Kevin Meethan Qualitative Research Methods

At a basic level, coding is any way of categorising and sorting data for the purposes of analysis In qualitative research coding is generally done at the end of the research although some initial categories or thoughts about the data may have been decided before the research and refined during it Coding – what is it?

Coding proceeds on the basis of linking diverse observations, statements and so on, connected by a common themes and patterns in a manner that enables you to draw all the particular examples together Coding involves the breaking down of all your data into units which are then grouped according to their characteristics. As such it is rather like a filing system Coding qualitative data

There are a number of ways this can be done and a number of different systems. One of the best known approaches is called ‘Grounded Theory’ There is no one standard approach but what they all share in common are a number of key techniques that require the researcher to read their interview transcripts and field notes very closely Coding approaches

Ask a consistent and specific set of questions of all the data: what is happening here? what is important? ‘Interrogate’ all your data systematically Basic Procedures:

The first stage is a ‘trawl’ through the data to see what is there, what patterns are emerging from the data. Any thoughts and ideas – jotted down as notes – are important. Remember to write these down as you go! One tip is to format documents with a wide margin that gives you the space to write in From this ‘sort’ of data you will have developed an initial coding scheme, which has roughly divided up your material into units Coding: the process

The second stage is to repeat the process, refining, expanding or rejecting initial categories Once you have identified the significant elements in your data these need to be ‘tagged’ or coded A code is essentially a way of identifying significant parts of the data, so it can be in any form of letters or numbers that make sense to you Coding: the process

Coding is both a means of dividing your data into manageable segments, as well as a means of allowing you quick access to the relevant data when you need it. Most coding begins with descriptive labelling and works towards more abstract analytical categories as it progresses Coding: the process

A code can refer to a single word, a phrase, a sentence or even a whole document Sections of your transcripts may contain multiple codes, because you have assigned one code to a piece of text does not prevent you from adding another code to it A list of codes is often referred to as a coding frame The coding frame

This exercise provides an illustration of coding based on two interview transcripts, both concerned with people taking exercise and keeping fit. 1.Print off the two interview transcripts: Interview_transcript1 Interview_transcript2 2.Read through them and identify areas where they overlap and where they are different, think about issues such as motivation, barriers, incentives and so on.  Exercise

3.‘Question’ the data, for example look at the role of family and friends, ask what differences gender makes and so on. You may want to make some notes. 4.Now print off and look at the document called ‘coded interviews’ which will give you some idea of what coding can look like. You should bear in mind while coding must be rigorous, how you actually do it varies from researcher to researcher.  Exercise (continued)

Coding is only a means to an end, it should never become an end in itself Categories often change, so don’t be afraid to ‘uncode’, merge categories or split them into different ones. There are a number of computer packages that can help your analysis and make the process easier, however they do not do the coding for you! See the slides on Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis (CAQDAS) Coding: some tips

A useful guide can be found here: Foss, S.K., and Waters, W. (2003) Coding & Analysis of Qualitative Data Accessed 1th July Richards, L. ( nd edition) Handling Qualitative Data. Sage: London. See Chapter 5: ‘Coding’ References

This resource was created by the University of Plymouth, Learning from WOeRk project. This project is funded by HEFCE as part of the HEA/JISC OER release programme.Learning from WOeRk This resource is licensed under the terms of the Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales license ( The resource, where specified below, contains other 3 rd party materials under their own licenses. The licenses and attributions are outlined below: 1.The name of the University of Plymouth and its logos are unregistered trade marks of the University. The University reserves all rights to these items beyond their inclusion in these CC resources. 2.The JISC logo, the and the logo of the Higher Education Academy are licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution -non-commercial-No Derivative Works 2.0 UK England & Wales license. All reproductions must comply with the terms of that license. Back page originally developed by the OER phase 1 C-Change project ©University of Plymouth, 2010, some rights reserved Author Kevin Meethan InstitutePlymouth University Title Coding Qualitative data Date Created 23 February 2011 Educational Level M Level Keywords UKOER LFWOER UOPCPDRM WBL Work-Based Learning Continuous Professional Development Research Skills Qualitative Research Methods Coding