Coding of the Interview and Theme Analysis
You must have learn about the core elements of qualitative data analysis. Coding the data is the first
step. In this process, you reduce the data gathered into segments, assigning names as you go along.
Your assignment for this week is to code your interview transcript to find themes. Be sure to consider your
research question as you begin to code.
Your assignment should contain the following elements:
- Your research question for this interview
- A list of the codes you developed for your interview transcript
- A description of your thinking or working process, explaining how you developed your codes, including
any evolution of your coding system
- In-text coding for your interview. This means that you are to select chunks of data and apply the codes
to your interview transcript. Keep your interview transcript intact as a whole and show where you have
applied the codes to the text.
CODING AND THEME ANALYSIS 2
The qualitative analysis is necessary after the preparation of the interview transcript.
Thematic coding will be the form of qualitative analysis that will involve the identification and
recording of the texts or images that are linked to the specific themes (Joffe, 2011). In this case,
the information will be categorized to create a framework of thematic ideas relating to it. Coding
of the interviews will make it easier to retrieve the coded labels for further analysis and
comparison (Vaismoradi et al, 2013). The interview concerns the research on the relationship
between the college behaviors and actions in while considering past experiences and memories
in high school. The interview questions include the following.
- What are your most outstanding memories in high school? 2. How did it make you feel
about the school? 3. What are the memorable experiences with the students either pleasant or
unpleasant? 4. Do you recall any unpleasant smell associated with your high school? 5. What are
the memorable visual images about your high school? 6. Are there outstanding images between
your college as compared to your high school? 7. Has the high school experiences compare to
those in college? These are some of the questions used to interview the sample population in the
research study. The responses to the questions were categorized to either be events or persons.
The code 1 and 2 were used to represent the negative and positive responses respectively. The
CODING AND THEME ANALYSIS 3
answers given were coded to be visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile or unclear
depending on the question’s structure. The respective codes used would be 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 1e and
1f for the nature of the answer given. The alphabetical letters would be used to categorize the
level of agreement e.g. A for agreeing, D for disagree, SA for strongly agree and also SD for
strongly disagree. The percentage of agreement was also considered when it came to the
categorizing of answers given after the interview (Vaismoradi et al, 2013).
The working process was followed in development and evolution of the coding system.
In this case, identification and coding of the themes would be made possible and
easier(Joffe,2011). Defining of the coding categories is the first step undertaken e.g. the
respondents will either be classified as male or female. The same definitions are used in coding
of similar interview materials. Assigning of category symbols will be necessary when it comes to
analyzing the qualitative data (Decuir et al, 2013). The color, letter or the geometric shape may
be used. The assigned symbol will indicate both the answer category and also the question
dimension. The measuring reliability that is closely related to the percentage of agreement is
crucial when it comes to the development of the codes. The sources of unreliability will be easily
detected by proper checking of the interview transcript. The level of agreement or disagreement
will be considered while developing the codes for the responses given (Decuir et al, 2013). The
procedure followed would start at fully describing the different types of responses and later on
the analytical coding of the interview data. Making of records about the ideas and the thoughts
relating to the codes of the interview is necessary. Accurate numbering is crucial in the
generation of the coding system (Vaismoradi et al, 2013).
CODING AND THEME ANALYSIS 4
The open coding system was developed in categorizing of responses acquired for the
interview. The accumulation of the variables will lead to the emergence of the themes. The
questions would be labeled 1 to 7 with sub-categories of the questions named as 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 e.g.
for question one. An example is a response to the question, Are there unpleasant smells associate
with your high school? The yes represented by 1 and No represented by 0 would be used. The
value two would represent the code for non-response. The female and male will be categorized
as F and M respectively. The coding of the data to get the themes will mainly involve the
breaking down of responses given into first level concepts or the second level categories (Decuir
et al, 2011). Categorizing of the chunks of data will make it easier to interpret data and also
efficient analysis.
CODING AND THEME ANALYSIS 5
References
DeCuir-Gunby, J. T., Marshall, P. L., & McCulloch, A. W. (2011). Developing and using a
codebook for the analysis of interview data: an example from a professional development
research project. Field Methods, 23(2), 136-155.
Joffe, H. (2011). Thematic analysis. Qualitative methods in mental health and psychotherapy: A
guide for students and practitioners, 209-223.
Vaismoradi, M., Turunen, H., & Bondas, T. (2013). Content analysis and thematic analysis:
Implications for conducting a qualitative descriptive study. Nursing & health sciences,
15(3), 398-405.
