Qualitative Data Coding: The Main Steps Essay

Data coding is a significant part of most qualitative research as it allows preparing raw and unstructured data for further analysis (Adu, 2019). In this regard, there are four steps that the scholars should complete in order to transform their data into a meaningful source of information, namely precoding, coding, categorization, and theme assignment. As for the former, Ravitch and Carl (2021) mentions that prior to the actual coding, the researcher should become familiar with the data. This step will allow understanding the overall meaning of and identifying keywords or phrases within the analyzed material (Ravitch & Carl, 2021). Considering this information, I watched the Scholars of Change video named “How a PhD in forensic psychology can help inspire change” several times to retrieve the general meaning (Walden University, 2017). As such, the central topic of the video refers to the necessity to address the psychological struggles that police officers encounter.

Next, the researcher can start dividing the raw data into meaningful chunks of information. Assigning a code means using a word or a short phrase to capture the meaning of or summarize the idea of a short portion of verbal, textual, or visual data (Saldaña, 2021). During this step, it is crucial that the researcher decides whether the data is coded inductively (the labels come from data) or deductively (the codes come from prior research) (Ravitch & Carl, 2021). Then, categories are generated from the primary list of labels that also have the form of one word or short phrase (Linneberg & Korsgaard, 2019). Last but not least, themes include one or more categories and represent a single logically consistent dimension of the analyzed phenomenon (Adu, 2019).

In the Scholars of Change video mentioned above, I could identify such codes as ‘PTSD’, ‘stress’, ‘emotional difficulty,’ and ‘suicide,’ among others. Then, I united those codes into a single category named ‘psychological struggles.’ Finally, my theme would be similar to the latter category as there are not a lot of other topics that were discussed in the video. Thus, there are no more categories that could be logically joined with the mentioned category. In a similar vein, I coded my phone interviews transcripts with the fellow student regarding social change. The final themes included ‘desire to help’ (awareness of the problem and feeling compassionate), ‘finding like-minded people,’ and ‘inspiring others’.

References

Adu, P. (2019). A step-by-step guide to qualitative data coding. Routledge.

Linneberg, M. S., & Korsgaard, S. (2019). Coding qualitative data: A synthesis guiding the novice. Qualitative Research Journal, 19(3), 259-270.

Ravitch, S. M., & Carl, N. M. (2021). Qualitative research: Bridging the conceptual, theoretical, and methodological (2nd ed.) Sage Publications.

Saldaña, J. (2021). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (4th ed.). Sage Publications.

Walden University. (2017), How a PhD in forensic psychology can help inspire change [Video]. YouTube. Web.