Coding qualitative data guideline

 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 C

Chapt tter rr 8: :: CODI II NG OF QUALI IITATI II VE DATA

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 8: Coding of Qualitative Data

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

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?

 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

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

 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

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

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)

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

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 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

 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

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

 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

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.”

EXAMPLE #2: CODING QUALITATIVE DATA

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

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

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

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

LEARNING ACTIVITY

Try coding this short passage about Amanda

EXAMPLE #3: CODING QUALITATIVE DATA