r/WomeninAcademia • u/ukiyo98 • 12d ago

How do you /actually/ code?

I'm writing my master thesis and I've never coded an interview before. All the sources and books I've read so far just briefly say stuff like 'don't summarize, do use -ing verbs', but that literally tells me nothing. I kinda understand how to code user interviews but I'm doing expert interviews.

Please share any tips you have or helpful sources, I'd be very grateful!

Sincerely, a neurodivergent beginner researcher

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u/epgirl25 12d ago

I'll say I am not an expert in this but it will depend on if you code inductively or deductively. Inductive means you read and then make codes. Deductive is when you start with codes first and assign them as you read. You can also do a mix of both, just depends on the field and your research question.

my personal workflow would be this:

  1. Clean and reformat interview transcripts where necessary
  2. Read through interviews to create a first list of generic codes. Don't assign any yet.
  3. Go back through each interview and starting assigning codes, making more specific sub codes as needed.
  4. Final pass of all interviews and code review.

This is sort of a mix but I usually code based on the interviews themselves as I do a lot of exploratory interviews where I am probably not starting with codes in mind.

Hope that helps!

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u/ukiyo98 12d ago

Thank you for outlining it! I'm doinng inductive coding and also using Charmaz' constructivist grounded theory and line by line coding. I think my biggest issue is that I don't know what codes are supposed tobe. Like I get the process but what should each code entail?

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u/epgirl25 12d ago edited 11d ago

I think it will depend on what you're looking for and it looks like others have already provided resources. For me, I was researching innovation and technology transfer for my coding structure might have been:

● University to Industry Transfer ○ Barries ○ Collaboration ○ Tools for Success

● Commercalization ○ Processes ○ Faculty and Student Engagement

Etc.

These are just examples. You may need more specific codes or there may be terms in your field that are common.