Strategic partnership delivers greater flexibility to qualitative researchers in the UK and around the world

September 2011

Leading Australian qualitative data analysis software developer, QSR International and the UK's largest independent not-for-profit research institute, the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) today announced the availability of new features and functionality in NVivo 9 that support the Framework method of analysis.

The Framework method is the National Centre for Social Research's innovative research approach, formerly supported by FrameWork software and used in areas such as health research, policy development and program evaluation to systematically and comprehensively analyze qualitative data sets. NVivo 9 is marketing-leading qualitative data analysis software that is used by more than 500,000 users in 150 countries, helping researchers to work with unstructured information, to gain valuable insight and streamline the research process.

In April 2011, the National Centre for Social Research and QSR International formed a partnership to combine the organizations' respective strengths in methodology and research technology to bring new value to their customers. This partnership has led to the announcement today that the Framework method is now one of the many research methodologies that NVivo supports. This means qualitative researchers in the UK and around the world have more flexibility with their data analysis than ever - including the ability to apply the Framework method to all data formats handled by NVivo 9, including documents, PDFs, audio, video, spreadsheets, database tables and images.

Penny Young, Chief Executive of the National Centre for Social Research, commented "We were the first to develop a systematic approach to qualitative data analysis, and we're delighted that from today users of the Framework method will be supported by the latest in qualitative software. This partnership opens up lots of exciting possibilities for researchers, who will now have access to a richer feature set, for example NVivo 9's visualizations, text analysis and sophisticated query tools."

While NVivo has always supported a wide range of research methodologies, John Owen, CEO of QSR International explained that the addition of the new Framework functionality provides NVivo 9 users with a new flexible approach for organizing and summarizing data quickly, enabling rigorous interpretation.

The partnership between NatCen and QSR International is the first of its kind for the research industry and Mr Owen commented, "We're delighted that NatCen chose to partner with us because of our experience in qualitative research software development and our track record for product innovation, but more importantly we're pleased to ensure that the Framework method can continue to develop and keep pace with the very latest technology."

UK policy researcher and Framework user, Catherine McGowan explained, "For me, the Framework approach supports a policy question and is auditable, which is very important because policy research leads to decision making. A big advantage of Framework is that people can easily go back and see the data informing your recommendations."

"I'm very pleased to now be able to conduct Framework analysis within NVivo 9 and be able to apply the method to a greater variety of data. Also, now within the one workspace, I can use the Framework method, but explore my data further too using NVivo's range of features such as text analysis, charts and diagrams."

NVivo 9 users are able to start working with the new Framework functionality immediately by simply downloading a free software update called NVivo 9.2. Users of NatCen's FrameWork software are invited to transition directly to NVivo 9 and have been offered discounted pricing, dedicated support and specialised training.

In addition to the availability of new features supporting the Framework method in this free update to NVivo 9, QSR International also announces the availability of NVivo 9 in five new languages - French, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Simplified Chinese - making NVivo more accessible than ever to researchers worldwide.

-ENDS-

About QSR International:

QSR develops qualitative research software that helps people glean insight from data to inform decision making. From policy evaluation and health, to academia, customer care and product development, QSR software is used in virtually every research field to help people access, organize and analyse unstructured data in material like documents, pictures, audio, video, and spreadsheets. Visit www.qsrinternational.com to learn more.

For more information, please contact:

Polly McDougall, Account Director, Sauce Communications, +61 2 6953 7382, polly@saucecommunications.com.au

Anne Summers, Communications Manager, NatCen, +44 0207 549 9565, anne.summers@natcen.ac.uk