Although HyperRESEARCH is designed to be used by one person at a time, it includes many options for sharing data that allow multiple-researcher teams to work on a study in both the coding and analysis phases.

Sharing Study Files and Source Files

To distribute a study file to other researchers—either for additional coding or for analysis—you will need to send the study file along with your source files. For this reason, it’s usually best to set up your study so that all your source files are in a single folder. This makes it easier to send the source files, and less likely that a file will be missed.

Sources in HyperRESEARCH:

When you work with a source file in HyperRESEARCH, the source is not imported or copied into your study file. Instead, HyperRESEARCH saves the name and location of the source file, along with the location of code references for that file. This approach improves memory use and performance, since source files are only opened when they’re needed.

Because of this, it’s important that all researchers who are working on a study have the same version of the source files. If a source file is coded by one researcher, and then the study is opened by another researcher with a different version of the source file, the code references in that source file may be shifted so that the wrong text is associated with the code.

To prevent this, when you send a study file, make sure to also send the source files you’ve used. If you are sure your colleague has the same version of the source files, you don’t need to send them again, but if in doubt, send any files that you believe might not be identical to those on your colleague’s computer.

Workflow for sending a study:

You can distribute a study to any number of other researchers. To open the study file, the other researcher’s computer must have HyperRESEARCH installed—either the full licensed edition, or the Free Limited Edition.

The process looks like this:

• You send the study file and source files to the other researcher.
  • You can email the files, burn a CD with the files and give it to the other researcher, use your local network, or use any other method that’s convenient. (If you are working on Mac OS X and are sending files to a Windows user, make sure your files have the correct 3-letter extension to identify the file’s type: ".hs2" for the study file, ".txt" for text source files, etc.) Tip: When using certain email clients, file type information is sometimes removed in transit. If this happens to you, try compressing the files using StuffIt or Zip before sending them.
    
    
• The recipient opens the study file in HyperRESEARCH. Tip: To simply view the data or create reports, the recipient can use the Free Limited Edition of HyperRESEARCH, without purchasing a license. However, to add codes or cases beyond the Free Limited Edition’s limits, the recipient must have a HyperRESEARCH license. For more about the Free Unlimited Edition, see "Try Before You Buy."
  
  
• The recipient identifies the new location of the source files.
  • HyperRESEARCH stores the location of sources files within the study file, and when the files are moved to another computer (possibly with a different hard disk name, different folder structure, and so on), the location has changed. The first time the recipient does something that requires accessing a source file—such as clicking a code reference when the View Source box is checked, or creating a report that includes source information—HyperRESEARCH asks where that source file is. Once the recipient has identified the file’s location, HyperRESEARCH asks whether all other sources are in this folder. If they are, the study file updates the location of all source files. Tip: To make sure that HyperRESEARCH won’t need to ask again for the location of source files, the recipient should choose File Save to save the study file. This ensures that the new location of the source files is also saved.

Sharing code lists

To share a common set of codes among members of your research team or among different studies, first create the code list in your study file, then choose Export List from the Edit Code menu at the top of the Code List Editor. This command exports the entire code list, along with the code descriptions, to a text file. (Codes are separated by returns, and each code is separated from its description by a tab.)

To re-use the exported list in another study file, open the study file, then choose Import List from the Edit Code menu at the top of the Code List Editor. Choose the file you previously exported. The codes from that file will be added to the current study file.

In this way, you can keep a core set of codes and use them in all studies. You can also exchange code lists among researchers who are working on the same study, ensuring that everyone is working with the same master code list.

Merging Study Files

Merging study files in HyperRESEARCH is a manual process. You can merge two (or more) studies by copying and paste cases into one study file, thus creating a master file.

The basic process requires that only one person work on any given case at a time.

Because of this, you and your colleagues should decide, before beginning work, how you will divide up the cases so that each case will be changed by only one person.

Your workflow will look like this:

• You provide your colleagues with a copy of the study file and source files, and agree on which cases each of you will work on.
• You and your colleagues each make changes to your assigned cases, in your own copies of the file.
• When everyone is finished (or at a logical stopping point), you collect the copies from each of your colleagues. You can give each copy a convenient name, such as “Jane’s copy.hs2”. At this point, you are ready to merge the codes into a single study file, which can be used for analysis.
• Open a colleague’s file, go to the first case he or she has been working on, and choose Edit Copy Case. This copies the entire case, including all references. Tip: If the menu item reads “Copy Codes” instead of “Copy Case”, make sure no code references are selected. If a code reference is selected, you can deselect it by Control-clicking it (Windows) or Command-clicking it (Mac).
• Open your own study file (the master copy) and choose Edit Paste Case to paste the case into your file. (If you are replacing the old case in your file with the new one that your colleague worked on, HyperRESEARCH will ask you to rename the case you’re pasting. This happens because it’s not possible to have two cases with the same name in the same study file. To avoid this, delete the old case before you paste the new one.)

After you repeat this process for each case your colleagues have worked on, your own copy will contain all the completed cases.

You can then re-distribute this updated file to your colleagues for further work, or continue with the analysis and reporting stage of the study.

Tip: It’s also possible, although less convenient, to merge study files when more than one person has worked on a case. If this has happened, go to the case and select the code references that the second person has added. (To select several code references at a time, hold down the Control key [Windows] or Command key [Mac].) Then choose Edit Copy Codes. Open the other study file, go to the case, and choose Edit Paste. The code references will be moved into the corresponding case in the second study file, along with the existing code references in that case.