Qualitative coding
Coding is a way of indexing or categorizing the text in order to establish a framework of
thematic ideas about it | Gibbs (2007).
In qualitative research coding is “how you define what the data you are analysing are about”
(Gibbs, 2007). Coding is a process of identifying a passage in the text or other data items
(photograph, image), searching and identifying concepts and finding relations between them.
Therefore, coding is not just labeling; it is linking from the data to the idea and back to other
data..
The codes which are applied enable you to organise data so you can examine and analyse them
in a structured way, e.g. by examining relationships between codes.
Approaches to coding qualitative data
A basic division between coding approaches is concept driven coding versus data driven
coding (or open coding). You may approach the data with a developed system of codes and look
for concepts/ideas in the text (concept driven approach) or you can look for ideas/concepts in the
text without a preceding conceptualisation and let the text speak for itself (data driven coding).
Investigators can either use a predetermined coding scheme or review the initial responses or
observations to construct a coding scheme based on major categories that emerge.
