Chapter8.coding

Chapter 8: Coding of Qualitative Data

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CHAPTER OVERVIEW

Preamble

What is coding?

What to look for when you are

coding

Example #1: Coding

Example #2: Coding

Example #3: Coding

Example #4: Coding

Computer software

Key Terms

Summary

References

CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Introduction to Qualitative Research

Chapter 2: Qualitative Data Collection Method

Chapter 3: Ethnography

Chapter 4: Case Study

Chapter 5: Action Research

Chapter 6: Other Qualitative Methods

Chapter 7: Qualitative Data Analysis


CHAPTER LEARNING OUTCOMES

When you have completed this chapter you will be able to:

Discuss the techniques of coding qualitative data

Apply data coding techniques when analysing qualitative data


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Since coding is an important and sometime most difficult phase of qualitative data

analysis, this chapter has been devoted to the coding phase. Several examples are

provided to illustrate how coding is done. However, the coding method shown is not the

only way to go about coding qualitative data as there are several other methods.

Let us repeat what was discussed in Chapter 7 about coding. Coding is the process

of examining the raw qualitative data which will in the form of words, phrases, sentences

or paragraphs) and assigning CODES or labels. Strauss and Corbin (1990) identified the

following types of coding: Axial coding and Open Coding (see Figure 8.1).

Data [from a Transcript]

OPEN CODING

Code or Label words and phrases found in

the transcript or text AXIAL CODING

Create Themes or Categories by grouping

codes or labels given to words and phrases

PREAMBLE

WHAT IS CODING?


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Open Coding – You “sweep” through the data and mark (by circling or

highlighting) sections of the text selected codes or labels. For example,

you circle words or phrases describing the behaviour of the head of

department.

Axial Coding – Eventually, you have a large number of codes and you

will find it necessary to sort them into some sort of order or into groups

and this is called axial coding. Two common types of axial coding are:

Non-hierarchical or Hierarchical

Non-Hierarchical: For example, in a study a the researcher asked a group of adults

how they take a break from their normal work. The responses are grouped are

grouped as follows in a non-hierarchical manner (also called flat coding).

CODES / LABELS

Hierarchical: Here you find that several codes group together as types or kinds of

something. You need to put some of the codes or labels into a group of their own or

make them sub-codes, i.e. a hierarchical arrangement of codes, like a tree, a

branching arrangement of sub-codes. Ideally, codes in a tree relate to their parents by

being 'examples of...', or 'contexts for...' or 'causes of...' or 'settings for...' and so on.

For example, a researcher was doing a study on friendship‟ and asked a group of

adults their views on the topic and the following is the classification.

take a holiday,

go out for a walk,

read a book,

watch TV,

take a nap,

wander round the garden,

work out at the gym,

go for a drink with friends,

go for a drive,

play a computer game,

follow a hobby,

do voluntary work

Adults taking a

break from

work

THEME / CATEGORY


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THEME / CATEGORY CODES / LABELS

Friendship types

Close friend

Sporting

Club

Non-club

Work

Changes in Friendship

Making new friends

New same sex

friends

New different sex

friends

Losing touch

Becoming sexual relationship

the data into meaningful analytical units (i.e.,

segmenting the data). When you locate meaningful

segments, you code them.

Coding is defined as marking the segments of data

with symbols, descriptive words, or category

names.

To recap, whenever you find a meaningful segment of text in a transcript, you assign a

code or label to signify that particular segment. You continue this process until you have

segmented all of your data and have completed the initial coding. Next, you find

relationships between the codes or labels and group them into themes or categories.

During coding, you must keep a master list (i.e., a list of all the codes that are developed

and used in the research study). Then, the codes are reapplied to new segments of data

each time an appropriate segment is encountered.

Most typically, when coding, you usually have some codes already in mind and

are also looking for other ideas that seem to arise out of the data. According to Charmaz

(2003), you should ask the following questions about the data you are coding:

Sub-codes

Sub-codes

WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN YOU ARE CODING


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What is going on?

What are people doing?

What is the person saying?

What do these actions and statements take for granted?

How do structure and context serve to support, maintain, impede or change these

actions and statements?

Lewins, Taylor. & Gibbs, (2005) provide a more detailed list of the kinds of

things that can be coded (see Table 8.1). The examples of each kind tend to be descriptive

because it makes it is easier to explain the phenomena. However, when you are coding it

is advisable to move from descriptive codes to more analytic ones as quickly as possible.

What can be coded Examples 1 Behaviours, specific acts Seeking reassurance, Bragging

2 Events – short once in a lifetime events or things

people have done that are often told as a story.

Wedding day, day moved out

of home for university, starting

first job

3 Activities – these are of a longer duration, involve

other people within a particular setting

Going clubbing, attending a

night course, conservation

work

4 Strategies, practice or tactics Being nasty to get dumped,

Staying late at work to get

promotion

5 States – general conditions experienced by people

or found in organisations

Hopelessness “I‟ll never meet

anyone better at my age”

settling for someone who is

not really suitable

6 Meanings – A wide range of phenomena at the

core of much qualitative analysis. Meanings and

interpretations are important pars of what directs

participants actions.

The term „chilling out‟ is used

by young people to mean

relaxing and not doing very

much

a. What concepts do participants use to

understand their world? What norms,

values, and rules guide their actions

b. What meaning or significance it has for

participants, how do they construe events,

what are the feelings

Jealousy “ I just felt why did

she get him”

c. What symbols do people use to

understand their situation? What names do

they use for objects, events, persons, roles,

setting and equipment?

A PhD is referred to as „a test

of endurance‟ (because

finishing a PhD is a challenge)

7 Participation – adaptation to a new setting or

involvement

About new neighbours “In my

new house I have to keep my


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music down at night as the

neighbours have young

children”.

8 Relationships or interaction Seeing family “ Now my sister

lives in the next road she visits

more and we‟ve become much

closer.

9 Conditions or constraints Lose of job (before financial

difficulties), moving away

(before lost contact with old

friends)

10 Consequences Confidence gets dates, positive

attitude attracts opportunities

11 Settings – the entire context of the events under

study

University, work place,

housing estate

12 Reflexive – researcher‟s role in the process, how

intervention generated the data

Probing question “How did

you feel when he said that?”

Table 8.1: Types of phenomena that can be coded

Refer to this EXAMPLE in which a researcher interviewed several staff in an office

and asked this question: “What specific problems that needed immediate action in your

organisation”?

The following are some of the responses to the question. Try to code the data and

compare your themes / categories with the themes / categories provided below:

LEARNING ACTIVITY

a) What is coding?

b) What is the difference between open and axial coding?

c) What do you look for when coding data?

d) Lewins, Taylor. & Gibbs (2005) provide a list of phenomena

that is often coded. What are they? Are there others?

EXAMPLE #1: CODING QUALITATIVE DATA


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Table 8.2 Reponses of subjects in an office

The responses to the question: “What specific problems that needed immediate

action in your organisation”?

There is not enough space for everyone

Our office furniture is dated and needs replacing

We nee a better cleaning service for the office

We need more objective recruitment and hiring standards

We need objective performance appraisal and reward system

We need consistent application of policy

There are leadership problems

Unproductive staff should not be retained

Each department stereotypes of other departments

Decisions are often based on inaccurate information

We need more opportunities for advancement here

Our product is not consistent because there are too many styles

There is too much gossiping and criticising

Responsibilities at various levels are unclear

We need a suggestion box

There is a lot of “us and them” sentiment here.

There is a lack of attention to individual needs.

There is favouritism and preferential treatment of staff.

More training is needed at all levels.

There need to better assessment of employee ability and performance can be

more objectively based.

Training is needed for new employees.

Many employees are carrying the weight of other untrained employees.

This off ice is “turf” oriented.

There is a pecking order at every level and within every level.

Communication needs improving.

Certain departments are put on a pedestal.

There are too many review levels for our products.

Too many signatures are required.

There is a lot of overlap and redundancy.

The components of our office work against one another rather than a team.

We need more computer terminals


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THE DATA IS CODED INTO THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:

CATEGORIES DATA

Management Issues

There are leadership problems

We need a suggestion box

There is a lack of attention to individual needs.

There is favouritism and preferential treatment of staff.

Decisions are often based on inaccurate information

We need consistent application of policy

Physical Environment

We nee a better cleaning service for the office

Our office furniture is dated and needs replacing

We need more computer terminals

There is not enough space for everyone

We need more objective recruitment and hiring

standards

We need objective performance appraisal and reward

systems

Non-productive staff members should not be retained

There need to be better assessment of employee ability

and performance so that promotions can be more

objectively based

Employee Development

More training is needed at all levels

Training is needed for new employees

Many employees are carrying the weight of other

untrained employees

We need more opportunities for advancement here

Intergroup and Interpersonal Relations

The office is “turf” oriented

There is a lot of “us and them” sentiment here


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There is pecking order at every level and within every

level

Communication needs improving

There is too much gossiping and criticising

Certain departments are put on a pedestal

Each department has stereotypes of the other

departments

Work Structure

There are too many reviews for our product

Too many signatures are required

Responsibilities at various levels are unclear

The components of our office work against one another

rather than as a team

There is a lot of overlap and redundancy

Our product is not consistent because there are too

many styles

LEARNING ACTIVITY

Try coding this short passage about Terry in Example #2.


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The example below show the coding of a short passage of text about a Terry moving

out of his parents home and becoming independent.

Terry

“When you move into your own home, you're alone. There is no bustle of people around the house. I miss having someone to chat to when I get home. I put the TV or some music so there’s some background noise, the silence makes me feel so alone. Sometimes I will be sat watching trash TV and thinking I should be out doing something rather than watching this rubbish. I read a lot but sometimes I am too tired and just want to veg out. But it's been good to move out of mum and dad’s as it's not healthy to rely on them as they won't last forever. I become independent and made my own decisions. It's good they still there when I need them. It's good to have some distance as when I was at home I was arguing a lot with my dad and that was what made me decide it was time to go.”



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In Example #2, to help the analyst mark up the page, the text has been printed using

double spacing, so that it is possible to write code ideas and code labels between the

lines.

DESCRIPTIVE CODING AND NOTES.


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The analyst has read the text carefully and circled what seem to be key terms or key

events or actions. A short note of what these are has been written besides the circling.

These are the start of descriptive, or what grounded theorists refer to as open coding. An

initial coding list from this might be:

Own home

Lonely

Independence

Moving out of parents

Conflict

Dependence

Desire for company

These terms summarise the events and actions noted by the coding in Example #2, and

some are more analytical, i.e. not merely describing something that happened or was said.

They could form the start of a coding list that could be used to mark-up the rest of this

transcript and other similar cases.


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DESCRIPTIVE AND ANALYTIC CODING WITH NOTES.

Using the sample data, a wide margin is used, so that code labels and other

comments can be written there. Print out your transcriptions in whatever way supports

your preferred approach to coding the text.


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The codes used are still essentially descriptive but begin to move away from

simply summarising what the respondent has said. Using brackets to the right of the

transcribed text, they also code much larger chunks or passages of text. This form of

coding is most useful when you go on to make retrievals, i.e. gather together all the text

about one topic – that is to say, all the text that is coded the same way. With larger

chunks, the retrieved text is less likely to be decontextualised. The analyst has also used a

highlighter to identify words that refer to feelings and these words suggest that the

passage about living alone is actually about the emotions and feelings associated with

living alone.

Read the passage of text below about Amanda finding out she was pregnant. Look

at the list of codes below and decide which code sums up what is being talked about

in each line of the text (you may use a code more than once).

List of codes

1. Breaking up

2. Getting pregnant

3. Insecurity

4. Lifestyle

5. Moving in together

6. Not wanting to move

7. Proposal

8. Settling down

9. Uncertainty

LEARNING ACTIVITY

Try coding this short passage about Amanda.



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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

When I found out I was pregnant, I wasn‟t sure if I wanted to

get married and he …

wasn‟t the settling down kind. He was old enough to bring

up a child but I knew he …

wasn‟t ready to. He was in the Navy he liked the life and

preferred going off with …

his friends and that bothered me. At first I hoped something

would happen so I …

didn‟t have the baby and I wanted him to marry me ‟cause he

wanted to not …

because I was pregnant. Anyway when the baby was born we

broke up and I have …

seen him a couple of times but he has phoned lots and says

he will marry me. He …

wanted me to marry him and go and live with him, but I

didn‟t want to leave home.

He leaves the Navy in 6 months so I‟m getting the flat ready

for him to move in. But …

I still worry he‟ll go off with his friends and won‟t be able to

give up the life.

COMPARE your answer with the possible answer below. You may have chosen to

use different codes from the ones we used, this does not mean you are wrong as you may

have a very good reason for selecting that code. Often the same text can be coded in two

or more different ways.


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ANSWER:

CODES

When I found out I was pregnant, I wasn‟t sure if I wanted to get

married and he …

Getting pregnant

wasn‟t the settling down kind. He was old enough to bring up a child

but I knew he …

Settling down

wasn‟t ready to. He was in the Navy he liked the life and preferred

going off with …

Lifestyle

his friends and that bothered me. At first I hoped something would

happen so I …

Uncertainty

didn‟t have the baby and I wanted him to marry me ‟cause he wanted to

not …

Insecurity

because I was pregnant. Anyway when the baby was born we broke up

and I have …

Breaking up

seen him a couple of times but he has phoned lots and says he will

marry me. He …

Proposal

wanted me to marry him and go and live with him, but I didn‟t want to

leave home.

Not wanting to move

He leaves the Navy in 6 months so I‟m getting the flat ready for him to

move in. But …

Moving in together

I still worry he‟ll go off with his friends and won‟t be able to give up

the life.

Insecurity

You may have chosen to use different codes from the ones we used, this does not mean

you are wrong as you may have a very good reason for selecting that code. Often the

same text can be coded in two or more different ways.

LEARNING ACTIVITY

Try coding this short passage about Karen.


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Read the passage of text below about Karen leaving home. Provide a code that

summaries what is happening for each line of text in the boxes.

CODES

It was challenging, after living in Italy for 6 months and then I moved home

before …

I started university. I was used to doing things my own way when it suited me

…

and not having to tell people where I was going. I was living with friends and

they …

didn‟t care what I did or where I went. It was really hard to go back to sort of

…

thinking of others … ‟cause Mum and Dad wanted to know where I was

going and …

who with, which was a nightmare. My parents were strict but I had a lot of …

freedom growing up, as long as I didn‟t overstep the boundaries. After I came

…

back from Italy they realised I was more independent and things changed and

…

they didn‟t try and stop me doing things anymore but they would still let

know if …

they didn‟t approve.

COMPARE your answer with the possible answer below. You may have chosen to

use different codes from the ones we used, this does not mean you are wrong as you may

have a very good reason for selecting that code. Often the same text can be coded in two

or more different ways.



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ANSWER:

CODES

It was challenging, after living in Italy for 6 months and then I moved home

before …

Moving away

I started university. I was used to doing things my own way when it suited me

…

Independence

and not having to tell people where I was going. I was living with friends and

they …

Freedom

didn‟t care what I did or where I went. It was really hard to go back to sort of

…

Moving back

home

thinking of others … ‟cause Mum and Dad wanted to know where I was

going and …

Control

who with, which was a nightmare. My parents were strict but I had a lot of … Control

freedom growing up, as long as I didn‟t overstep the boundaries. After I came

…

Boundaries

back from Italy they realised I was more independent and things changed and

…

Growing up

they didn‟t try and stop me doing things anymore but they would still let

know if …

Letting go

they didn‟t approve. Disapproval

The important point is that line-by-line coding helps you to focus on the content of the

text in the line and helps you to focus on what it is about. When doing line-by-line coding

there is a tendency to produce descriptive codes. However, some of those you have

suggested may be more analytic or more theoretical. That's good. The next step is to try

and develop such analytic codes and/or recode some of the descriptive codes you have

used.

Today, various types of software are available to assist in qualitative data

analysis. Thus many researchers have replaced physical files and cabinets with computer

based directories and files along with the use of word processors to write and annotate

texts. Many analysts now also use dedicated computer assisted qualitative data analysis

(CAQDAS) packages that not only make the coding and retrieval of text easy to do, but

can add other functions like searching that computers do quickly but which takes humans

ages to do or in some cases, which humans have never done.

At first the focus of CAQDAS was on text since that was easy to handle on PCs,

but now that much audio and video is in digital form too, software has been developed to

COMPUTER-BASED QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS


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support the analysis of audio and video data. Among the popular software used in

analysing qualitative data is NVivo, Nudist and an open source software called Weft

QDA [We will not be discussing the use of these software in this course]. You can

download Weft QDA and try it out. http://www.pressure.to/qda/

Coding is the process of examining the raw qualitative data which will in the form

of words, phrases, sentences or paragraphs) and assigning CODES or labels.

Open Coding – You “sweep” through the data and mark (by circling or

highlighting) sections of the text selected codes or labels.

Eventually, you have a large number of codes and you will find it necessary to

sort them into some sort of order or into groups and this is called axial coding.

The way codes are developed and the timing of this process will depend on

whether your research project and your approach is inductive or deductive.

Most typically, when coding, researchers have some codes already in mind and

are also looking for other ideas that seem to arise out of the data.

SUMMARY

KEY WORDS

Coding

Open coding

Axial coding

Hierarchical

Non-Hierarchical

Meanings

Reflexive

Categories

Descriptive codes

Analytic codes

Conditions

http://www.pressure.to/qda/


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In coding, the researcher is looking for what is going on, what are people doing,

what is the person saying, what do these actions and statements take for granted,

how do structure and context serve to support, maintain, impede or change these

actions and statements.

In coding, the researcher is looking for behaviours, events, activities, states,

strategies, meanings, participation, relationships, conditions, consequences,

settings and reflexive.

Computer software is used by researchers to facilitate qualitative data analysis.

REFERENCES:

Bernard. R. (1996) Qualitative Data, Quantitative Analysis. Cultural Anthropology

Methods Journal, Vol. 8 no. 1, 9-11.

Bogdan, R. & Biklen, S.K. (1998). Qualitative research for education. Boston: Allyn &

Bacon.

Bryman, A. & Burgess, R. (1993). Analysing Qualitative Data. London: Routledge.

Coffey, A., B. Holbrook and P. Atkinson (1996) 'Qualitative Data Analysis:

Technologies and Representations', Sociological Research Online, vol. 1, no. 1.

Gibbs, G R (2002) Qualitative Data Analysis: Explorations with NVivo. Buckingham:

Open University Press.

Lacey, A. & Luff, D. (2001). Trent focus for research and development in primary health

care: An introduction to qualitative analysis. London: Trent Focus.

Lewins, A., Taylor, C. & Gibbs, G. (2005). What is qualitative data analysis? School of

Human & Health Sciences, University of Huddersfield. United Kingdome.

Miles, M. & Huberman, A. (1984). Qualitative Data Analysis. London: Sage.

Strauss, A. (1987). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. New York: Cambridge

University Press.

Strauss, A. and Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory

procedures and techniques. London: Sage.

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