1. Bita Akram Julia Zochodne
Open coding
Bita Akram
Julia Zochodne

2. index Background Steps Tips Qualitative research Open coding
Open coding and grounded theory
When and where
Steps
Conceptualization
Categorization
Category properties and dimensions
Patterns
Theory
Tips
What to code
How to code

3. Index cont. Benefits and problems Coding Styles Coding Tools
Team Coding
Solo Coding
Coding Tools
Coding manually vis. Electronically
CAQDAS
In class example
References

4. Qualitative research A research method used in many disciplines
Social sciences
Aims to understand
Human behavior
The reason behind this behavior
Answering questions like:
Why/how/when/where/what
Methods used for qualitative research
Interviews
Participant observation field notes
Journals
Documents
Photographs

5. Open coding Analytic Process Idea discovery
Data should be examined thoroughly for:
Concepts
Thoughts
Meanings

6. Open coding and grounded theory

7. When and where Where When Qualitative research approach
Idea generation
Evaluation

8. steps Conceptualization Categorization
Category Properties and Dimensions
Patterns
Theory

9. conceptualizing Naming a phenomena
Labeling events, happenings and concepts based on their shared characteristics
Showing the essence of a phenomena
Performing detailed analysis, comparison, classification and discussion on the phenomena
There are more than one way to classify an object based on
Researcher point of view
Research context
Conceptualization happens by
The meaning a phenomenon reflects in researcher’s mind
“In vivo”: The name is directly taken form participants data
It is necessary to be innovative in looking at phenomena

10. Example
Here is an interview with a young woman, early 20s, about teenagers using drugs:
Interviewer: Tell me about teens and drug use.
Respondent: I think teens use drugs as a release from their parents [“rebellious act”]. Well, I don’t know, I can only talk for myself. For me, it was an experience [“experience”] [in vivo code]. You hear a lot about drugs [“drug talk”]. You hear they are bad for you[“negative connotation” to the drug talk”]. There is a lot of them around [“available supply”]. You just get into them because they are accessible [“easy access”] and because it is kind of a new thing [“novel experience”].

11. categorization Arranging things in a systematic manner
Moving from words in data to more general and abstract view
Grouping codes based in their shared characteristics
Different shared characteristics might be considered based on our perspective
Naming a category:
Answering what is going on here based on the mutual characteristics of codes in the same category
Established names
Using in vivo codes
Coming up with new names

12. Example cont. From our previous example we have:
easy access
novel experience
rebellious act
What is going on here?
Teenagers are experiencing drug use according to the above reasons.
As a result, the previous mentioned concepts could be gathered under the category of reasons for experiencing or shortly experience

13. Category properties and dimensions
A category can be defined based on its properties and characteristics
Dimension:
Defining the position of a property on a specified range
A subcategory inherits the general properties of its parent category while the its properties are restricted to a specific range

14. Example Of a concept,properties and dimensions
Concept: Color
Properties: Shade, Intensity and Hue
Dimensions: The particular range
defined for each of these properties

15. Example cont. Category Frequency Limited Experimenting– Hard-core use
Drug usage
Frequency
Property
Limited Experimenting– Hard-core use
Dimension range for the property
Interviewer: Do teens experiment a lot with drugs?
Respondent: Most just try a few [“Limited experimenting”]. It depends on where you are [and] how accessible they are [“degree of accessibility”]. Most don’t really get into it hard- core [good in vivo concept] [“hard-core use” vs. “limited experimenting”]. A lot of teens are into pot, hash, a little organic stuff [“soft core drug types”]. It’s kind of progressive [“progressive using”]. You start off with the basic drugs like pot[“basic drugs”] [in vivo code]. Then you go on to try more intense drugs like hallucinogens[“intense drugs”][in vivo code].

16. Patterns
“Analysis is the search for patterns in data and for ideas that help explain why those patterns are there in the first place”[3]
Patterns are frequent happening of an action or behavior in human affairs
A research primarily tries to find patterns in data
Patterns leads us to finding the theory lay behind a specific behavior
Patterns have following characteristics:
Likeness
Predictable variation
Frequency
Order
Relations
Dependency
Cause and effect

17. Theory Theory is the overall research goal based on:
Relations between categories and subcategories
The simplified procedure
schematic of reaching to a theory
[1]

18. Example cont.
Easy access to the drugs and putting too much control on teens motivate them to become a hard-core drug user

19. Tips
What to Code
How to Code

20. What to code Social life recorded in data Participant activities
Perceptions
As a novice code every piece of data
As an expert you probably know what parts to omit

21. How to code Leave enough space Pre-coding Between paragraphs
Use three columns
Data
Real time coding
Final coding
Pre-coding
Circle/highlight/bold potential words/phrases/sentences
Title/organizational framework
Evidence for your theory
Start coding while collecting data
Separate them from original data
Keep your research goal in front of you

22. How to code Cont.
Code using one method before the other to see the influence
Codes should be categorized in a minimum number of categories preserving the essence of their subset
Keep a record of all of your coding cycles
Your codes
Their content
Data example
Can be used as a standard for team
Can help in categorization

23. Benefits and problems

24. Benefits and problems Benefits Problems [4]
Theories generated through coding grounded directly in the data
Expands the focus of the research process
Captures participants’ perceptions and the personal meanings they give to others’ actions
Problems
Theories are generated to (over)fit the data
Findings may not be generalization
Time consuming and labor intensive
[4]

25. Coding styles
Team coding
Solo coding

26. Team coding Depends on the size of the project Joint Research
Involving more than one way perspective and interpretation of data in research
Ideas are built on top of each other
Team coding can occur by:
Inviting a participant to the team
Coding each others data to double check their reality
There should be a minimum range of 85%-90% of agreement between coworkers

27. Solo coding Depends on the size of the project Single coding
Seek peer support
Involve participants
Start coding from initial stages
Maintain a reflective journal

28. Coding Tool
Coding manually vs. Electronically coding
Common CAQDASes

29. Coding manually vis. electronically
Learning basics of coding and qualitative analysis
Complex instructions
Multiple functions
Coding electronically (CAQDAS)
Storing
Organizing
Reconfiguring
It is good to code first manually and after mastering the method use software

30. COMMON caqdas ATLAS.ti:www.atlasti.com MAZQDA:www.maxqda.com
NVivo:
Coding in NVivo
Image Coding

31. In class Example
Research on the effect of classroom technology on children’s communication with the outside world.

32. references

33. references
[1] Saldaña, Johnny. The coding manual for qualitative researchers. No. 14. Sage. (2012).
[2] Strauss, A. and Corbin, J. Basics of Qualitative Research, 2nd Edition. Sage Publications. (1998).
[3] Denzin, Norman K. & Lincoln, Yvonna S. (Eds.). (2005). The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN
[4] Corbin, Juliet M., and Anselm Strauss. "Grounded theory research: Procedures, canons, and evaluative criteria." <i>Qualitative sociology</i> 13.1 (1990): 3-21.