NVIVO10

Abstract: Online, communities of people aggregate, sharing common interests, ideas, and feelings over the Internet. In this article we focus on the concept of so-called virtual communities (VCs) from a theoretical and empirical perspective. We want to provide a definition from desk research which can be useful on the theoretical and the empirical level. Moreover, we compare it with the definition that emerges from the interviews, which is typical from the qualitative approach perspective. Research questions (RQs) are: (1) How can a VC be defined? and (2) How is a VC defined by its users? We used Porter's typology of VCs to select four case studies and conducted 49 in-depth interviews with their members. Our study points to the applicability and usefulness of Porter's typology of virtual communities and suggests a new approach for defining the concept VC.

Resumen: En la Internet, comunidades de personas se juntan, comparten intereses comunes, ideas y sentimientos por toda la red. En este artículo, nos centramos en el concepto de las llamadas comunidades virtuales (VCs) desde una perspectiva teórica y empírica. Queremos ofrecer una definición desde la investigación secundaria que puede ser útil a nivel teórico y empírico. Además, la comparamos con la definición que surge de las entrevistas, que es típica de la perspectiva del enfoque cualitativo. Las preguntas investigativas (RQs) son: (1) ¿Cómo se puede definir una VC?; y (2) ¿Cómo definen una VC sus usuarios? Utilizamos la tipología de VCs de Porter para seleccionar cuatro estudios de caso y realizamos 49 entrevistas a fondo con sus miembros. Nuestro estudio apunta a la aplicabilidad y utilidad de la tipología de comunidades virtuales de Porter y sugiere un nuevo enfoque para definir el concepto VC. Palabras clave: comunidades virtuales, Web 2.0, comunidades online, investigación cualitativa, estudio de caso múltiple.

With more than one third of the world's population online, the Internet has become part of modern living. Online, communities of people aggregate, sharing common interests, ideas, and feelings over the Internet. In this article we focus on such online communities, so-called virtual communities (VCs), and investigate how people in VCs experience influence, a dimension of Sense of Community (SOC). Main research questions are: " Do users have some influence over what the VC does? " , and " Does the VC have some influence over what users do? ". We used Porter's typology of VCs to select four case studies; a social VC (" GSCAI "), a professional VC (" Diarioclown "), a non-profit VC (" AZALEA ") and a commercial VC (" F&G ") and conducted 49 in-depth qualitative interviews with their members. Our results show the positive effects but also the limits of VCs in supporting feeling of influence (FOI). VCs can be cost-effective and powerful tools to support people's sense of influence, and – to a broader extent – sense of community. Nevertheless VCs can also " destroy " or " damage " a group. On a theoretical level, our study points to the applicability and usefulness of Porter's typology for studying contemporary online virtual communities.

ABSTRACT
This paper explores the notion of local urban policy hybridity in Manchester, England. It presents the findings of qualitative research set in the context of the parallel entrepreneurial city and sustainable regeneration debates. The research objective was to examine the extent of Manchester’s conversion to the politics of the entrepreneurial city on the assumption that this signals a departure from efforts towards the city’s achievement of sustainable regeneration and social equity goals. Manchester was selected because it has been held up as an iconic entrepreneurial city. The continuing entrepreneurial city debate, instigated by David Harvey in the 1980s, runs alongside that of sustainable egeneration in ways that are seen as sometimes complementary but usually contradictory. The software package NVivo 7 was used to assist with data analysis. The methodological approach was based loosely on the grounded theory approach of Strauss and Corbin: the approach of the analysis mainly followed the qualitative interpretive approach of discourse analysis. Key community strategy documents are found to
interweave elements of the entrepreneurial and managerial governance discourses and also incorporate conceptual elements that have emerged recently such as a concern with crime, sustainability and community nvolvement. The paper provides valuable insights into the hybrid nature of Manchester’s actually existing local community strategies which feature a robust adherence to the managerial mode of local urban policy.

El uso de software en la investigación cualitativa cada vez es más habitual, pero en muchas ocasiones el personal investigador se enfrenta a las investigaciones cualitativas de manera intuitiva y sin aprovechar la potencialidad de los mismos.

Uno de los CAQDAS (Computer-Aided Qualitative Data Analysis o Software de Análisis Cualitativo de Datos Asistido por Computadora) más populares a nivel mundial es el NVivo, un poderoso software cuya interface ahora está en español y que cuenta con gran cantidad de funciones que facilitan a la persona investigadora la organización y análisis de los datos obtenidos.

Entre sus ventajas destacan la capacidad de trabajar con documentos de casi cualquier formato (documentos de Word, PDF, audio, tablas de datos, hojas de cálculo, vídeos, fotos, redes sociales y webs) y una enorme compatibilidad con archivos multimedia.