Wednesday, September 25, 2013

The Tone of Coding

Coding - "the process of identifying persistent words, phrases, themes or concepts within the data so that the underlying patterns can be identified and analyzed."

I have my coloured pens out, quiet room, cup of tea & an hour set aside to start coding.

Naturally I start with the easy part - persistent words and phrases. The challenge comes with themes and concepts. They are slippery. I think I have them identified well but then find myself pondering over whether this word or that phrase really fits the theme or concept that I am currently coding. Exactly what does my theme encompass? This is the messy, fuzzy around the edges part!

I become very myopic as I code. I am totally focused on one category to the exclusion of all else . . . quite intense! I end up having to sit back from time to time and literally soften my focus . . . recentre and try to feel the tone of the material.  With soft focus I try to broaden my observational powers and see if there is something lurking in the peripheral vision of my attention zone. Is there some underlying theme? I refer back to the jottings I made right after the session and find a gem that I had overlooked. This reinforces making the notes immediately post session.

It is amazing how much energy and time (blew past my one hour mark) all of this takes!

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