I can perhaps add a little to the interesting and useful answers already posted.

Are you conducting deductive research? Do you have a conceptual lens through which you are observing the data? If so you may already have preconceived ideas about themes to code and look for initially. Do you have a conceptual framework that you have developed through your literature review? That also may give you ideas about themes you could code initially. Perhaps even more importantly, new themes should arise if you have developed and applied a credible research approach. These will represent your contribution to theory in your conclusions. New themes are what you are really looking for. So, be very diligent in seeking them.

If you are conducting inductive research you must let the themes arise naturally from the data. Repeated constructs that emerge can be gathered under suitable codes. These codes are not preconceived. You must allow them to unfold and come to light as they arise out of the data fog.

I will avoid giving you advice on the basic nuts and bolts process of coding qualitative data, but rather would advise you not only to hear but to listen to its richness, transcribe carefully, read thoughtfully, re-read analytically and code the data as you reflect on it, in-depth.

I hope that helps a little. Best wishes to you with your study... Alan

This is a very large topic, and a lot depends on the type of analysis you are trying to do. For instance, Grounded Theory (e.g., Charmaz, 2014) uses a different approach to coding from Thematic Analysis (e.g., Braun & Clarke, 2006).

For a book that identifies many different approaches to coding, try Saldana, The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers.

There are a couple of computer assisted coding software that you may want to use. I would suggest Nvivo or atlas. If the amount of data you have is manageable, manual data coding might do. You can check the following link for more details: https://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/24614_01_Saldana_Ch_01.pdf

Thanks Prof Morgan

The following sources may further help:

• Connolly, M. (2003). Qualitative analysis: A teaching tool for social work research. Qualitative Social Work, 2, 1, pp. 103-112.
• Dey, I. (2005). Qualitative data analysis: A user-friendly guide for social scientists, New York, Routledge.
• Ritchie, J. and Lewis, J. (2003). Qualitative research practice: A guide for social science students and researchers, London, SAGE Publications.

The coding and categorizing mechanisms serve to organize the material and also to privilege important information and discard what is not relevant. This procedure helps to fully understand the meaning of the data and their possible relationships with each other. In order to encrypt, it is first necessary to develop categories where the data are grouped together and then to specify comparisons or linkages between the proposed categories.

Coding in qualititative analysis is very different from coding in quantitative analysis, but many people try to apply quaititative procedures to qualitative design.

One of the best books on qualitative design is:

Creswell, J. W. (2011). Qualitative Inquiry & Research Design (3rd ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

I can perhaps add a little to the interesting and useful answers already posted.

Are you conducting deductive research? Do you have a conceptual lens through which you are observing the data? If so you may already have preconceived ideas about themes to code and look for initially. Do you have a conceptual framework that you have developed through your literature review? That also may give you ideas about themes you could code initially. Perhaps even more importantly, new themes should arise if you have developed and applied a credible research approach. These will represent your contribution to theory in your conclusions. New themes are what you are really looking for. So, be very diligent in seeking them.

If you are conducting inductive research you must let the themes arise naturally from the data. Repeated constructs that emerge can be gathered under suitable codes. These codes are not preconceived. You must allow them to unfold and come to light as they arise out of the data fog.

I will avoid giving you advice on the basic nuts and bolts process of coding qualitative data, but rather would advise you not only to hear but to listen to its richness, transcribe carefully, read thoughtfully, re-read analytically and code the data as you reflect on it, in-depth.

I hope that helps a little. Best wishes to you with your study... Alan

Beautifully written, Alan White. This is the essence of qualitative inquiry.

As mentioned using a software program such as Atlas Ti can make the task much easier - some researchers before the use of software used color coded index cards and made piles of 'categories' of themes but now with the software available - the programs make short work of tracking and categorizing the various emergent themes from your interviews. As also mentioned without knowing more specifics as to the type of qualitative approach you are using, it is difficult to guide you - A good qualitative research text book will assist you greatly, I'd recommend Patton or Charmaz.

I agree with Bonnie and Gabriel that Atlas.ti 8 will help you organize lots of data from various sources. There are many tutorials on YouTube that make learning the program easier and fun. I was able to organize more than a thousand codes quotations into categories and themes using Atlas.ti 8 for the first time. It also makes cross analysis of participants, codes, categories, and themes more productive. If you like data graphs like me, you will like the many ways you can show data relationships.

I fully agree with the answers from Alan White and Lynne Staff, very good.

The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers 3rd Edition, Kindle Edition

by Johnny Saldana (Author) Have a look at this text!

Hi Kamboj

Coding can be done in any number of ways, but it usually involves assigning a word, phrase, number or symbol to each coding category. You will go through all your textual data (interview transcripts, direct notes, field observations, etc.) in a systematic way. The ideas, concepts and themes are coded to fit the categories.

Coding process will enable us to show the richness, complexities and contradictions of the social milieu we are evaluating, which is the basis of qualitative methods.

in sum, depends on type of data collected, yes?

Have a look on the following article:

https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol23/iss11/14/

https://nsuworks.nova.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3560&context=tqr

Hello, there is also the RQDA package in R that could be useful for qualitative data analysis. In addition, have a look at this inspiring video concerning qualitative analysis in R (again!) : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zyu9cm4ui2c