The DOI matches its Crossref record; 27 of the 34 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Thinking about the Coding Process in Qualitative Data Analysis
Open accessAbstract
Coding is a ubiquitous part of the qualitative research process, but it is often under-considered in research methods training and literature. This article explores a number of questions about the coding process which are often raised by beginning researchers, in the light of the recommendations of methods textbooks and the factors which contribute to an answer to these questions. I argue for a conceptualisation of coding as a decision-making process, in which decisions about aspects of coding such as density, frequency, size of data pieces to be coded, are all made by individual researchers in line with their methodological background, their research design and research questions, and the practicalities of their study. This has implications for the way that coding is carried out by researchers at all stages of their careers, as it requires that coding decisions should be made in the context of an individual study, not once and for all.
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“Saldaña distinguishes between “lumpers” and “splitters” (a term he attributes to Bernard, 2011, p. 379); the former takes a “lump” or large excerpt and gives it one code; a “splitter” splits the data into smaller codable moments.”
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“…codes within the same piece of data may well be a useful finding: “single passages often contain a number of different themes each of which needs to be referenced; multiple indexing of this kind can begin to highlight patterns of association within the data” (Ritchie & Spencer 1994, p. 182).”
Qualitative data analysis for applied policy research
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Self-citationGuidelines for Establishing Reliability when Coding Narrative DataPreprint
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A Step-by-Step Process of Thematic Analysis to Develop a Conceptual Model in Qualitative Research
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“…and, with some adaptation, more descriptive positivist-based methodologies would bene fi t. Thematic analysis is a research method used to identify and interpret patterns or themes in a data set; it often leads to new insights and understanding (Boyatzis, 1998; Elliott, 2018; Thomas, 2006).”
Parents’ Experiences with Remote Education during COVID-19 School Closures
Oğurlu, Ü., Garbe, A., Logan, N., & Cook, P. A. (2020) · American Journal of Qualitative Research · doi:10.29333/ajqr/8471 · Cited by 556
COVID-19 and Remote Learning: Experiences of Parents with Children during the Pandemic
Garbe, A., Oğurlu, Ü., Logan, N., & Cook, P. A. (2020) · American Journal of Qualitative Research · doi:10.29333/ajqr/8469 · Cited by 160
The policy and policing of language in schools
Cushing, I. R. (2019) · Language in Society · doi:10.1017/s0047404519000848 · Cited by 156
The Impact of Pandemic Crisis on the Restaurant Business
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“The codification process is an integral part of a qualitative research process, although it is often underestimated both in methods and in the literature [49].”
Metadata
- Authors
- Elliott, V.
- Affiliations
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Elliott, Victoria
- ORCID
- Elliott, Victoria
- Venue
- The Qualitative Report
- Publisher
- Nova Southeastern University
- Published
- 2018-11-24
- ISSN
- 1052-0147 (ISSN-L)
- 2160-3715
- OpenAlex
- W2902680660
- Cited by
- 746
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 47 · 2025: 110 · 2024: 110 · 2023: 136 · 2022: 113 · 2021: 126 · 2020: 82 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 186.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- The Qualitative Report (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- NSUWorks (Nova Southeastern University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Qualitative Research Methods and Applications
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Data Analysis and Archiving
- Keywords
- qualitative data analysis, coding process, research design, research questions, research training
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