Basic Codes:

- by date of observation or interview. This provides chronological sequencing.

- by site, especially if the study includes more than one type of physical setting, such as home, school, park, office, etc.

- by person interviewed. Use codes to insure confidentiality

- by type of social scene such as classroom, parent-teacher conferences, faculty meetings, board meetings, playground, etc.

Code by color, number, abbreviations (see Jones System below for more choices)

Be sure to keep several copies of your coding key, and a master in a safe place.

Two Basic Types of Categories:

Emic categories are organized by the insiders' categories, and is the more common emphasis by ethnographers.

Etic categories are organize by outsider's view of the situation, such as the researcher's concepts and categories from prior studies. Etic categories are used in later stages of data analysis to compare a distinct situation to prior research.

1. Organize into topics and group the topics into clusters to form categories emergent in the data.
   
   
2. Start with predetermined (preliminary) categories based in the research question and theoretical frame, then break each category into smaller subcategories. Subcategories are inductive and emergent based on the meaning relevant to the larger category which is from the research cquestion.
   
   
3. Combine strategies 1 & 2, using some predetermined categories and adding discovered new categories.
   
   Develop Categories from one or more of the following methods:
   1. the research question and foreshadowed problems or subquestions
   2. the research instrument such as an interview guide
   3. themes, concepts, or categories used by other researchers in prior studies
   4. prior knowledge from researcher's experiences and a literature review
   5. Organize into segments, or "chunks," comprehensible by itself since it contains an idea, episode, or piece of information relevant to the study. Segments, should be chunked according to the needs of the study. They can be any size such as a word, a sentence, a few lines, or several pages.
      
   
   
4. Constant Comparison, analytical technique developed by Glauser & Strauss (1967), is a method that asks: How is it the same or different from another topic? Develop new categories by constantly comparing each category to identify overlapping or distinctive attributes.

1. Indexing Data Relevant to Each Category: The Cut-and-File Approach

Bodgan & Biklen (1992) method: Mark notes with topic headings. Prior to cutting, label each section with identification of where it came (i.e., identifying the document, page, and line) from in the entire data bank. Data segments are cut and put in folders. The same data segment may be placed in more than one folder. Write up the "the content of each folder or sets of cards and select illustrative quotable material.

2. An Indexing System to Locate Topics within Entire Data Bank: File System

Bodgan & Biklen (1992) method: Number each document, page, and line. Make a key of categories. Under each category list the identification code. The data, usually placed in a notebook, remains together as a whole in the identification order.

3. Jones Visual Weighted Free Key Word Indexing System

The Jones System (1995) is most useful when analyzing diverse data that does not easily conform to conventional word or number systems. An advantage of the Jones System is that we can remember visual information easier than verbal. "Visual analogy makes possible a parallel processing of information, which requires less capacity than temporal or sequential information" (Jones, 1991). Jones System allows for physically moving data in several patterns. Sorts may be according to frequency, content, emphasis, icons that tend to appear together, icons that seldom appear or seldom appear together, and numerous other possibilities.

Computer Techniques:

Word-processing & data base management program techniques:

Take advantage of search and find features. Search for key words or codes that you have placed in the data. Text-line numbering is also useful. Some database managers can retrieve and sort information based on entering the data into researcher specified "fields."

Specifically designed qualitative data analysis software:

Computer programs allow researchers to attach codes to text, search for text segments according to the codes, and assemble those segments in selected configurations. The program can search and present multiple codes, a sequence of codes, or all items with an individual code.

QSR NU.DIST is a computer assisted qualitative analysis software for non-numerical unstructured data, indexing, sorting & theorizing. Sites with many links to different software products for computer assisted analysis include:

http://osiris.colorado.edu/LAB/links.html
http://www.scolari.com/

Or for only quantitative software packages go to: http://gking.harvard.edu/stats.shtml

Media Cybernetics image analysis product is at http://www.mediacy.com/action.htm

IBM programs for qualitative analysis include: ATLAS/ti; QUALPRO; THE ETHNOGRAPH; SONAR PROFESSIONAL

MAC programs for qualitative analysis include: NUDIST; HYPERQUAL; HYPERRESEARCH; INSPRIRATION; METADEISGN; SEMNET