Chapter 3
Understanding the Index(Tree)System

On the NUD.IST menu bar the first option under "IndexSystem" is Explore. Choosing "Explore" opens a copy of the Node Explorer Window.

Six types of nodes are listed in the Node Explorer Window but it is the Index Tree Root that will be central to your project development. It is on this Index Tree Root that you will create new nodes that form the backbone of your project analysis. However, unlike a family tree, you won't be limited to two parents. You may have many "parent ideas", each associated with "child ideas" that are conceptually related to their parents.

You can think of the Index Tree Root as the family tree of all the ideas you develop in your analysis.

Using the metaphor of the Family Tree, NUD.IST takes the tree and flips it on its axis so that the Index Tree Root is displayed vertically as in the illustration below.

In the next section you can see an example of how the Index Tree Root would actually be displayed in a project.

Copyright Bobbi A. Kerlin, Ph.D.
http://kerlins.net/bobbi/research/nudist/
Last updated February 6, 2002