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1 Chapter 8: Coding of Qualitative Data

C Chhaapptteerr 88:: C CO OD DIIN NG GO OFF Q QU UA ALLIITTA ATTIIV VE ED DA ATTA A CONTENTS Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter Chapter

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Introduction to Qualitative Research Qualitative Data Collection Method Ethnography Case Study Action Research Other Qualitative Methods Qualitative Data Analysis 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

CHAPTER OVERVIEW     

Preamble What is coding? What to look for when you are coding Example #1: Coding Example #2: Coding

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Example #3: Coding Example #4: Coding Computer software Key Summary References

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PREAMBLE 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.

WHAT IS CODING? 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 asg 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

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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

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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            

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THEME / CATEGORY 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

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.

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THEME / CATEGORY

CODES / LABELS

Friendship types

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Close friend Sporting  Club  Non-club Work

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Making new friends

Sub-codes

Changes in Friendship

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New same sex friends New different sex friends

Sub-codes

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.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN YOU ARE CODING 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:

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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 , 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.

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What can be coded Examples Behaviours, specific acts Seeking reassurance, Bragging Events – short once in a lifetime events or things Wedding day, day moved out people have done that are often told as a story. of home for university, starting first job Activities – these are of a longer duration, involve Going clubbing, attending a other people within a particular setting night course, conservation work Strategies, practice or tactics Being nasty to get dumped, Staying late at work to get promotion States – general conditions experienced by people Hopelessness “I‟ll never meet or found in organisations anyone better at my age” settling for someone who is not really suitable Meanings – A wide range of phenomena at the core of much qualitative analysis. Meanings and interpretations are important pars of what directs participants actions. a. What concepts do participants use to The term „chilling out‟ is used understand their world? What norms, by young people to mean relaxing and not doing very values, and rules guide their actions much b. What meaning or significance it has for Jealousy “ I just felt why did participants, how do they construe events, she get him” what are the feelings c. What symbols do people use to A PhD is referred to as „a test understand their situation? What names do of endurance‟ (because they use for objects, events, persons, roles, finishing a PhD is a challenge) setting and equipment? Participation – adaptation to a new setting or About new neighbours “In my involvement 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 with old friends) 10 Consequences Confidence gets dates, positive attitude attracts opportunities 11 Settings – the entire context of the events under University, work place, study housing estate 12 Reflexive – researcher‟s role in the process, how Probing question “How did intervention generated the data you feel when he said that?”

Table 8.1: Types of phenomena that can be coded LEARNING ACTIVITY

a) b) c) d)

What is coding? What is the difference between open and axial coding? What do you look for when coding data? Lewins, Taylor. & Gibbs (2005) provide a list of phenomena that is often coded. What are they? Are there others?

EXAMPLE #1: CODING QUALITATIVE DATA 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:

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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

Table 8.2 Reponses of subjects in an office

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THE DATA IS CODED INTO THE FOLLOWING CATEGORIES:

CATEGORIES

Management Issues

Physical Environment

DATA

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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

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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 should not be retained There need to be better assessment of employee ability and performance so that promotions can be more objectively based

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Employee Development

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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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Work Structure

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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

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 age about Terry in Example #2.

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EXAMPLE #2: CODING QUALITATIVE DATA

The example below show the coding of a short age 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 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 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 s 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 ages 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 age about living alone is actually about the emotions and feelings associated with living alone. LEARNING ACTIVITY

Try coding this short age about Amanda.

EXAMPLE #3: CODING QUALITATIVE DATA

Read the age 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. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Breaking up Getting pregnant Insecurity Lifestyle Moving in together Not wanting to move Proposal Settling down Uncertainty

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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:

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.

CODES Getting pregnant Settling down Lifestyle Uncertainty Insecurity Breaking up Proposal Not wanting to move Moving in together 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 age about Karen.

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EXAMPLE #4: CODING QUALITATIVE DATA Read the age 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:

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.

CODES Moving away Independence Freedom Moving back home Control Control Boundaries Growing up Letting go 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. COMPUTER-BASED QUALITATIVE DATA ANALYSIS 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

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

KEY WORDS

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Coding Open coding Axial coding Hierarchical Non-Hierarchical Meanings Reflexive

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Categories Descriptive codes Analytic codes Conditions

SUMMARY 

Coding is the process of examining the raw qualitative data which will in the form of words, phrases, sentences or paragraphs) and asg CODES or labels.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 , maintain, impede or change these actions and statements.

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In coding, the researcher is looking for behaviours, events, activities, states, strategies, meanings, participation, relationships, conditions, consequences, settings and reflexive.

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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.