Coding Data - Basic Concepts

“Coding means that we attach labels to 'segments of data' that depict what each segment is about. Through coding, we raise analytic questions about our data from […]. Coding distills data, sorts them, and gives us an analytic handle for making comparisons with other segments of data” (Charmaz, 2014:4).

“Coding is the strategy that moves data from diffuse and messy text to organized ideas about what is going on” (Richards and Morse, 2013:167).

"Coding is a core function in ATLAS.ti that lets you “tell” the software where the interesting things are in your data. ... the main goal of categorizing your data is to tag things to define or organize them. In the process of categorization, we compare data segments and look for similarities. All similar elements can be grouped under the same name. By naming something, we conceptualize and frame it at the same time" (Friese, 2019).

Independent Code / Category Code / Subcode

ATLAS.ti 22 offers you new ways to organize your codes in the code system. If you do not have the need to organize your code into a hierarchy of higher and lower order codes, you can work with independent codes. If you want to create a hierarchy of codes, you can make use of category codes and subcodes. If some codes do not fit in any category, they can just remain independent codes.

An additional way to organize your codes are folders. You can add independent codes and categories with their subcodes to folders. Folders can also contain other folders.

Different code types Below each of these types are explained in more detail:

Independent code: If you start coding your data, and you begin with creating some new codes, those will be independent first level codes. They remain independent codes until you add them to a category as subcode. The groundedness of an independent code is the number of quotations coded by it.

Free code: A free code is also an independent code, but one that has not (yet) been used for coding. Its groundedness is zero and it has no subcodes.

Category Code: A code becomes a category, when you drag & drop codes underneath it. These can be independent codes or subcodes that you move from a different category. The category itself does not code quotations. Therefore, you can only insert other codes as subcodes underneath if the code is not linked to quotations.

The reason for this is that via the category code you can retrieve all quotations from all sub codes. So, if you want an aggregated view of your data, just select the category. If you could apply the category code and its subcodes to the same quotations, you would get duplicated quotations. This is prevented by not allowing the category code to be used for coding.

The groundedness of a category code is the number of quotations coded by all of its subcodes. Since you can apply several codes to the same quotation, the total for a category can differ from simply adding up quotations for all subcodes. Both sums are only equal, if you use subcodes in a mutual exclusive manner, as for example required for inter-code agreement analysis

For all previous ATLAS.ti users, because the category code can retrieve all quotations from its subcodes, the semantic operators SUB, UP and SIBLING are no longer needed and have been removed from the query tool.

Subcode: A subcode is a code that is sorted under a category code. No further subcodes can be created under subcodes. The reason for this is methodical rather than technical. Each code should only appear once in a code system. See: How to build a code system. If you use a deeper hierarchy, you will likely start duplicating and even multiplying codes at the lower levels. Not only does this make your code system long and difficult to maintain, it also prevents you from performing effective comparative analysis.

Folder: Folders help you organize your codes. You can move independent codes and categories with their subcodes into folders. A folder can also contain folders, as many as you want. Folders cannot be used to code data.

The number behind a folder, is the number of quotations coded by independent codes or sub codes that are contained within the folder. As you can apply multiple codes to the same quotation (i.e., multi-value coding), the total can be different from adding up all the numbers for all independent and all subcodes.

How Groundedness is Counted

How Groundeness is counted Independent Code: The groundedness of an independent code is the number of quotations coded by it.

Category Code: The groundedness of a category code is the number of quotations coded by all of its subcodes. Since you can apply several codes to the same quotation, the total for a category can differ from simply adding up quotations for all subcode. Both sums are only equal, if you use subcodes in a mutual exclusive manner, as for example required for inter-code agreement analysis

The image above shows the category positive effects. Adding up the quotations coded by all subcodes, the sum is 44. The groundedness for the category however is 41. This means there are 3 quotations that are coded with more than one of the subcodes. This is illustrated in the image below:

Multi-value coding Subcode: The groundedness of a subcode is the number of quotations coded by it. For example, the subcode life is richer is coding 6 quotations.

Folder: The groundedness of a folder is the number of quotations coded by independent codes or subcodes that are contained within the folder. As you can apply multiple codes to the same quotation (i.e., multi-value coding), the total can be different from adding up all the numbers for all independent and all sub codes or categories. In the above example the folder Experience of Parenthood has a groundedness of 139 quotations. This is lower than the sum for the three categories contained in the folder (42 + 62 + 41 = 145). Again, this means that some quotations are coded by more than one of the codes in the folder. Counted are only unique quotations and not the number of codings.

How Density is Counted

The code density is unrelated to the code hierarchy and the number of codings. Density is defined as the number of linkages between two codes. You can link two codes to each other via drag-and-drop, or as recommended, in a network. See the chapter on networks for further information.