Coding of Data

Coding of data refers to the process of transforming collected information or observations to a set of meaningful, cohesive categories. It is a process of summarizing and re-presenting data in order to provide a systematic account of the recorded or observed phenomenon. Data refer to a wide range of empirical objects such as historical documents, newspaper articles, TV programming, field notes, interview or focus group transcripts, pictures, face-to-face conversations, social media messages (e.g., tweets or YouTube comments), and so on. Codes are concepts that link data with theory. They can either be predefined by the researcher or emerge inductively from the coding process. By coding data, researchers classify and attach conceptual labels to empirical objects under study in order to organize and interpret them in ...