The three C’s: Coding, Categorizing and Concepts

The three C’s: Coding, Categorizing and Concepts

1. Coding

   • An initial code can be a word, a phrase, or the respondent’s own words. You come to it by a careful reading of the text.
   • Even if you have only collected a small amount of data, it is not too early to begin coding. Select any transcript.
   • Enter your initial codes. Continue reading the transcript while entering different codes. Upon completion of initial coding with one transcript, select another transcript and continue the same process.
   • You will have developed a large number of codes. Some of them will be redundant, and you will need to collapse them and rename the codes.
   • If you coded attributes, you should make them consistent. Choose one term to describe the attribute.

2. Concepts

   • The final step in the process is to identify key concepts that reflect the meaning you attach to the data you collect.
   • It is suggested as a general rule that five to seven concepts should be the maximum number.
   • When organizing your codes into concepts, it is your task to decide the most informative or logical manner of sorting.
   • You need to determine from the data what meaning you think can be found.

3. Categorizing

   • Now that you have modified your codes, it is time to organize them into categories.
   • Certain codes become major topics, while others can be grouped under a major topic and become subsets of that topic.
   • A list of codes should be made in several category lists, with related codes as subsets of the categories.
   • Revisit your list of categories and see whether you can remove redundancies and identify critical elements.

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