1-GRONDED THEORY CODING
The grounded theory consists in different logic, one of these is the logic coding. This technique is very useful to entry in direct relationship with your data and to create an analytic space to interact with your data and to out cover the implicit means of your data and your participants.
-What is the purpose of the grounded theory coding?
“Coding means naming segment of data with a label that simultaneously categorizes, summarizes, and accounts for each piece of data.” (Charmaz 2014, p. 111)
The purpose of the logic of coding is synthetize your data. Through this technique you can find a sense to your data, you can analyze your data in a new way, and while you code your data, you can discover new points of study and you can work for your theory.
Why the logic of coding is important to develop an emergent theory?
“Coding is the pivotal link between collecting data and developing an emergent theory to explain these data.” (Charmaz 2014, p.113)
The coding is the connection betwenn data and the emergent theory, this procedure help you to osberve data in a creative way and this help you to construct a valid theory.
this approach is very interesting because, in different of the old qualitative analytic techniques through the grounded theory in specially through the logic of coding, you can to have a new point of view about your data, to have a complete panoramic of your data and your possibilities of analysis to develop a good grounded theory and for study the social phenomenon in a new way without rigid technique of analysis. The logic of the grounded theory analysis consists in two different main phases:
- the initial coding
- the focused coding
In the initial coding you can take each fragments, segments of your data and you can give a short name to every of these. While in the focused coding you can take the most important initial codes for your research to create categories and for compare them and for create central core of your grounded theory.
-Why is the logic of grounded theory coding functional?
Through the coding you revision the analytic point than your topic of study, explicating your point of view, synthesizing your amounts of data, you can talk with your data and your participants, you can construct the grounded theory of you field of study to transform the implicit points of your study into explicit points.
2-INITIAL CODING
“When grounded theorists conduct initial coding, we remain open to exploring whatever theoretical possibilities we can discern in the data. This initial step in coding moves us toward later decisions about defining our core conceptual categories. Through comparing data with data, we learn what our research participants view as problematic and begin to treat it analytically.” (Charmaz 2006, p. 42)
The important point of the initial coding is that we must to have open our possibility respect our research, is the first step but this have a primary importance because through this technique we could model our theory and our study. This is important but it is only the first passage in the our long trip of grounded theory analysis.
In the initial coding you must to organize your data. You have to interact with your data, again and again with your codes for understand in better way the contents of these data. This initial step is very important because is the first step to create the conceptual categories and to focus about the core of your research.
-How do your previous knowledge affect your coding and how can you overcome it?
“Try to remain open to seeing what you can learn while coding and where it can take you. Make efforts to learn and examine how your past influences the way you see the world and your data.” (Charmaz 2014, p.117)
In accord with the Charmaz idea, the researchers have a baggage of experience and knowledge that can not be eliminated and necessarily influences the research and the way in which they encode their data, so they have to remain with the open mind and must not be influenced excessively by previous knowledge.
Your background knowledge influence your view and your approach about your data but your eyes must to be open to all signals and sensations that arrive from your data in the way that you can study your social theme without that you are influenced by your old knowledges and experiences.
Step by step, you may to discover new things from your data and you can explicate new emergent themes about your data. This is possible only thanks your creativity and your capacity to interact your data to find and to discover new points of view.
-Why the initial coding is so important?
The initial coding is the fundament of your grounded theory, to create a good theory this phase has a crucial importance because this phase will influences the focused coding and after your theory and in general your study.
3-LINE BY LINE CODING
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dfd_U-24egg
What means coding line by line?
“Line-by-line coding means naming each line of your written data (Glaser, 1978). Coding every line may seem like an arbitrary exercise because not every line contains a complete sentence and not every sentence may appear to be important. Nevertheless, it can be an enormously useful tool. Ideas will occur to you that had escaped your attention when reading data for a general thematic analysis.” (Charmaz 2006, p.50)
Trough this procedure you can see useful information that otherwise they would have escaped you. This method is very useful to do in-depht studies, in particular way for documents.
What is the vantage of this method?
“ This type of coding can help you to identify implicit concerns as well as explicit statements. ” (Charmaz 2006, p.50)
Through this you can study every line of your data trying to view every interesting think and points about your data. Thank this method you can interact with your data you can compare in different ways the lines of your data, and you can observe all the implicit thinks that whether are not visible. This technique can give you into an interactive space with your data through you can develop the emergent categories and through you can answer question to your data, and you can find the positive responds.
4-COMPARATIVE METHODS
Why is so important to use comparative methods from begin to the end of research?
“Whatever unit of data you begin coding in grounded theory, you use 'constant comparative methods (Glaser & Strauss, 1967) to establish analytic distinctions and thus make comparisons at each level of analytic work.” (Charmaz 2014, p. 132)
The practice of comparison is used by researcher from the begin to the end of the research, is very useful because through this you can study your topic accurately, and to make an analytic sense to your study, to verify the reliability of you codes and your conceptual categories. Furthermore comparative methods help you to create a valid theory and they follow you to constructs this better. Comparative method have a big importance for your analysis because through this you can find the analytic points from which you can construct your conceptual categories.
Is useful make sequential comparisons?
“Making sequential comparisons helps. Compare data in earlier and later interviews of the same individual(s) or compare observations of events at different times and places. When you conduct observations of a routine activity, compare what happens on one day with the same activity on subsequent days.” (Charmaz 2014, p.132)
Through this method you can really understand the phenomenon that you are studying, making comparisons between similarities and differences in your data in every moment.
5-MEMO-WRITING
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBxKj_B2Y9k
Another logic notable is the logic of memo-writing.
What is the memo-writing?
„Since the analyst cannot keep track of all the categories, properties, conceptual relationships, hypotheses, generative questions that evolve from the analytical process, there must be a system for doing so. The use of memos constitutes such a system.“ (Strauss,Corbin 1990, p.422)
This consists into writing memo about your data, through memo-writing you can write about your ideas and you create a space in which you can discover the analytic line of your study, you can trip into your data, into your codes and you can create theoretical categories through this clarifying the direction of your research.
What are the purposes of memo-writing?
“By writing memos, you construct analytic notes to explicate and fill out categories. Start by developing your focused codes. Memos give you a space and place for making comparisons between data and data, data and codes, codes of data and other codes, codes and category, and category and concept and for articulating conjectures about these comparisons. Use memos to help you think about the data and to discover your ideas about them.” (Charmaz 2014, p.163)
The phase of memo-writing is a crucial phase in your research because is vehicle in that you can give a form of your earlier study about your codes and your data, you can compare all, you can develop categories, you can give a form to your theory doing all this. Through memo-writing you can arrive to a concrete point after have done a big work of synthesize of your data.
Why is so important that your memos are informal and private?
“Methods for producing memos rely on making them spontaneous, not mechanical. Before learning about grounded theory, you may have thought of memos as formal business communications that state policies, procedures, and proposals in official, frequently opaque, bureaucratic terms. In contrast, grounded theorists write memos to serve analytic purposes, as you can see in the example above. We write our memos in informal, unofficial language for personal use, rather than public consumption.” (Charmaz 2014, p.165)
The memos are informal, are not under the control of the public or the professors are completely free, for this you can explain your line of study and you can open completely your eyes about your ideas and your research. Is very important that memo-writing are informal and private, this point follow the direction of the constructing grounded theory. In which there isn’t a rigid structure for study the social question, there isn’t a strong control in your analysis, there isn’t preconceive themes and theories but there are your open eyes, your creativity, your ideas, and your emergent theory. Despite everything this haves a good structure good fundaments that make it possible the study of social problems that before were studied in a not creativity vision with eyes close. Through grounded theory and the methods of his development you can study social themes in a new way, developing new points of view and new interesting points of study.
Why the phase of memo-writing has a crucial importance?
The phase of memo-writing is a crucial phase in your research because is vehicle in that you can give a form of your earlier study about your codes and your data, you can compare all, you can develop categories, you can give a form to your theory doing all this. Through memo-writing you can arrive to a concrete point after have done a big work of synthesize of your data.
6-PREWRITING EXERCISES
What are pre-writing exercise?
“Prewriting exercises consist of strategies that writers use; they are not part of the methods associated with grounded theory. These exercises can, however, help you delve into writing your grounded theory memos. You may use them as unrelated warm-up exercises or as tools to help you begin memo-writing.” (Charmaz 2014, p.183)
Prewriting exercises are different exercices that help you to write your memos:
- Clustering
- Freewriting
How clustering can help you to write your memos?
„Like freewriting, a major objective of clustering is to liberate your creativity. You write your central idea, category, or process; then circle it and draw spokes from it to smaller circles to show its defining properties, and their relationships and relative significance“ (Charmaz 2014, p. 184)
Clustering is a good technique to develop implicit themes of your analysis. You can start from a big concept and you can create a link with another small concepts for order your ideas and for clarify your study. This method is quicklier than another methods that requires to write long papers to center the points of your theory and your conceptual categories.
What are the advantages of clustering?
„Writers use clustering to combat writing blocks. Clustering can get you started and keep you moving. The spontaneity and imagery in clustering can foster developing feeling, imagery, and rhythm when you begin to write. Clustering can enable you to define essentials. lt allows for chaos and prompts you to create paths through it.“ (Charmaz 2014,p.185)
The advantages of clustering is that this strategy is quiclky and smart because help you to centre the core of your study and to order your ideas about your analysis, but the risk of this is that it could to lost good informations and make it your theory more poor.
How free-writing can help you to write your memos?
„Freewriting means putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard and writing for 8 minutes to begin, Ionger with practice. Freewriting encourages you to compose fresh material, unlearn past immobilizing habits, and write in a natural voice. Freewriting liberates your thoughts and feelings.“(Charmaz 2014, p. 186)
The technique of free-writing is use to write all ideas, all things that your mind say to you, the time is 8 or 10 minutes and through this method you can explicate implicit concepts, you can work with your unconscious and with your data and categories to develop a good theory and for to interesting comparison.
What are the advantages of free-writing?
„This type of freewriting opens our minds and releases our imaginations. Such freewriting can increase our receptivity to the world and our ease in writing.“ (Charmaz 2014, p.186)
This strategy is quickly, is smart and open your mind for study in profundity the field of your study.
Literature
Charmaz, Kathy 2014. Constructing Grounded Theory. 2nd edition. London. Sage. Chapter 5, The Logic of Grounded Theory Coding Practices and Initial Coding (109–138). (30) Chapter 7, Memo-writing (162–192). (31)
Charmaz, K. (2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. London: Sage.
Strauss, A. L., & Corbin, J. M. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: grounded theory procedures and techniques. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
