qualitative approaches content course 8: analysis ii ... approaches! 5! coding-...

Qualitative approaches!

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Course 8: Analysis II – !Coding!


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Content!1.  Coding!2.  Comparing!3.  Memoing!


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1. Coding!Qualitative approaches!

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Definition : Coding!!Coding = !!- Process in which data are fractured, conceptualized and reordered in a new way!!- Process in which «"codes"» are given to parts of sentences, whole sentences, paragraphs etc. !


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Coding- quantitative/qualitative!•  The main categorizing strategy in qualitative research is

coding. !•  "This is quite different from coding in quantitative research,

which consists of applying a preestablished set of categories to the data according to explicit, unambiguous rules, with the primary goal being to generate frequency counts of the items in each category."!

•  In qualitative research, the goal of coding is not to count things, but to "fracture" (Strauss 1987, p. 29) the data and rearrange them into categories that facilitate comparison between things in the same category and that aid in the development of theoretical concepts."!!(Emphasis JS) Maxwell , Joseph A. , Qualitative research design..., 2005 , 96!


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Coding : deductive, mixed, inductive!!1. prestructured, deductive!!The codes are known beforehand!!(e.g. due to a theory)!!2. mixed!!Some, but not all codes are known beforehand!!(e.g. one begins with a «"start list"» of codes; when working on the material, this list is continuously expanded and reworked according to new insights)!!3. emergent, inductive!!No codes are known when starting the process. Codes emerge slowly from the material. Researchers go from open coding through axial coding to selective coding. !


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Typology of coding!

1.  Open coding!2.  Thematic coding / Axial coding!3.  Theoretical coding / Selective coding!


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Open coding!- !At the beginning of the analysis!-  very detailed, little abstraction!-  sometimes one code for one word or one line!-  one codes everything «"new"» one encounters!-  one is very «"open"» and «"sensitive"» to anything new,

surprising!

= !a hermeneutical method that leads us to interpret a text and to dive into its «"deepness"»!


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Thematic coding!•  Large themes, often known beforehand!•  Often in the middle of the study, when large themes of study

have been found due to «"selective coding"»!= !«"boxes"» we put our data into, in order to analyze them

jointly afterwards. Useful, for example, for chapters of an article!


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Theoretical (= selective) coding!•  At the end of the study!•  uses codes that have proved to be useful!•  uses more abstract, theoretical codes that have emerged from

more concrete codes!•  tries to refine the codes and/or to refine the theory!•  often reworks the whole data with the use of new theoretical

codes!


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Coding: Citation!•  Charmaz (2004) prefers to distinguish between two main

forms or phases of coding: open or initial coding and selective or focused. !

•  The former tends to be very detailed and may even result in a code per line of text. It is crucial at this stage to be open-minded and to generate as many new ideas and hence codes as necessary to encapsulate the data. Selective or focused coding entails emphasizing the most common codes and those that are seen as most revealing about the data. New codes may be generated by combining initial codes. The data are then re-explored and re-evaluated in terms of these selected codes. !"Bryman , Alan , Social research methods , 2004 , S. 402"


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How to give a code: #ask and answer questions!

•  Of what general category is this item of data an instance?!•  What does this item of data represent?!•  What is this item of data about?!•  Of what topic is this item of data an instance?!•  What question about a topic does this item of data suggest?!•  What sort of answer to a question about a topic does this

item of data imply?!•  What is happening here?!•  What are people doing?!•  What do people say they are doing?!•  What kind of event is going on?!

"Bryman , Alan , Social research methods , 2004 , S. 408!


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Coding : some practical advice!•  Begin coding early!•  Read all the material available without coding!•  Reread all the material and start open coding!•  Rework the codes, introduce a systematic order, find more

abstract codes (axial coding)!•  Rework the codes by introducing theoretical ideas

(theoretical, selective coding)!•  Every element of information can recieve several codes!•  At the start, one produces a lot of codes; in the end, it is

important to work with only the most important codes!•  Coding is only a part of analysis!

"Bryman , Alan , Social research methods , 2004 , S. 408 f.!


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Problems of coding!•  The context may be lost!

!One isolates certain parts of a text and may therefore lose their social context, the social attributes of the interviewee etc. !

•  The narrative sequence may be lost!!By isolating certain parts of a text one may lose their function in the sequence of the narrative!


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Open coding - Example 1!Marc: My conversion, that’s a long, a very long story. Well, I come from a church, from the family perhaps, from catholicism!My parents are catholic uh, I was just a bit, I was growing up in the catholic church when I was a child, I did the catechism, I have done first communion, I’ve been baptised!I have even been married in the catholic church. Ah, but just after my marriage, uh, uh, our couple did not go too well we were already on the verge of divorcing so, me and my wife, we did not get along well and the situation got worse and worse, we were both unhappy, I was unhappy and my wife too, And, uh, I have to say that this is also a problem that did not come about just because of the marriage; I have had to put up with this all of my life. !


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Open coding - Example 1!Marc: My conversion, that’s a long, a very long story. Well, I come from a church, from the family perhaps, from catholicism!My parents are catholic uh, I was just a bit, I was growing up in the catholic church when I was a child, I did the catechism, I have done first communion, I’ve been baptised!I have even been married in the catholic church. Ah, but just after my marriage, uh, uh, our couple did not go too well we were already on the verge of divorcing so, me and my wife, we did not get along well and the situation got worse and worse, we were both unhappy, I was unhappy and my wife too, And, uh, I have to say that this is also a problem that did not come about just because of the marriage; I have had to put up with this all of my life. !

Process long/short of conversion!

Catholic socialization!

Religion before conversion!

Catholic marriage!

Problems in the couple!

Profound problems !Duration of problems short / long!

Be on the verge of divorcing!Dramatisation!


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Thematic coding - Example 1!CG: Allez-y!!

Marc: My conversion, that’s a long, a very long story. Well, I come from a church, from the family perhaps, from catholicism!My parents are catholic uh, I was just a bit, I was growing up in the catholic church when I was a child, I did the catechism, I have done first communion, I’ve been baptised!I have even been married in the catholic church. Ah, but just after my marriage, uh, uh, our couple did not go too well we were already on the verge of divorcing so, me and my wife, we did not get along well and the situation got worse and worse, we were both unhappy, I was unhappy and my wife too, And, uh, I have to say that this is also a problem that did not come about just because of the marriage; I have had to put up with this all of my life. !

Conversion story!


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Theoretical coding - Example 1!Marc: CG: Allez-y!!

Marc: My conversion, that’s a long, a very long story. Well, I come from a church, from the family perhaps, from catholicism!My parents are catholic uh, I was just a bit, I was growing up in the catholic church when I was a child, I did the catechism, I have done first communion, I’ve been baptised!I have even been married in the catholic church. Ah, but just after my marriage, uh, uh, our couple did not go too well we were already on the verge of divorcing so, me and my wife, we did not get along well and the situation got worse and worse, we were both unhappy, I was unhappy and my wife too, And, uh, I have to say that this is also a problem that did not come about just because of the marriage; I have had to put up with this all of my life. !

Conv-Cont: Religious !tradition!

Conv-Cont: Current !problems!

Conv-Cont: Long-!term problems!


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Thematic coding - Example 2!Text Code!When I first met him I was thrilled. He was Attraction!fun to be with, good-looking and had a !lovely way of teasing me. After we talked!for a while, I learned that we both liked !birding and taking long walks!

On December 17th, my policy director and Lobbying for HR 1214!I talked with the representative's chief of!staff about HR 1214. He indicated that the !representative would support the bill if we!could get it out of committee.!Rubin / Rubin , Qualitative Interviewing , 2005 , S. 220"


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Thematic coding - Example 3!IV. Projects!

!A. Defining success!!B. Projects by types!!C. Projects as stages!! !1. Predevelopment dreaming!! !2. Financial overviews - typical packaging!! !3. Multiple partnering as financing!! !4. Community linkages!! !5. Clients!! ! !a. Enabling the client!! ! !b. The dysfunctional client!! !6. The traumas of construction!

!"If Herb read in a transcript a discussion about a dysfunctional client, he coded it IV-C-5-b. The outline was created after extensive reading and rereading of the interview transcripts. !"Rubin / Rubin , Qualitative Interviewing , 2005 , S. 220!


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2. Comparing!Qualitative approaches!

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Comparing!!Comparing = Looking at different objects, noting similarities and differences between them!

!Attributes: !–  Comparison is always a comparison with respect to

something (tertium comparationis)!–  By comparing, one finds «"properties"» (= tertium

comparationis) which may then be used to describe the different objects!


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Comparing - citation (1)!•  «"We use theoretical comparisons in analysis for the same purposes as we do in

everyday life. When we are confused or stuck about the meaning of an incident or event in our data, or when we want to think about an event or object in different ways (range of possible manings), we turn to theoretical comparisons. !

•  Using comparisons brings out properties, which in turn can be used to examine the incident or object in the data. !

•  The specific incidents, objects, or actions that we use when making our theoretical comparisons can be derived from the literature and experience. !

•  It is not that we use experience or literature as data but rather that we use the properties and diemensions derived from the comparative incidents to examine the data in front of us."»


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Comparing - citation (2)!•  "For example, suppose that in an interview, a nurse states, "When working alone

at night, I prefer to work with another experiences nurs. When I work with an inexperienced nurse, I end up carrying most of the workload."!

•  To gain some understanding of what she means by this statement, we turn to thinking comparatively abouth the terms "experienced" and "inexperienced". and not so much abouth the fact that this nurse does not like to work with some people. We might say, "Let us look at inexperienced seamstresses or drivers instead of nurses to see what we might learn." Because it is the concepts "inexperienced" and "experienced" that interested us rather than the particulars of seamstress or driver, what our comparative group consists of does not matter. !

•  We are just looking for a list of properties that we can use to examine the incident in the data." These properties will not be applied to the data; rather, they give us a means for examining the data."


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Comparing - citation (3)!•  An inexperienced seamstress or driver might have the properties of being

cautious, apprehensive, frequently seeking direction, afraid to deviate from the pattern, prone to making errors, unsure of himself or herself, afraid to act in a crisis, and so on. !

•  Now, with some idea of what the properties of being inexperienced might be, we can look to the data to see whether any of thse are in the data and thus help us to determine more specifically what the nurse meant when she made her remark." We are more sensitie to what to look for in the data because we have some idea of what it means to be inexperienced."!

•  Again, we are not saying that these properties are in the data or that they describe what the nurse meant. The differenc now is that we are thinking at the property and dimensional levels. This is important because to define the meaning of experienced versus inexperienced, we must be able to state the properties of each."»!!Strauss / Corbin , Basics of qualitative research , S. 80/81!


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Comparing - exercise !


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3. Memoing!Qualitative approaches!

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Citation!!"The horror of that moment", the King went on, "I shall never, never forget". !!"You will , though", said the Queen, "unless you make a memorandum of it.""!Lewis Carrol's Through the Looking Glass!


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Definition: Memo!!Memos: The researcher's record of analysis, thoughts, interpretations, question, and directions for further data collection.!!Strauss / Corbin , Basics of qualitative research , S. 110!


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Memos: Citation!!"Memos are a running log of analytic sessions. They are a storehouse of ideas. Although there are many different types of memos (...), generally as the research proceeds, memos become more abstract. They also contain the clues to integration, especially if the analyst has systematically identified the properties of concepts along with their dimensions. !!Strauss / Corbin , Basics of qualitative research , S. 110!


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Memos: Citation!•  "(A memo is) the theorizing write-up of ideas about codes and their

relationships as they strike the analyst while coding.... it can be a sentence, a paragraph or a few pages...it exhausts the analyst's momentary ideation based on data with perhaps a little conceptual elaboration" (p. 83-84) (Glaser 1978)!

•  "Memos are primarily conceptual in intent. They don't just report data; they tie together different pieces of data into a recognizable cluster, often to show that those data are instances of a general concept. Memos can also go well beyond codes and their relationships to any aspect of the study - personal, methodological, and substantive. They are one of the most useful and powerful sense-making tools at hand. !

•  You are writing memos to yourself, secondarily to colleagues."!!(Miles/Huberman, p. 72)!


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How to use memos : practical advice!!- every idea has to be jotted onto a memo!!- every memo has to have a title (using important keywords)!!- if the memo includes a citation, the source has to be clear!!- useful: a program that is able to link and search for memos (e.g. LINK)!-  often, when reading a text, ideas start flowing concerning

the project or text one wants to write later on. It is important to note everything now in order to use it later.!

-  After a while, one has assembled a large amount of memos. One starts to compare them, sort them, link them, systematize them. New ideas emerge. You write new memos!

-  A new text is often based on hundreds of memos !!


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Memo for „Umfeldanalyse“: Example 1!Titel: Offene Fragen der Umfeldanalyse!Fragen: !- !warum hat sich der Präsident u. seine Führungscrew so stark auf die "Reformierte

Kirche Schweiz" versteift? Seit wann?!- !Wurde diese Richtung irgendwann einmal durch die AV abgesegnet?!- !Liegt es !

!a. an der Person des Präsidenten, der mehr Macht will?!!b. an der strukturellen Position des Präsidenten / des SEK, welcher von aussen immer als jemand angesprochen wird und sich präsentieren muss als jemand der Macht hat und dies faktisch nicht hat und versucht, diese "kognitive Dissonanz" zu lösen, indem er sich mehr Macht sucht? Usw. !

- !Wer hat eigentlich die Macht im SEK? Ist es so, dass der Rat sehr schwach ist, weil man keine guten Leute findet. Deshalb hat der Präsident alle Macht. Die Geschäftsstelle hat er sowieso im Griff. Und deshalb läuft dann alles auf eine Konfrontation zwischen SEK und Mitgliederkirchen hinaus. !

- !Was denken eigentlich die Ratsmitglieder, wie sehen sie die Situation???!


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Memo for „Umfeldanalyse“: Example 2!Titel: Diaspora Situation : sie bewirkt nicht Stärkung der Identität sondern

Auflösung _Stolz!!Dies ist ein wichtiger Punkt : !!Für andere religiöse Gemeinschaften hat die Diaspora-Situationen manchmal den Effekt, dass die religiöse Identität gestärkt wird. !!Hier jedoch, für die reformierten, welche so extrem volkskirchlich und "mainstram-haft" denken, bedeutet sie einfach Auflösung. Und zwar sehr schnell und vor allem über die Mischehen. (Siehe den Fall von Sankt Gallen). !!Siehe auch den instruktiven Fall vom Tessin und von Luzern. !

!R35 57 Verschwinden der Konfessionsdifferenz und religiöse Pluralisierung!


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Memo for „Umfeldanalyse“: Example 3!Zweck und Aufgaben des SEK _Bieri!

!«"Die Aufgaben des SEK sind im Zweckartikel der Verfassung rechtsgültig festgehalten. !!Demnach obliegt dem SEK die Aufgabe, die gemeinsamen Interessen seiner Mitglieder und des schweizerischen Protestantismus wahrzunehmen. !!a. "die Wahrung, Stärkung und Ausbreitung des evangelischen Glaubens in der Schweiz; !!b. die Zusammenfassung aller protestantischen Kräfte!!c. die Pflege der geistlichen Verbundenheit seiner Mitglieder"»!

Bemerkung: !!Ich muss noch genauer anschauen, was der SEK wirklich macht. !!Es seht aber so aus, dass die Kantonalkirchen ihm einfach keine Macht für interne Dinge geben und dasser sich deshalb auf "Aussenpolitik" spezialisiert, z.B. internationale Oekumene, Medien, interreligiöser Dialog. Hierdurch wird aber sein Wirken eben in gewisser Weise etwas "belanglos". !

Der SEK scheint sich überhaupt nicht mit dem Punkt !"Die Wahrung, Stärkung und Ausbreitung des evangelischen Glaubens in der Schweiz" zu befassen !(siehe dazu auch das Dokument zu den Methodisten im SEK)!R35 19 Unterschiedliche Ziele Rat / Geschäftsstelle - Mitgliedkirchen!Bieri , Annemarie , Gesamtanalyse für die strategische Planung , S. 5!


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Memo for new program: Exemple 4!!"Introducing a new program inevitably induces a comparison process, notably comparison-for-alternatives (see FACILE and SCORE-ON cases). Just wanted to hold a place for this idea - more to come."!!Miles/Huberman, p. 73!

qualitative approaches content course 8: analysis ii ... approaches! 5! coding-...

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