo, you already know that it can save a substantial amount of time with transcription, coding automation, data analysis, and visualization. But what about all the other steps in the research and writing process? Is there […]

We are very pleased to share exciting news: QSR International has acquired Citavi, the only all-in-one reference management and note taking app that will intuitively streamline analyzing sources and organizing notes in one location. Citavi can augment NVivo’s powerful qualitative data analytics capabilities, helping you search for, organize, record, and cite references. Together, our combined […]

Back in 2000, I wrote about how you could you use NVivo for your literature review. The software has changed significantly since then with a different interface and terminology and the possibility to import from a range of bibliographic software but the basics were all in place. For those who still need to learn the […]

Palisade’s PrecisionTree is used help decision makers choose between multiple options and take account of cost and rewards of different options, such as choosing the highest versus the lowest bid.  It allows you to visually map out, organize, and analyze decisions using decision trees, right in Microsoft Excel. This analysis is outlined in a piece from […]

Confronting the myth of the lone researcher There is a myth that qualitative researchers work alone. Lyn Richards, co-developer of NUD*IST and the early versions of NVivo, pointed this out nearly twenty years ago and more recently so did Judy Davidson. As Davidson says, this myth has shaped the instruction given to new researchers, instructional […]

When our Field Education team had the opportunity to improve inefficient processes that were adding time and costs to running our field placement programs, we jumped at the chance! After an extensive process reviewing available options, we confidently selected Sonia as the best software for managing student placements. Sonia came with outstanding customer references and […]

When our Field Education team had the opportunity to improve inefficient processes that were adding time and costs to running our field placement programs, we jumped at the chance! After an extensive process reviewing available options, we confidently selected Sonia as the best software for managing student placements. Sonia came with outstanding customer references and […]

It’s that time. Accreditation season. You’re preparing. Where are those assessments stored? How do you find that data? The pressure is on to ensure your program remains competitive and your students are successful.   Whether you’re in a school of nursing, social work, medicine or psychology, accreditation audits can be tough to manage. However, with […]

People managing placements are busy! There are students to manage, site contacts to update, sites to source and university staff to report to. Often, entire programs are managed via complicated and manual systems and processes using Excel or home-grown software that can be out of date or complex to use and integrate. What if there […]

Calum Turvey, W.I. Myers Professor of Agricultural Finance, uses @RISK in his Risk Simulation and Optimization course. Offered by the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, Risk Simulation and Optimization attracts over 50 students per semester. @RISK is used to evaluate problems of finance, including capital budgeting, investments, random walks, derivatives pricing and […]

It’s never been more necessary to ensure strong risk management in a placement program. Universities and workplaces are managing numerous unknowns, and operational requirements can change on a daily basis. Ensure your placement program is set up to successfully manage your duty of care, privacy and compliance responsibilities. Maintain Policies, Processes and Procedures Ensure you […]

Why Centralized Placement Management Is the Future Higher education institutions are prioritizing student experience, teaching innovation, diversity and workplace readiness. Key programs of work to address these priorities typically involve experiential learning, and more specifically, supporting professional experience via co-op. Placement programs are often run independently by different schools at a single university. This presents […]

The basis of a solid risk assessment is understanding that probability exists in a range, not a specific number, says Henry Yennie, a program manager at the Louisiana Department of Health. … “I think it’s educating the leadership that has to evaluate risk,” said Yennie, who’s been using @RISK since Hurricane Katrina devastated the state […]

Experiential education programs are vital for effectively preparing students for the workforce. Managing these programs can be challenging, and how students and host sites experience your school’s program reflects on your university’s reputation, so a lot is at stake. Here are three easy ways that you can make managing your placement program easier for you, […]

Hospital bed availability changes daily, especially during COVID-19, as patients are admitted and discharged. @RISK gives staff a real-time look at data as it evolves, so they can develop models from different variables. … The probabilistic or stochastic models, such as @RISK, examine a wider range of possibilities and how likely each one is to […]

To support researchers all over the world in coming together, we are hosting our first virtual conference, “Qualitative Research in a Changing World” on September 23, 2020. We want our first conference to be accessible for everyone. So it runs for 24 hours, with live sessions across all time zones. To ensure you can catch all […]

This is an example of the use of @RISK automation applied to stock portfolio optimization. It is a custom application written by Lumivero Custom Development using @RISK’s XDK in Excel. The steps outlined in the Stock Portfolio Optimization example include: Obtain Price & Weight Data The user will first define a portfolio of stocks. Run […]

In the Empowerment Through Culturally Responsive Focus Groups podcast, Dr. Jori Hall, Associate Professor at the University of Georgia in the Department of Lifelong Education Administration and Policy, discusses how culturally responsive focus groups can be sites for social justice. Planning The Focus Group Dr. Hall begins the podcast by describing focus groups and culturally […]

QSR has long been committed to making NVivo intuitive and easy to learn.  The newest version of NVivo, released March 2020, includes five sample projects which illustrate how NVivo can be used with different types of data and approaches to analysis.  Two of the projects are available when you install NVivo and the other three are available for download.  >> Explore the […]

A Change Of Scenery Changing your workspace can have wide-ranging benefits—from enhanced mental and social stimulation to improved productivity, focus, and creativity. Gone are the days where an employee had to be confined to a desk to fulfill their duties. We live in a digital, connected age where we can Zoom in to department meetings, […]

In the webinar focused on the impact that the COVID-19 crisis has on researchers, Christine Hine, Professor of Sociology at the University of Surrey, UK, discussed the challenges facing online ethnography. Christine has a major interest in the development of ethnography in technical settings and in "virtual methods" (the use of the Internet in social […]

During our webinar titled Teaching Qualitative Methods Online a panel of instructors discussed best practices on incorporating QDA software, like NVivo into an online qualitative methods course. The panel included Christina Silver, Ph.D., Founder of Qualitative Data Analysis Services Ltd and Research Fellow at the University of Surrey, Chareen Snelson, Ed.D., Associate Professor, Boise State University, Department […]

We interviewed Jim Cockell, who is part of a research team in the Faculty of Nursing at the University Alberta. The research team works with photovoice, a community-based participation research modality, in their participant action research projects that have participants document the challenges and opportunities of a preceptorship in rural care settings. Understanding Photovoice Photovoice, […]

During our recent webinar on COVID-19 and Virtual Qualitative Fieldwork, Dr. Deborah Lupton, Professor at the Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, described multiple modes for conducting qualitative fieldwork during these challenging times. Researchers Need To Reinvent Methods Due to the isolation measures […]

In the second webinar of our series focused on the impact that the COVID-19 crisis has on researchers, When the Field is Online, Dr. Janet Salmons, free-range scholar, Methods Guru for Sage Publications’ Methodspace and long-time practitioner and teacher of online research discussed ways researchers can adapt their methods using online research. Janet was an […]

Modeling from empirical data takes observed information and attempts to replicate that information in a set of calculations. There are a number of relationships to account for when incorporating those data in a model. These relationships include dependencies and/or correlations. Correlations are often omitted for a variety of reasons, which can lead to critical errors […]

Using grounded theory, you can examine a specific process or phenomenon and develop new theories derived from the collected real-world data and their analysis. Grounded theory is an inductive approach in which a theory is developed based on the data. This is the opposite of the traditional hypothesis-deductive research approaches, where hypotheses are formulated and […]

Kristi Jackson, trusted NVivo expert and trainer has reviewed the new NVivo and shares her thoughts. A Visual Delight Import > Organize > Explore!  This is a great new structure for the navigation of NVivo and the first thing I noticed as I investigated the new interface. The visual separation between the Navigation View, List […]

Document analysis is the process of reviewing or evaluating documents both printed and electronic in a methodical manner. The document analysis method, like many other qualitative methods, involves examining and interpreting data to uncover meaning, gain understanding, and come to a conclusion. What is Meant By Document Analysis? Document analysis pertains to the process of […]

Each March, office productivity is greatly impacted by the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Just about everyone—regardless of their passion for college basketball—fills out a bracket in hopes of winning their respective pool (or pools). Some rely strictly on their knowledge of the teams involved, while others choose winners based on uniform color, where they’d rather live […]

The continuous uniform distribution represents a situation where all outcomes in a range between a minimum and maximum value are equally likely. From a theoretical perspective, this distribution is a key one in risk analysis; many Monte Carlo software algorithms use a sample from this distribution (between zero and one) to generate random samples from […]

In Six Sigma analyses, there seems to be some low level confusion about Cpk and Ppk and what they actually represent. Very basically, Cpk is short term “noiseless” process capability where Ppk is long term “noisy” process capability. Some of the confusion regarding these two metrics may be because the automotive industry had at one […]

When performing a cost risk analysis study, one of the key results is the amount of extra monetary resources that is to be added to the project cost baseline to guarantee that the budget is not exceeded at a certain confidence level. Good project risk management strategies must take this into account. After defining the […]

Real options are the flexibilities that are inherent in general business or other decision situations. In general, a real option is present in any decision situation involving a decision-chance-decision sequence; the possibility to (at the second decision) select from a range of different decision possibilities after the occurrence of the chance event may alter the […]

What are the characteristics of successful managers? Surveys consistently show decision-making ability at or near the top of the lists. Perhaps no management activity is more important. Risk and Decision Analysis in Projects by John R. Schuyler presents the approach and principal techniques of decision analysis to help the reader realize faster, more confident, and […]

When building a Monte Carlo simulation model in @RISK for project risk analysis, we can incorporate a risk register through risk factors. Risk factors are more concrete abstractions of risk and define situations that can be individually assessed with a limited amount of information. Risk factors affect a project through the occurrence of events that disrupt the […]

Let’s move on from Part I of this blog series on the Efficient Frontier, formulated over half a century ago by Harry Markowitz, to the New Frontier postulated by investment advisor Richard Machaud.  Michaud is the author of Efficient Asset Management: A Practical Guide to Stock Portfolio Optimization and Asset Allocation (Oxford University Press, 2008), […]

This article from IndexUniverse.com details just one of the ways Monte Carlo simulation can be tuned to the combined unfolding of time and risk.  First, a little background. Since Harry Markowitz won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1990, the Efficient Frontier has been the line in the sand under which portfolio managers wiggle their toes. The Efficient Frontier […]

In Part II of this series, we mentioned the existence of an analytic method to calculate the Efficient Frontier of a portfolio. Here we provide the formulas for this method. As for other methods to calculate the Efficient Frontier, this method requires knowledge of the variance-covariance matrix of the set of assets, as well as […]

This entry follows on from Part I, describing portfolio optimization for portfolios where the expected return and standard deviation are sufficient to describe the decision-makers’ risk profile (i.e. the criteria to be used in deciding what is meant by “optimal”). There are several ways to calculate this optimal or “Efficient” Frontier: Use Lumivero’s Evolver (optimization add-in […]

The topic of the selection and weighting of assets (or projects) associated with an optimal portfolio is a large and complex one.  For example in general business applications, the determination of the optimal set of companies or subsidiaries that a holding company or conglomerate should own may depend on a large number of factors (including basic risk-return […]

Dr. Philip Adu is a Methodology Expert at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TCSPP). In this post he explains the things to consider when presenting your research findings. This post follows on from his previous blog post “Perfecting the art of qualitative coding” in which he took us through the stages of qualitative coding […]

This blog briefly posts some fairly standard “best practice principles” in Excel modeling. The following principles are generally to be applied to Excel models (in fact, in practice, many of these may need to be varied or interpreted in a slightly different way than it might seem at first: The model should be objectives driven, […]

Just for fun, here we talk about using Monte Carlo simulation to estimate the value of π (3.14159…). A circle of radius one will have area equal to π, and a square drawn around that circle will have area 4. When centered at the origin the circle has the equation x^2+y^2=1. Therefore if one were […]

NVivo Transcription has arrived to help solve the problem faced by many researchers – hours of manual transcription of data sources like interviews, and focus groups, which take precious time and resources away from analysis of the data. NVivo Transcription is an automated transcription assistant, which utilizes natural language processing technology to listen to the […]

Best practices for collaborating with colleagues, data source considerations, and sharing actionable insights for healthcare and non-profit researchers Collaboration and stakeholder management Engaging in a research project outside of an academic context can be a much different experience, particularly for those working in healthcare, non-profits and NGO’s. One of the major differences you’re likely to […]

Renewables pose real challenges for utility operators, particularly solar and wind power. Renewables such as biomass, geothermal, and hydro, however, are as controllable as fossil fuel plants. How do you account for the uncertainty inherent in the more unpredictable sources of renewable energy? Using DecisionTools Suite products @RISK, Evolver, and RISKOptimizer, the author examines unique […]

NVivo and SPSS both feature heavily in the toolkit I use as a researcher, so I was pretty excited when I heard that NVivo would enable me to work with SPSS data for my mixed methods research. Why am I so excited? Mixed methods data analysis was always possible in NVivo, but it was necessary […]

The new NVivo 12 is here, and I’m very excited to share with you all the new features and improvements that are available across both Windows and Mac, that will enhance your research experience and allow you to do more of what you want to do with NVivo. We’ve heard your feedback about particular aspects […]

"None of us is as smart as all of us." -- Ken Blanchard Collaboration in NVivo 11 Pro for Windows revolves around the idea of merging individual projects into a ‘master project’. How does this work? A team leader creates a ‘master project’ and distributes copies to the team. Team members work in their individual […]

University of Hull Library Skills Adviser, Lee Fallin, share his insights on creating an NVivo community via a user group on campus. The University of Hull Skills Team provides support to postgraduate students in their use of NVivo for research. A major part of this support has always been our NVivo workshops. The workshops have […]

Cases and their attributes are powerful features in NVivo. They facilitate comparisons between your research participants (or other entities) and can reveal patterns and insight in your data. This post helps you assess whether cases would be useful for your project and provides a roadmap for setting them up. A sample scenario Let’s say you’ve […]

As a qualitative researcher, you wear many hats. For any given project, you need to: Read widely and have a thorough grasp on what’s happening in your field Understand and choose between research methodologies Come up with a focused yet flexible research question Manage the paper-work involved in getting research approved Organize a timetable and […]

Lyn Lavery is an NVivo Certified Platinum Trainer and, as the director of Academic Consulting, has overseen an extensive range of academic and government-based research projects. In this post, Lyn explains how to use initial qualitative coding as a springboard for deeper data analysis. I regularly have clients seek assistance once they’ve completed their coding. […]

In this blog, we take you through the ins and outs of literature reviews, what critically examining the literature means and how to get started.  A good literature review:  Recognizes and groups published information into the same, related or different fields of interest. Emphasizes the focus of your topic.  If you’re just starting out, consider […]

Whether you’re a student or an experienced practitioner, it’s not unusual to have a crisis of confidence during a qualitative research project. This credibility checklist will help keep you on track. 1. Have I engaged with the literature? A systematic literature review demonstrates your familiarity with the topic and positions you as a credible expert. […]

More and more industries (education, business, health and government) are getting serious about qualitative research. Knowing what it is and being familiar with the technologies that support it can help kick your career into overdrive. What does 'qualitative' mean? 'Qualitative’ is a term used to define research that occurs in many workplaces and study environments […]

Coding in NVivo for Mac? Here are 6 videos to help you. 1. Find out why nodes and cases are so important Not sure what nodes and cases are? Get to grips with these terms and find out how cases can help you analyze your material based on demographic information. 2. Organize the demographic data […]

It’s often difficult to determine which factors require the most attention in business decisions which can lead to focusing on the wrong things while ignoring what’s most important.  Tornado graphs are an effective way to determine which aspects have the most impact on a business decision, so you can focus on what matters rather than […]

Project Manager Today took an in-depth look at @RISK Professional, saying: "All projects involve risks, but it’s vital to understand what those risks are and how they might affect your budget and schedule. @RISK is a well-established software tool that’s been designed to help you do that." It's a thorough review of features, with helpful screen […]

Dr. Philip Adu is a Methodology Expert at the National Center for Academic & Dissertation Excellence (NCADE) in The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TCSPP).  In this post, he takes us through the stages of qualitative coding and, along the way, outlines the features he finds most useful. Think about analyzing interview transcripts: capturing significant […]

Agriculture is traditionally one of the highest risk economic activities. In California, many produce farm operations use a rule-of-thumb to manage their seasonal finances–often aiming to contract 80% of their crop in advance to buyers at set prices, and leaving the remaining 20% to be sold at spot prices in the open market. The rationale […]

Yes, the new NVivo suite is here and you can choose an edition of the software that suits the way you want to work. Question is, how do you choose the edition that's right for you? As with all of life's great choices, it depends on a combination of factors - the data you're analyzing, […]

Humans are inherently complex. Research with human subjects requires patience, attention to detail, and a love of intersectionality. NVivo helps one harness their inner zen, expand their ability to deepen analysis while also increasing sources, and unearth nuances that lie beyond the naked eye. As a researcher and program evaluator, mixed methodologies in research design, […]

Climate change has already started to create extreme and unpredictable weather events around the globe. In this article, Randy Heffernan outlines the importance of considering these unknowns for businesses and organizations everywhere. Specifically describes a prime example in which the Australian government used Monte Carlo simulations to determine the best course of action when considering […]

This post started life on the NSMNSS blog—a great initiative (run jointly by NatCen Social Research and SAGE) that fosters lively discussion about the challenges of working with social media data. Imagine you’re sitting on a qualitative goldmine—in-depth interviews, focus groups, intriguing survey results, nuanced observations and a comprehensive lit review. All the traditional boxes […]

There are some excellent resources available about using NVivo for your literature reviews. Here, I describe some ways in which I use NVivo for literature reviews, which you might find useful. I believe working with NVivo during literature review is an excellent way to manage research, a practical way to learn and practice with NVivo, […]

A large part of the risk management process involves looking into the future, trying to understand what might happen and whether it matters to an important decision we need to make. An important quantitative technique which has been neglected in recent years - decision trees - is enjoying something of a revival. This article describes […]

Analytics India Magazine featured Palisade's World Cup 2014 simulation model in their article, "How to Win the World Cup Office Pool". Taking data from the rankings of over 200 national teams from FIFA spanning the past four years (2011-2014), Palisade created a model that uses @RISK to determine the probabilities of different teams winning at […]

The world of financial markets and investments is rife with risk and reward. This is particularly true for hedge funds, sophisticated investment vehicles that are typically used only by experienced investors and firms. They are named for the fact that investors ‘hedge,’ or attempt to protect their funds against volatile swings in the markets. But […]

Soccer fans around the world are gearing up for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Many will be putting money on the various matches—basing their bets on national pride or gut feelings. There is another option, however. If you have the data and the inclination, you could also utilize a Monte Carlo simulation to place […]

The Wall Street Journal featured @RISK's 2014 World Cup simulation model in their article, "The Journal's Prediction". Reporter Matthew Futterman consulted Fernando Hernández on his "brilliantly logical prediction model" that picks who would win -- with home-field advantage and without. Click here to read the article.

NVivo allows you to create diagrams from your data - a picture emerges of different categories and nodes and how they relate to each other. Coding queries give you insight into the sort of data you have so that you begin to understand what may be worthy of further examination. Matrix coding queries then allow […]

The article shines light on the fact that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has launched an interactive web-based tool called iRISK, to combat the seeming endless risks in the "farm-to-table" pathway. Like @RISK, this tool utilizes Monte Carlo simulation to analyze potential food contamination risk based on a number of factors: the food(s), the […]

A recent article written Randy Heffernan explores a variety of applications of Monte Carlo simulation in the manufacturing sector, such as: minimizing pilot programs, enterprise resource planning, supply chain continuity and potential financial losses. By utilizing simulation software such as @RISK, risk factors are revealed that would have otherwise taken stakeholders by surprise. Click here […]

The Super Bowl brings a significant amount of speculation on a multitude of outcomes—from who will win the match, to what color Gatorade will be dumped on the winning coach. For Super Bowl XLVIII between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks, Randy Heffernan takes the reader through a step-by step guide on how to […]

As green options move toward becoming the norm, new risks can result, such as whether environmentally-friendly materials can withstand a major earthquake, hurricane or flood. Green builders are turning to Monte Carlo simulation, a computational model that examines all possible outcomes and identifies the probabilities of different scenarios happening. According to Randy Heffernan, “Managers employ […]

Monte Carlo simulations, named for the city in Monaco, were developed during the 1940s with the Manhattan Project. But today’s simulation software can be used for a range of industries and applications to help people make decisions about their products and processes. Dr. Eric Maass, co-author of the book "Applying Design for Six Sigma to […]

In this post, Dr Jenine Beekhuyzen explains the importance of a codebook when working in a research team. I originally began writing this blog post about teamwork and my recent experiences in seeing how important it is to clarify the definitions of codes when working in teams. But I now realize that such advice applies […]

Business innovation is the lifeblood of most enterprises – and given the inherent high uncertainty, a high level of decision quality is essential.  Many parties are involved in the decision-making process, and often they have conflicting values, motivations, perspectives, personalities and power bases.  These organizational issues are reinforced with analytical complexities such as the large […]

In light of evolving demands from customers, makers of enterprise risk management software programs are reworking their offerings with an emphasis on increased speed and usability. Randy Heffernan is quoted in the article. Click here to read the article.

How do businesses eliminate risk? The simple answer is this: They can't. It is impossible. Understand the nature of risk factors, and plan strategies accordingly. Create an environment in which the reality of risk is communicated, and employ the latest technological advances to forecast risk in order to improve the company's "risk health." Click here […]

Alternative Energy eMagazine interviewed Randy Heffernan about risk analysis in the energy industry. The article highlights FutureMetrics’ use of @RISK to hedge wood prices in the production of burning wood pellets. Click here to read the article.

The expansion of global supply chains has meant an exponential growth of the risk of disruptions to those networks. Organizations around the world are turning their eyes away from decision making processes based on single-point estimates, and viewing their risks and opportunities with more sophisticated techniques such as Monte Carlo simulation. Click here to read […]

Increased use of risk analysis in the form of quantitative risk management (QRM) and decision-making under uncertainty (DMUU) is helping organizations to be prepared for unforeseen risk. Click here to read the article.

Community services provider Arc of Yates utilizes simulation program to predict potential budget shortfalls Click here to read the article.

A South African infrastructure development company has used @RISK risk analysis software to ensure it attracts funding for projects to deliver basic community services that would otherwise be ‘unbankable’. Click here to read the article.

The pros and cons of energy systems have never been as critical as they are today. Energy sources, irrespective of how “green” they may or may not be, present associated risks: financial, environmental, personal, etc. Traditional thinking just assumes that “green-equals-good”, but there are strong considerations which must be applied when harnessing something as powerful […]

Risk is not an exact science, but there are specific trends that should impact decision makers.  Click here to read the article.

In the world of reinsurance, accurately determining risk is critical. The application of Monte Carlo simulation is being considered more often in order to better prepare a variety of industries for a range of events. Click here to read the article.

This article discusses how organizations should take a more strategic approach to weather risk. Heffernan explains how Monte Carlo simulation can be used to help with flood planning, hurricane response, and even volcano mitigation planning. He also advises on the right strategy to implement quantitative weather risk analysis; which includes supplying evidence; communicating clearly; illustrating […]

This case study takes a biofuel plant as an example where @RISK models the project's Net Present Value (NPV), PrecisionTree informs strategic scenario decision-making, and Evolver suggests plant optimisation strategies. Click here to read the article.

Craig Ferri provides a list of guidelines for implementing Quantitative Risk Management (QRM) and Decision Making under Uncertainty (DMU). Click here to read the article.

In this byline, Randy Heffernan outlines risk management best practices to ensure the success of software projects and shares tips for crafting effective risk management strategies. He discusses how to effectively calculate and manage risk and explains the significance of the concept of probabilities. Click here to read the article.

In this article, Randy Heffernan is quoted on the emerging risk management software market. The article discusses the appeal of risk management software to large enterprises and talks about the current state of risk management market and its possible future. Click here to read the article.

The reinsurance industry has endured numerous larger than expected losses in the last decade or so -- everything from Hurricane Katrina to the global financial crisis to the Japanese earthquakes. Perhaps spurred by these losses, the world of reinsurance is looking at different ways of thinking about risk and how to manage it. Click here […]

Given the state of the current global economy, there's been a lot of talk about the need for "proper risk analysis." The concept of risk analysis and management has been around for many years but still is not executed well within the software industry. For any risk analysis assessment to be meaningful, it must take […]

@RISK is available with companion product PrecisionTree in the DecisionToolsSuite. PrecisionTree creates decision trees in Excel to allow you to map and understand the complex decision problems. @RISK functions are recognized by PrecisionTree, and the two may be launched from a common Excel toolbar. @RISK allows you to: quantify the uncertainty that exists in the values and probabilities […]

This article explains how 'Black Swan' events are changing perceptions of risk analysis. Click here to read the article.

@RISK’s use of Monte Carlo simulation allows for powerful features, like RiskSimtable. The RiskSimtable feature can be used to run multiple simulations to test the sensitivity of the risk analysis model, for example to changes in the parameters of a distribution. This model is of a business with a base case expected revenue of 100 and […]

This article explains why now is the perfect opportunity for risk managers to play a more important role in companies than ever before. Click here to read the article.

Example Model of Sensitivity Simulation: SENSIM.XLS Sensitivity analysis in @RISK (risk analysis software using Monte Carlo simulation) lets you see the impact of uncertain risk analysis model parameters on your results. But what if some of the uncertain model parameters are under your control? In this case the value a variable will take is not random, but […]

By now we’ve become accustomed to the marvels of neural network technology and, in fact, inured to the advances it brought in statistical analysis with its computational simulations of nerve cells.  Its many everyday applications–especially in online retailing–seem kind of ho-hum, and we’d be put out if for some reason they weren’t in use. Wasn’t […]

A team of MIT scientists calling themselves Liquid Stone made a breakthrough (as it were) discovery about cement.  The Romans used cement to build their remarkable aqueducts, and the stuff is still in use.  In fact it’s one the most widely used building materials on the planet.  It has a chemical name, calcium-silica-hydrate.  But until recent, […]

The authors examine decision analysis methods that merely make people feel better about their decisions with those that produce measurable improvements over time. They find that Monte Carlo simulation is one of the most effective methods for decision and risk analysis. Click here to read the article.

When modeling risk events, it is common that several events could affect the same cost element of a project. During the simulation, two or more risk events can occur at the same time. The question becomes how to calculate the total impact. This type of modeling technique is very common and often needed in project […]

An earlier blog on Best Practice Principles in .Excel Modelling generated quite some interest, as well as demand for more details on some of the points made, especially those concerning the use of named ranges risk assessment models in Microsoft Excel. In the earlier posting, I had simply stated that (in my opinion): “Named ranges should […]

The blog positing on best practices in Excel modelling could be thought of as providing a reasonable and robust set of principles for building static Excel models. When building simulation models for risk analysis in Excel (for instance, with @RISK Monte Carlo software), some other points are worthy of consideration: A risk model may need to be built […]

This blog briefly posts some fairly standard (but not fully accepted, and more often simply not implemented!) “best practice principles” in Excel modelling. A later blog discusses a related topic as to whether risk modelling (when building Monte Carlo simulation models using @RISK in Microsoft Excel) requires the same (or a modified) set of principles. The […]

In Part I, combining simulation and decision tree analysis techniques was introduced. But what does that actually give you? What meaningful results are created to justify the work? Obviously there are good things to come, or I wouldn’t be bringing it up! A regular spreadsheet model can produce a distribution of outcomes like this: But […]

First of all, what is Monte Carlo simulation? Monte Carlo simulation is a computerized mathematical technique that allows people to account for variability in their process to enhance quantitative analysis and decision making. The technique is used by professionals in such widely disparate fields as finance, project management, energy, manufacturing, engineering, research and development, insurance, […]

When using @RISK (risk analysis software for conducting Monte Carlo simulations in Microsoft Excel), one of the output graphs is a tornado graph. Such graphs have their most direct interpretation for linear models with independent input distributions, such as in most typical cost budgeting models. In these cases, the regression coefficients provide a measure of […]

@RISK is used to assess the relative benefits of different drilling strategies for Lundin, a small exploration company, for field development. Click here to read the article.

A discussion of how modelling software is having an impact on monitoring the spread of global diseases. An example using @RISK to combat avian flu is included. Click here to read the article.

Researchers at the University of the Pacific’s Thomas J. Long School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences used Palisade’s NeuralTools to assist in the evaluation of both the impact of pathological processes and their implications for drug therapy. Click here to read the article.

According to a recent Harvard Business School study, higher IT capability directly correlates with superior revenue growth. Nearly all IT managers (at more than 150 large enterprises) surveyed for the study said they plan to increase outsourcing, particularly in the areas of application development and IT infrastructure. This article features PrecisionTree to evaluate outsourcing decisions. […]

This is the first in a series of articles that will examine some of the most commonly used decision-making methods for the selection or rejection of individual projects throughout the project portfolio management process. These methods determine whether or not a given project (either proposed or in process) should be included in your next capital […]

Palisade's Mirek Janusz provides a summary of the methodology and applications of neural networks software, including Palisade's NeuralTools. Click here to read the article.

I was looking for a software tool that was easy to use and would do forecasting based on complex parameters,’ said independent health care consultant Barb Tawney, who described to eWEEK Labs her use of NeuralTools from Lumivero. Click here to read the article.

In this article, @RISK is used to illustrate how to plan for retirement more accurately using Monte Carlo simulation. Click here to read the article. Download sample model and graph referenced in this article.

A Conversation with Dr. Dana Lanell In a recent podcast episode, we had the privilege of delving into the complexities of the evaluation profession with Dr. Dana Lanell, an esteemed Assistant Professor of Psychology and Evaluation at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. The conversation was rich with insights into the often-misunderstood field of evaluation. Starting out, […]

Free NVivo 14 Tutorials The NVivo you know and love is better, faster, and more rigorous than ever. With new team collaboration capabilities, Citavi integration, and enhanced research tools, NVivo 14 is designed to help researchers deliver deeper data insights in real-time with your colleagues using NVivo Collaboration Cloud. Plus, see how simplified account management […]

Research and technical writers at every level across all disciplines and industries experience the unique challenges of academic and professional writing – finding the right voice, composing compelling arguments, and weaving in qualitative and quantitative data. Those considerations are on top of the constant struggle to organize immense amounts of data, identify common themes and […]

Behind the Data Podcast, Episode 52: TikTok Microvlogging to Engage Non-Profit Stakeholders On the most recent episode of NVivo’s Behind the Data Podcast, Dr. Stacy Penna spoke with Dr. Kim Wiley, Assistant Professor of Nonprofit Leadership and Community Engagement at the University of Florida. When the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled her field research plans in 2020, […]

The newest version of NVivo is a significant step forward in an age when collaborative research is critical. As we bring NVivo 14 to the market, we’re addressing some increasingly essential needs of the research community: The ability to work as a team quickly and efficiently from anywhere and on any operating system The need […]

What is Culturally Responsive Research? Conducting culturally responsive research is crucial when working with vulnerable populations in order to support and respect the participants’ experiences. In this post, we will give a variety of definitions for culturally responsive research and provide six examples of how researchers are using culturally responsive research methods with links to […]

Xanne Janssen has been awarded $25,000 over two years – hear from her about the study she is conducting.      Xanne Janssen is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychological Sciences and Health, at the University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom. Her project, “Parents’ barriers and facilitators to building better days” has been awarded the […]

On the first day of research, my data gave to me... (Part two) Today we continue our 14 days of research journey with 7 more interesting elements of NVivo to discover. Click here if you’ve not read the first part of this series. 8 Interviews Auto-coded  If you make one resolution for 2023, make it […]

On the First day of research, my data gave to me... Join us as we help you to (re)discover some of the key elements of NVivo that will help set you up for success in 2023. Our 14 days of research (in honour of NVivo 14, which is coming early 2023), selects some of the […]

Between the Data Episode 47: Post-Intentional Phenomenology: Considerations and Principles Social science researchers have long utilized phenomenological research methodologies in their qualitative research to study consciousness from direct experience. While this approach to the human experience offers significant insight, it can miss contextual data due to ignoring the environment of the experience itself. The complexity […]

Beauty has long been a topic of interest, from philosophers who struggled to define it to artists who sought to portray it. And now, with an entire industry devoted to products and procedures that claim to enhance it, it is a treasure trove of research with implications for everything from sociology to marketing. Researchers also […]

NVivo was used to enable a recent study that identified family history as the most significant factor in assessing personal breast cancer risk, but health behaviors and environment were also influences. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month—which makes it a good time for everyone to assess their risk of developing the disease. Advances in genetic […]

Dr. Janet Salmons interviewed by Dr. Stacy Penna, Engagement and Enablement Director NVivo Podcast Between the Data Ep 44 Launched by SAGE Publishing in 2009, MethodSpace is an online community for the discussion of social and behavioral research methods, which gives scholars and students a space to share experiences and solve problems on a global […]

Scholarly Writing Institute Recap Enhance your writing skills and discover digital tools to assist with the publishing process. NVivo and Citavi have once again partnered with Dissertation by Design to present the free Scholarly Writing Institute. Dissertation by Design is an organization that works with all scholarly writers, including students, academics, and research professionals. The […]

The practice of thematic analysis is widely used in qualitative analysis but sometimes not acknowledged or confused with other approaches. Here at QSR International we break down the ambiguities of thematic analysis as an approach, and hope this interpretation can breathe new life into it, as new and emerging forms of content become more integral […]

On any given day, close to 80% of NVivo users are busy analyzing interviews. Like you, they're looking for the best way to make sense of their data so they can deliver robust results. If you’re new to NVivo or just getting started with analyzing interviews (thematic analysis) it can be hard knowing where to […]

Across all disciplines, there is growing pressure to obtain grants to advance research. There are many reasons why funding is necessary to further research, from conducting trials, analysis and testing, to acquiring equipment, creating prototypes or paying for researchers’ time and travel. It all costs money. Let’s face it – applying for research funding is […]

Recorded interviews are one of the most popular forms of qualitative data collection. They are nearly always transcribed and the analysis is conducted on the transcribed text. But is that enough? What is the path forward with the transcription process?  Let’s discuss the different approaches to transcription, analyzing the text, and making transcription go beyond […]

Conducting a thorough critique of the literature is incredibly important, but as a writer, you may feel daunted by the enormity of the task. Following these 10 tips can help you focus your writing efforts. These tips can also help you write a literature review that moves beyond summarizing the research and toward critiquing it […]

With Citavi now part of the QSR International family, we’ve released a new NVivo and Citavi integration into the latest version of NVivo (released in March 2020) that makes it easier for researchers like you to write and reference. The new integration means you can take advantage of quick imports of literature into NVivo for […]

I don’t know a researcher on the planet who doesn’t wish they could publish faster. If you work with NVivo, you already know that it can save a substantial amount of time with transcription, coding automation, data analysis, and visualization. But what about all the other steps in the research and writing process? Is there […]

Back in 2000, I wrote about how you could you use NVivo for your literature review. The software has changed significantly since then with a different interface and terminology and the possibility to import from a range of bibliographic software but the basics were all in place. For those who still need to learn the […]

Confronting the myth of the lone researcher There is a myth that qualitative researchers work alone. Lyn Richards, co-developer of NUD*IST and the early versions of NVivo, pointed this out nearly twenty years ago and more recently so did Judy Davidson. As Davidson says, this myth has shaped the instruction given to new researchers, instructional […]

To support researchers all over the world in coming together, we are hosting our first virtual conference, “Qualitative Research in a Changing World” on September 23, 2020. We want our first conference to be accessible for everyone. So it runs for 24 hours, with live sessions across all time zones. To ensure you can catch all […]

In the Empowerment Through Culturally Responsive Focus Groups podcast, Dr. Jori Hall, Associate Professor at the University of Georgia in the Department of Lifelong Education Administration and Policy, discusses how culturally responsive focus groups can be sites for social justice. Planning The Focus Group Dr. Hall begins the podcast by describing focus groups and culturally […]

QSR has long been committed to making NVivo intuitive and easy to learn.  The newest version of NVivo, released March 2020, includes five sample projects which illustrate how NVivo can be used with different types of data and approaches to analysis.  Two of the projects are available when you install NVivo and the other three are available for download.  >> Explore the […]

A Change Of Scenery Changing your workspace can have wide-ranging benefits—from enhanced mental and social stimulation to improved productivity, focus, and creativity. Gone are the days where an employee had to be confined to a desk to fulfill their duties. We live in a digital, connected age where we can Zoom in to department meetings, […]

In the webinar focused on the impact that the COVID-19 crisis has on researchers, Christine Hine, Professor of Sociology at the University of Surrey, UK, discussed the challenges facing online ethnography. Christine has a major interest in the development of ethnography in technical settings and in "virtual methods" (the use of the Internet in social […]

During our webinar titled Teaching Qualitative Methods Online a panel of instructors discussed best practices on incorporating QDA software, like NVivo into an online qualitative methods course. The panel included Christina Silver, Ph.D., Founder of Qualitative Data Analysis Services Ltd and Research Fellow at the University of Surrey, Chareen Snelson, Ed.D., Associate Professor, Boise State University, Department […]

We interviewed Jim Cockell, who is part of a research team in the Faculty of Nursing at the University Alberta. The research team works with photovoice, a community-based participation research modality, in their participant action research projects that have participants document the challenges and opportunities of a preceptorship in rural care settings. Understanding Photovoice Photovoice, […]

During our recent webinar on COVID-19 and Virtual Qualitative Fieldwork, Dr. Deborah Lupton, Professor at the Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, described multiple modes for conducting qualitative fieldwork during these challenging times. Researchers Need To Reinvent Methods Due to the isolation measures […]

In the second webinar of our series focused on the impact that the COVID-19 crisis has on researchers, When the Field is Online, Dr. Janet Salmons, free-range scholar, Methods Guru for Sage Publications’ Methodspace and long-time practitioner and teacher of online research discussed ways researchers can adapt their methods using online research. Janet was an […]

Using grounded theory, you can examine a specific process or phenomenon and develop new theories derived from the collected real-world data and their analysis. Grounded theory is an inductive approach in which a theory is developed based on the data. This is the opposite of the traditional hypothesis-deductive research approaches, where hypotheses are formulated and […]

Kristi Jackson, trusted NVivo expert and trainer has reviewed the new NVivo and shares her thoughts. A Visual Delight Import > Organize > Explore!  This is a great new structure for the navigation of NVivo and the first thing I noticed as I investigated the new interface. The visual separation between the Navigation View, List […]

Document analysis is the process of reviewing or evaluating documents both printed and electronic in a methodical manner. The document analysis method, like many other qualitative methods, involves examining and interpreting data to uncover meaning, gain understanding, and come to a conclusion. What is Meant By Document Analysis? Document analysis pertains to the process of […]

Dr. Philip Adu is a Methodology Expert at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TCSPP). In this post he explains the things to consider when presenting your research findings. This post follows on from his previous blog post “Perfecting the art of qualitative coding” in which he took us through the stages of qualitative coding […]

NVivo Transcription has arrived to help solve the problem faced by many researchers – hours of manual transcription of data sources like interviews, and focus groups, which take precious time and resources away from analysis of the data. NVivo Transcription is an automated transcription assistant, which utilizes natural language processing technology to listen to the […]

Best practices for collaborating with colleagues, data source considerations, and sharing actionable insights for healthcare and non-profit researchers Collaboration and stakeholder management Engaging in a research project outside of an academic context can be a much different experience, particularly for those working in healthcare, non-profits and NGO’s. One of the major differences you’re likely to […]

NVivo and SPSS both feature heavily in the toolkit I use as a researcher, so I was pretty excited when I heard that NVivo would enable me to work with SPSS data for my mixed methods research. Why am I so excited? Mixed methods data analysis was always possible in NVivo, but it was necessary […]

The new NVivo 12 is here, and I’m very excited to share with you all the new features and improvements that are available across both Windows and Mac, that will enhance your research experience and allow you to do more of what you want to do with NVivo. We’ve heard your feedback about particular aspects […]

"None of us is as smart as all of us." -- Ken Blanchard Collaboration in NVivo 11 Pro for Windows revolves around the idea of merging individual projects into a ‘master project’. How does this work? A team leader creates a ‘master project’ and distributes copies to the team. Team members work in their individual […]

University of Hull Library Skills Adviser, Lee Fallin, share his insights on creating an NVivo community via a user group on campus. The University of Hull Skills Team provides support to postgraduate students in their use of NVivo for research. A major part of this support has always been our NVivo workshops. The workshops have […]

Cases and their attributes are powerful features in NVivo. They facilitate comparisons between your research participants (or other entities) and can reveal patterns and insight in your data. This post helps you assess whether cases would be useful for your project and provides a roadmap for setting them up. A sample scenario Let’s say you’ve […]

As a qualitative researcher, you wear many hats. For any given project, you need to: Read widely and have a thorough grasp on what’s happening in your field Understand and choose between research methodologies Come up with a focused yet flexible research question Manage the paper-work involved in getting research approved Organize a timetable and […]

Lyn Lavery is an NVivo Certified Platinum Trainer and, as the director of Academic Consulting, has overseen an extensive range of academic and government-based research projects. In this post, Lyn explains how to use initial qualitative coding as a springboard for deeper data analysis. I regularly have clients seek assistance once they’ve completed their coding. […]

In this blog, we take you through the ins and outs of literature reviews, what critically examining the literature means and how to get started.  A good literature review:  Recognizes and groups published information into the same, related or different fields of interest. Emphasizes the focus of your topic.  If you’re just starting out, consider […]

Whether you’re a student or an experienced practitioner, it’s not unusual to have a crisis of confidence during a qualitative research project. This credibility checklist will help keep you on track. 1. Have I engaged with the literature? A systematic literature review demonstrates your familiarity with the topic and positions you as a credible expert. […]

More and more industries (education, business, health and government) are getting serious about qualitative research. Knowing what it is and being familiar with the technologies that support it can help kick your career into overdrive. What does 'qualitative' mean? 'Qualitative’ is a term used to define research that occurs in many workplaces and study environments […]

Coding in NVivo for Mac? Here are 6 videos to help you. 1. Find out why nodes and cases are so important Not sure what nodes and cases are? Get to grips with these terms and find out how cases can help you analyze your material based on demographic information. 2. Organize the demographic data […]

Dr. Philip Adu is a Methodology Expert at the National Center for Academic & Dissertation Excellence (NCADE) in The Chicago School of Professional Psychology (TCSPP).  In this post, he takes us through the stages of qualitative coding and, along the way, outlines the features he finds most useful. Think about analyzing interview transcripts: capturing significant […]

Yes, the new NVivo suite is here and you can choose an edition of the software that suits the way you want to work. Question is, how do you choose the edition that's right for you? As with all of life's great choices, it depends on a combination of factors - the data you're analyzing, […]

Humans are inherently complex. Research with human subjects requires patience, attention to detail, and a love of intersectionality. NVivo helps one harness their inner zen, expand their ability to deepen analysis while also increasing sources, and unearth nuances that lie beyond the naked eye. As a researcher and program evaluator, mixed methodologies in research design, […]

This post started life on the NSMNSS blog—a great initiative (run jointly by NatCen Social Research and SAGE) that fosters lively discussion about the challenges of working with social media data. Imagine you’re sitting on a qualitative goldmine—in-depth interviews, focus groups, intriguing survey results, nuanced observations and a comprehensive lit review. All the traditional boxes […]

There are some excellent resources available about using NVivo for your literature reviews. Here, I describe some ways in which I use NVivo for literature reviews, which you might find useful. I believe working with NVivo during literature review is an excellent way to manage research, a practical way to learn and practice with NVivo, […]

NVivo allows you to create diagrams from your data - a picture emerges of different categories and nodes and how they relate to each other. Coding queries give you insight into the sort of data you have so that you begin to understand what may be worthy of further examination. Matrix coding queries then allow […]

In this post, Dr Jenine Beekhuyzen explains the importance of a codebook when working in a research team. I originally began writing this blog post about teamwork and my recent experiences in seeing how important it is to clarify the definitions of codes when working in teams. But I now realize that such advice applies […]

If you’re wondering ‘what is a literature review’ or trying to figure out how to write a literature review, you’ve come to the right place. While a literature review can be a summary of sources, it can also discuss published information in a variety of formats on a specific subject area and tends to have […]

Research and technical writers at every level across all disciplines and industries experience the unique challenges of academic and professional writing – finding the right voice, composing compelling arguments, and weaving in qualitative and quantitative data. Those considerations are on top of the constant struggle to organize immense amounts of data, identify common themes and […]

Streamlining the Dissertation Writing Process In a groundbreaking study on IT auditor competency, audit quality, and data security, Dr. Blake Curtis discovered a significant technical competency gap among Big Four IT auditors and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). His findings led him to become a published author and join several advisory boards, but he credits a […]

Wir haben Citavi 6.15.2 veröffentlicht und laden Sie ein, diese Version zu installieren, um die unten aufgeführten Fehler zu beheben. Falls Sie nach dem Öffnen eines Projekts nicht über ein verfügbares Update informiert werden, können Sie das Update auch von hier herunterladen und installieren: https://www.citavi.com/de/download. Ihre bestehenden Citavi-Projekte und die Einstellungen werden durch das Update […]

We just released an update to Citavi 6 (Citavi 6.15.2). We encourage you to install this version so you can take full advantage of the bug fixes listed below. If an update notification does not appear automatically in Citavi, you can download and install the Setup at https://www.citavi.com/en/download. Your Citavi projects and settings will not […]

Take charge and delegate tasks to your new personal research assistants Once you've done the bulk of your research and are heavily involved in the writing process, you will likely no longer be searching for new sources as frequently. Here are our four suggestions for efficiently keeping on top of new developments in your field.  […]

How can I find the journal article my professor mentioned?  My professor recommended a journal article for my research paper... but she didn't mention the exact title, author, or journal name. Now how on Earth can I find it?   Alex   Dear Alex, Ideally your professor will give you the link to the full text of the article or even print out the article for you. But that doesn't always happen. It could be that at the end of your talk she says that she saw an article in IEEE last year on visual analytics for author names and that […]

Go forwards in time with citation tracking A couple months ago in our blog post on bibliography hacking, we looked at how you can use a bibliography to find additional sources. But what if you want to find out who cited the article you have in your hands after it was published? Is there also a way to […]

Let your sources' bibliographies do your searching for you Do you often feel like you’re searching for sources in the all the wrong places? Or maybe you’ve been able to locate one or two relevant sources but are struggling to find additional ones? If so, the bibliography hacking method might be worth a try!  What is bibliography hacking?  Bibliography hacking is a […]

Tips for saving webpages, blogs, and articles We all know people who prefer to print things they find online before reading them. For me, it’s my father. I had to laugh when he showed me the print-outs of a travel blog he had discovered while preparing for an upcoming bicycle trip. He was happy that […]

Three Solutions for Inadvertent Pilers Are your stacks of papers and books growing at such an alarming rate that you're worried about being buried alive if they ever topple over?  Does looking at the height of the pile cause you stress? Do you feel like a failure when you can no longer find the documents […]

And other questions regarding self-citation You’re an undergraduate student with a double major in Political Science and Chinese Studies. You write a research paper for one of your Political Science courses on the history of China and how it influences modern-day politics. You do a lot of research for it, and you get a good […]

Use summaries to better understand difficult academic texts On Monday morning my co-worker asked me about my weekend, as he always does. I replied, “I went to a friend’s place for a party.” That was it.  My whole weekend in just nine words. Nothing could be more normal, but why didn’t I begin by recounting […]

Stop pulling all-nighters for good “Guess I’ll just have to pull another all-nighter,” was a phrase I said all-too-often during my studies. It seemed that whenever a test was coming up there was never enough time to prepare earlier. At the same time, I wanted to get the best grade possible. So, there was no […]

Two approaches for starting your writing sessions  Now that it’s summer, if you’re a graduate and postgraduate student, you’re likely settling in to a writing routine to try to make progress on your dissertation. When your schedule is more flexible, it can sometimes be difficult to know how to start each day. As such, we thought it would be nice to compare two basic approaches to tackling your day: the “eat your frog” and the “easy wins” approaches.  […]

Don't buckle under the strain of your thesis or other large endeavor! Start feeling better now with our tips. After grad school I thought the days of sobbing over a paper I couldn’t bring myself to start were behind me. Then, last year I started a continuing education course to improve my skills in an area I had little experience in: video.   With the fun and exhilaration of acquiring new skills came a dark side I had not anticipated: a feeling of inadequacy and extreme stress the likes of which I had not had in a while. The course […]

Our 6 top tips for a successful new semester A new academic year is a great chance to start over. It’s a time to say goodbye to the bad habits that may have plagued you in the past and start developing good ones to help you succeed. We’ve culled some of our top tips from […]

All about Academic Writing Month For many academics, the month of November is associated with making progress on a writing goal. In this blog post, we’ll discuss why that is, how Academic Writing Month started, and why there's such a need for it. Academic Writing Month (AcWriMo) was inspired by “National Novel Writing Month” (NaNoWriMo), […]

8 strategies that can help Nearly all of us have been there: sitting in front of the blank page not knowing where to start, a growing knot in our stomach and the temptation to get up and do the laundry instead, since then at least we’d be doing something useful. In our last blog post, we wrote […]

How to make sure you don't  forget anything important Is the deadline for your research paper or thesis getting closer and closer? In an ideal world you’d already be finished with your work and have ample time to make your last checks before printing out the final version. That’s at least how I always imagined […]

Taking your research paper one step at a time Whenever it’s morning in the office and the telephone is ringing, countless emails remain unread in my inbox, and questions from Citavi users continue to pour into our help desk, I often wish I could do and think about five things at once. I wish more […]

Why smartphones are so distracting and how you can build your concentration skills Think back to the last time you were really concentrated on your writing and completely in the zone. Can you remember what you were doing being completely effortless, time passing by quickly, and actually enjoying putting words on the page (or screen)?  For many of us, this “flow” state is not something we experience often, especially when engaged in […]

Metacognition, metalearning, and learning how to learn Fluent in 3 months, the 4-hour chef, The first 20 hours, Ultralearning – books on rapid learning often reach the top of The New York Times Best Seller list. Claiming to help their readers learn subjects quickly and often based on the author’s own experiences accomplishing amazing learning feats, they promise […]

How doing nothing can help you reach your academic goals. As a student, professor, or researcher it’s a given that you need to work hard. There’s always another paper to write, another grant proposal to finish, new results to analyze. And as you progress in your academic career, the responsibilities accumulate more and more. Teaching, […]

How the fresh start effect can help with your New Year's Resolutions I am willing to bet money that no one gets into New Year’s Resolutions with as much passion as my father does. At the end of each year, every year, my dad will sit down and write out his goals for the new […]

11 tips to help you get the most out of your citation software Reference management programs are one of the best tools an academic can use. They can keep you organized and save you from having to complete tedious tasks. However, they can also cause unnecessary headaches if you're not familiar with some basic knowledge […]

Three steps for taking control of a growing collection of sources. It's go time. Your advisor's parting words are still ringing in your ears, "Good luck with your Bachelor's thesis!" You've chosen your topic, gotten it approved, and now it's time to get started. But where on earth to begin? First, you want to get some […]

The single best piece of advice for getting unstuck when writing a dissertation – or anything else A while back I wanted to start doing some creative writing, and I picked up a classic guide to writing fiction called Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. The whole book is a treasure trove of great advice kindly and […]

Try the Creativity Tip that Helped David Bowie get Unstuck You’ve been there before. Your sources are spread out before you, you’ve done the reading, and you are intimately familiar with their contents. Now, like a puzzle, you just need to figure out how all these ideas fit together. If you could only find the […]

Why you should avoid secondary citations Did you hear what Anna said? I heard from a friend who heard from her boyfriend’s brother that she said she was mad at you… Sound familiar? We all know how our words can get taken out of context when what we say is told to someone else. That […]

How the information literacy skills you learn in your studies can help Amidst all the uncertainty of the current pandemic, one thing has become crystal clear: misinformation can spread as quickly as a virus. I’ve seen many posts on social media shared by friends about supposed cures or precautions one should take to avoid getting […]

What you need to know before using reference management software Imagine you want to hang up a picture, so you pick up a hammer to pound a nail into the wall. However, you’re not paying attention, and when you swing the hammer, you miss and hit your finger. Ouch! You might be tempted at first […]

Whenever I start a research paper, I either feel like I can’t find anything on my topic or that I'm only finding useless information. Am I doing something wrong?  Lisa  Dear Lisa,  I know exactly how you feel. My best friend’s wedding is coming up, and I need a dress. THE dress.  It can’t be […]

A selection of posts from the first year of the blog The blog team is taking a break this week, but we dove into our archive to find some posts from our very first year that we think are still worth a first or second look: The Perfect Fit: 5 steps for finding academic sources […]

Reading on screen versus on paper may impact how much you remember. Here’s what you can do. Coursework and research projects require a lot of reading. As more and more articles and books become available in electronic format, it's likely you’ll be doing much of this reading on a screen. However, research studies have shown that you may retain less information when you read something on screen rather than on paper.  Reading on screen versus on paper  Researchers have found problems with retention when reading onscreen materials. One study of tenth-grade students found that they had better recall and had better reading comprehension when they read a text on paper versus on screen. Another study from 2005 looked at changes in reading over the course of the last ten years. It showed that when people read on-screen, they tend to jump around more in the text rather than reading in a linear, focused manner.   What’s more, some researchers contend that by reading often in this way, we might be rewiring our brains in a way that prevents us from reading intently and deeply when we need to. Yikes. What can you do? First, do note that while there are individual studies showing a disadvantage when reading texts that involve higher levels of concentration on a screen, there don’t seem to be hard conclusions yet and some of the research is problematic.    Still, if you suspect you focus less when reading on screen, it might be a good idea to print out the papers that are especially important for you to comprehend.   Three tips for […]

Knowledge beyond the ivory tower Whenever I watch someone perform a magic trick, I wonder, “How did he or she do that?” In vain – as everyone knows, a magician will never reveal their tricks. It’s a different matter with academics. Although you might also first wonder how one of your colleagues obtained the results […]

Helpful online tools for academics When was the last time technology left you stranded? For me it was when I was stuck on hold with my Internet provider and praying that my connection problems would be resolved soon. I simply couldn’t continue working without the Internet! At that moment, it became painfully clear to me […]

Nine questions that can help you find the perfect fit It’s not easy to find just one pair of shoes that’s right for every occasion. The same is true for reference management software. There’s still no one-size-fits-all solution that appeals to everyone and that can help with all academic tasks. That’s because each person will […]

Making sure everyone has a piece of the (knowledge) pie Imagine that you buy a bushel of apples from your local supermarket and then bake an apple pie following your friend’s instructions. Now imagine that your friend will only let you eat the pie if you pay her. Something similar takes place in the traditional […]

When to use them and what to watch out for Whenever I hear the term “social media” I think about the platform I personally use most frequently: Facebook. Like most people, I utilize it primarily for entertainment. Rather than high-value intellectual content, my feed is comprised of funny videos, vacation pictures from my friends, or […]

And how your reference management software can help In our last post, we looked at some strategies for being more creative from the book Creativity in Research. While you can certainly implement the suggestions from that book without any additional software, apps and other tools can sometimes help give you additional motivation to stick to your goals […]

And how you can find peer-reviewed journals for your first research paper Did you just get assigned your first research paper and are wondering about the requirement to use “peer-reviewed” or “scholarly” journal articles? You’re not alone. I worked as an intern for a while at my university’s library, and I still remember the day […]

Start off your studies strong Being a first-year student is difficult enough when you don’t have a pandemic going on around you. You have to navigate a new environment, fulfill new expectations, and plan out your studies for yourself. You’re trying to make new friends and live up to the tougher demands of your coursework. […]

What to focus on for long-term change, plus helpful tips you can use now Academic research requires creativity. Whether it’s putting together an original research topic, applying a novel methodological approach, or making a truly humanity-changing discovery, such as finding a cure for cancer, innovation is expected, and it is what pushes your field further. […]

Schnell und langfristig kreativer mit diesen Tipps Ohne Kreativität gäbe es keine Forschung. Wenn Sie Ihre Forschungsfrage formulieren, einen neuen methodischen Ansatz austesten oder eine Entdeckung machen, die die Menschheit wirklich verändert, dann bringt Ihre Innovation Ihr Forschungsfeld weiter. Es ist die Triebfeder Ihrer Handlungen als Wissenschaftlerin, dass Sie sich immer neue Ideen einfallen lassen […]

Reach great heights by building upon the achievements of others As a student, you may often feel daunted by your professors. During my college years, I remember that I often felt intimidated by the depth and breadth of information and theories my literature professors were able to cite ad hoc during their lectures. How did they know all of […]

A look at the Planned Accidents blog authors' idea generation and writing process In this third post in our creativity series, blog authors Jenny and Jana answer questions about  the blog writing process. Read our inteview below to learn how they come up with new ideas, how they research and organize their work, what their […]

And how can you use reference management software when you're working with it? Many of our readers are likely aware that Citavi was recently acquired by QSR International, an academic software company that makes the leading QDA software NVivo. However, if you don’t use qualitative analysis in your field, you might only have a vague idea of […]

5 tips for Citavi (and other) webinars This blog post is especially meant for Citavi instructors, their colleagues, and future Citavi Champions who want to share their knowledge and way of working with Citavi with others. But it’s also useful for anyone who leads webinars on other topics as well. Here are tips I’ve picked up over […]

Who gets thanked in the acknowledgements section in theses and dissertations and why As a Citavi customer proudly told me that he had completed his dissertation and that I had helped him to do so, I couldn’t have been happier. But I was especially touched when he told me that he had added my name to the […]

Since the beginning of the year there have been a lot of changes made to Citavi, which we're excited to tell you about in this features roundup. When Citavi Web was first released last year, it was with the understanding that parity between the Windows version and Citavi Web would come over time. We've heard […]

Dissertation writing requires you to develop a complex argument supported by appropriate evidence. To do this effectively, you’ll need to learn how to organize your arguments, transition between ideas, and meet the demands of writing at an academic level. Too often, written scholarly work lacks a clear, organized and credible academic argument. This lack of […]

Most of us can imagine the academic who effortlessly turns caffeine into written words and might actually be a machine. It’s easy to think that everyone else is finding it easier to write than you do. But most academic writers don’t enjoy the writing process every single day. They often find that committing their research to paper […]

Academic Writing Month runs in November and challenges participants to set and meet a writing goal during the month.   To help everyone participating, we’ve done a round of up our best scholarly writing resources and will also release great new writing content regularly during November.   Let’s go!    [Blog] What is #AcWriMo?   […]

I have been helping academics and others on their writing and writing productivity for over twenty years (and over ten years as a coach--time flies!!). While I have many technical tips and tools that explore with folks, much of what I do is helping scholars maximize their psychosocial resources and resilience. In other words, I […]

Setting aside the issue of expertise, even mid-career academics have a hard time imagining how they could make the investment of time to write a textbook. But if you’ve been teaching the same course for a number of years and have begun to add your own twist to it, there is a possibility that you […]

November is Academic Writing Month (AcWriMo)! Along with the bounty of resources and advice that Academic Writing Month brings, it is important to acknowledge the frustration and deep worry about failure that is part of the process. Towards that end, I advocate getting rid of the saying publish or perish and replacing it with Publish […]

With Citavi now part of the QSR International family, we’ve released a new NVivo and Citavi integration into the latest version of NVivo (released in March 2020) that makes it easier for researchers like you to write and reference. The new integration means you can take advantage of quick imports of literature into NVivo for […]

I don’t know a researcher on the planet who doesn’t wish they could publish faster. If you work with NVivo, you already know that it can save a substantial amount of time with transcription, coding automation, data analysis, and visualization. But what about all the other steps in the research and writing process? Is there […]

We are very pleased to share exciting news: QSR International has acquired Citavi, the only all-in-one reference management and note taking app that will intuitively streamline analyzing sources and organizing notes in one location. Citavi can augment NVivo’s powerful qualitative data analytics capabilities, helping you search for, organize, record, and cite references. Together, our combined […]

Work placements can be one of the most rewarding experiences – and most daunting – in a student’s life to date. It is likely to be a little of both as bringing new people and insights into a student’s world will stretch them intellectually and emotionally.  To set a student up for success, it is […]

Evaluation of Student Success within Social Work Education’s Signature Pedagogy Over 250 Sonia users came together in October to share best practices and learn more about Sonia's newest features and functions during our Asia-Pacific and North America Virtual Sonia User Group meetings. In the next five blog posts will present some key highlights from our […]

Evaluation of Student Success within Social Work Education’s Signature Pedagogy Field education is the “signature pedagogy” of social work education (CSWE, 2008). As a result of the focus on field education in the preparation of social workers for professional practice, the evaluation of students in their field placements has been a vital form of determining […]

As the world of work moves ever faster, it’s never been more important for academia to connect with business and the workplaces into which students will emerge. One approach finding significant favour is Work-integrated learning (WIL), an umbrella term for a range of experiential education opportunities which involve an external stakeholder – typically a potential […]

Dr. Pablo Valdivia & Rosmery-Ann Boegeholz interviewed by Dr. Stacy Penna, Engagement and Enablement Director NVivo Podcast Between the Data Ep 43 It’s hard to think of a time when social media wasn’t a part of our lives. Indeed, for many young people, it always has been. Unfortunately, in a media-saturated culture that prizes unrealistic […]

After joining the newly formed Boston University Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, I was tasked with leading a project to centralize and streamline the new college’s field placement data management. We were working with various spreadsheets up to that point, which was slow, inconsistent, and inefficient, so no longer viable.   >> Read […]

We’re delighted to have our new Product and Community Director, and field placement expert, Sally Warlow, presenting a webinar on how she spearheaded an initiative to implement new placement processes and scale the use of Sonia from two to 17 programs, supporting thousands of students  at one university.   >>Watch the webinar now You’ll learn how Sally […]

Create a Better Field Placement Experience Improving field placement communications with the right plan, framework, and approach can help save time, increase productivity, and create a better placement experience for all involved. For placement program managers, creating an effective communications plan comes with challenges. Without the right plan, methodology and technology, critical pieces of communication […]

Field placements, experiential learning, student placement or work-integrated learning – it doesn’t matter what you call it, on-the-job learning for students is fast expanding and is here to stay.   Innovative universities and programs recognize the need to use technology to support the delivery of field placements in a way that is efficient, meets privacy […]

The prospect of graduating from spreadsheets or sticky notes to placement software is exciting. There are so many time and cost savings, plus the ease with which compliance, reporting and risk can be managed.  However, it can be overwhelming for placement managers to navigate the world of placement software when it’s new to you. We’ve […]

When our Field Education team had the opportunity to improve inefficient processes that were adding time and costs to running our field placement programs, we jumped at the chance! After an extensive process reviewing available options, we confidently selected Sonia as the best software for managing student placements. Sonia came with outstanding customer references and […]

It’s that time. Accreditation season. You’re preparing. Where are those assessments stored? How do you find that data? The pressure is on to ensure your program remains competitive and your students are successful.   Whether you’re in a school of nursing, social work, medicine or psychology, accreditation audits can be tough to manage. However, with […]

People managing placements are busy! There are students to manage, site contacts to update, sites to source and university staff to report to. Often, entire programs are managed via complicated and manual systems and processes using Excel or home-grown software that can be out of date or complex to use and integrate. What if there […]

It’s never been more necessary to ensure strong risk management in a placement program. Universities and workplaces are managing numerous unknowns, and operational requirements can change on a daily basis. Ensure your placement program is set up to successfully manage your duty of care, privacy and compliance responsibilities. Maintain Policies, Processes and Procedures Ensure you […]

Why Centralized Placement Management Is the Future Higher education institutions are prioritizing student experience, teaching innovation, diversity and workplace readiness. Key programs of work to address these priorities typically involve experiential learning, and more specifically, supporting professional experience via co-op. Placement programs are often run independently by different schools at a single university. This presents […]

Experiential education programs are vital for effectively preparing students for the workforce. Managing these programs can be challenging, and how students and host sites experience your school’s program reflects on your university’s reputation, so a lot is at stake. Here are three easy ways that you can make managing your placement program easier for you, […]

Effortlessly improve your decision making through risk modeling and analysis with @RISK software – a powerful add-in tool for Microsoft Excel. By using the Monte Carlo simulation technique, @RISK computes and tracks all possible scenarios in your risk model, and the probability each will occur, to help you judge which risks to take and which […]

As 2023 progresses, manufacturing companies continue to focus on supply chain management issues. In an April 2023 survey conducted by CNBC, only 36% of supply chain managers said they expected inventories to return to normal by year’s end. The New York Federal Reserve’s Global Supply Chain Pressure Index, which collates data from a range of […]

The increased costs, lack of reliable transportation, and scarcity of supplies all clearly tell the story that’s reigned on news feeds since 2020; The global manufacturing sector is still adjusting to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine and there remains high supply chain risk. A September 2022 analysis of the […]

How to Optimize Production and Inventory and Improve Tolerance Stacking Through Risk Analysis and Forecasting Supply chain management issues continue to be top of mind for manufacturers, specifically issues relating to optimizing production and inventory. According to a survey of more than 200 manufacturers published by Deloitte in September 2022, part shortages impacted 57% of […]

How to Keep Supply Chains Flowing Amid Global Threats with Risk Analysis for Optimizing Manufacturing For manufacturers, COVID-19 revealed many vulnerabilities in today’s complex global supply chains and highlighted a need for optimizing manufacturing supply chains. Lockdowns shut factories, border closures disrupted shipping routes, and sudden shifts in consumer demand resulted in swollen inventories for […]

The industry-leading risk analysis software is now even better! With more than 35 years of continuous software development, @RISK stands the test of time and continues to deliver unparalleled quality and reliability.   In this latest version, there are 12 new features designed to help you analyze the potential impact of risk factors on your projects […]

The long-term weather forecast can be summed up in one word: extreme. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), years of research into the impact of rising global temperatures indicates that extreme weather conditions are becoming more common. This includes heavy rainfall events that can lead to flooding. A Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) analysis […]

In Light of the First Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank Crises The recent First Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank crises sparked significant concern and sowed distrust in the financial system among both the banks’ customers and the general public. While bank collapses of this scale have not been seen […]

Published: Jan. 2, 2023 Updated: Sept. 1, 2023 The escalation of Russian’s invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to crude oil price volatility and a surge to over $130 a barrel in the spring of 2022. These high levels for oil prices, which have not been seen since 2008, […]

Continuing with this series of articles introducing cost estimating with @RISK, we will compare the use of the most popular distributions of this technique: the Triangular and the PERT. We know that cost estimation is one of the most critical parts of project management. In addition, we know that three-point estimation – with PERT or […]

Originally Published: Nov. 1, 2022 Updated: Sept. 1, 2023 At the time of this article's publication in November 2022, the U.S. dollar was at its highest level since 2000, up more than 20 percent over other major currencies such as the British pound, the euro, and the yen. The economic forecast was for more volatility […]

This article offers a simple and concise explanation of the Monte Carlo simulation, a technique that combines statistical concepts (random sampling) with the ability of computers to generate pseudo-random numbers and automate calculations, for basic cost engineering. The key to Monte Carlo simulation is to create a mathematical model of the system, process, or activity […]

The 2022 FIFA World Cup is right around the corner and the tournament predictions are pouring in. While checking team rankings and relying on gut instinct might be the classic approach to choosing your champion in your FIFA World Cup bracket, risk analysis software is changing the game by helping to quantitatively predict match outcomes. […]

Many who have been exposed to Monte Carlo simulation learned about it in the context of financial modeling such as asset management, cash flow analysis, or actuarial study.  And that’s with good reason: The applications of Monte Carlo simulation for giving valuable insights into areas of financial uncertainty are limitless. 

Long supply chains for technology companies in the United States combined with the need for timely delivery of products to customers has brought challenges to planning. The global pandemic added even more complexity to meet demand for timely delivery. Dell Technologies adopted a hybrid replenishment strategy using both ocean and air shipping to ensure inventory and service levels while reducing logistics costs. The supply chain strategy team evaluated the static initial inventory policy to identify an optimal solution that would minimize total fulfillment cost.

When performing a cost risk analysis study, one of the key results is the amount of extra monetary resources that is to be added to the project cost baseline to guarantee that the budget is not exceeded at a certain confidence level. Good project risk management strategies must take this into account. After defining the […]

This entry follows on from Part I, describing portfolio optimization for portfolios where the expected return and standard deviation are sufficient to describe the decision-makers’ risk profile (i.e. the criteria to be used in deciding what is meant by “optimal”). There are several ways to calculate this optimal or “Efficient” Frontier: Use Lumivero’s Evolver (optimization add-in […]

The Wall Street Journal featured @RISK's 2014 World Cup simulation model in their article, "The Journal's Prediction". Reporter Matthew Futterman consulted Fernando Hernández on his "brilliantly logical prediction model" that picks who would win -- with home-field advantage and without. Click here to read the article.

Example Model of Sensitivity Simulation: SENSIM.XLS Sensitivity analysis in @RISK (risk analysis software using Monte Carlo simulation) lets you see the impact of uncertain risk analysis model parameters on your results. But what if some of the uncertain model parameters are under your control? In this case the value a variable will take is not random, but […]

Deep Sensory Analysis Made Easy + Speed Up Your Sensory Data Preparation If you’re struggling with deep sensory data analysis or spending excess time adapting your sensory data format, these new XLSTAT features are for you! The latest edition of XLSTAT has been optimized to save you time and take your sensory analysis to the […]

You already know that your favorite statistical analysis tool is packed with features to help derive new insights from your data, but are you using it to its full potential? With XLSTAT’s advanced PROCESS, EEMD, Time Series, MFA, and Semantic Chart features, you can test mediation and moderation hypotheses, perform advanced time series analyses, and […]

Research and technical writers at every level across all disciplines and industries experience the unique challenges of academic and professional writing – finding the right voice, composing compelling arguments, and weaving in qualitative and quantitative data. Those considerations are on top of the constant struggle to organize immense amounts of data, identify common themes and […]

We’re excited to announce that a new version of XLSTAT is available! Thanks to our users’ suggestions, XLSTAT is constantly improving and building upon its 30 years of continuous evolution.  It's clear to see why XLSTAT is the top choice for data analysis software among more than 150,000 users across 120+ countries. With XLSTAT, you […]

In Light of the First Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank Crises The recent First Republic Bank, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature Bank crises sparked significant concern and sowed distrust in the financial system among both the banks’ customers and the general public. While bank collapses of this scale have not been seen […]

As 2023 progresses, manufacturing companies continue to focus on supply chain management issues. In an April 2023 survey conducted by CNBC, only 36% of supply chain managers said they expected inventories to return to normal by year’s end. The New York Federal Reserve’s Global Supply Chain Pressure Index, which collates data from a range of […]

The increased costs, lack of reliable transportation, and scarcity of supplies all clearly tell the story that’s reigned on news feeds since 2020; The global manufacturing sector is still adjusting to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine and there remains high supply chain risk. A September 2022 analysis of the […]

Organizations of all types use analytics to approach decision-making more objectively, accurately, and confidently. These techniques help decision-makers at all levels to be better-informed and to think in unbiased terms. Study after study shows that businesses who apply some level of rigor and analysis to complex decisions routinely enjoy better outcomes. But what is analytics? […]

Manage uncertainty in project schedules like never before with Monte Carlo simulation. Perform risk analysis on Primavera P6 or Microsoft Project models in the @RISK for Excel environment. Answer questions like “Will this project finish on time?” or “Will we be within budget?”.

A Purchasing Strategy Example Considering Suboptimal Decisions Lumivero’s PrecisionTree software allows you to analyze the probabilities of different outcomes, and their impacts, in sequential, multi-stage decisions. The decision trees in PrecisionTree show the probabilities of these outcomes assuming that the optimal decisions are made at each of the decision nodes (points in the process where […]

To lay the groundwork for swift settlements, many legal firms use PrecisionTree software to map out all possible routes a litigation path can take by building quantitative, probabilistic decision trees that calculate case outcomes along the way. This decision-making software can calculate for risks and rewards, forecast case budgets, identify key investigation areas, and create impartial, realistic models to cut down on time and costs.

This is a continuation of Part I in this series on Decision Tree Analysis. Life is full of tough choices. Most of us muddle through them using best guesses and gut feelings. But have you ever wondered if there might be a more sophisticated way to make decisions? Many businesses, researchers, and organizations have asked […]

Business innovation is the lifeblood of most enterprises – and given the inherent high uncertainty, a high level of decision quality is essential.  Many parties are involved in the decision-making process, and often they have conflicting values, motivations, perspectives, personalities and power bases.  These organizational issues are reinforced with analytical complexities such as the large […]

In Part I, combining simulation and decision tree analysis techniques was introduced. But what does that actually give you? What meaningful results are created to justify the work? Obviously there are good things to come, or I wouldn’t be bringing it up! A regular spreadsheet model can produce a distribution of outcomes like this: But […]