rspond to week 9 discussion:qualitative reasoning

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Codes

Codes are descriptive words assigned to data (Miles, Huberman, & Saldaña, 2014). Corbin and Strauss (2015) defined codes as words or phrases used to explain or describe data. According to Ravitch and Carl (2016), codes are used for organizational purposes. Each code is discrete or different from other codes (Rubin & Rubin, 2012). For instance, if during a qualitative interview the participant is reluctant to answer questions, this section may be coded as “hesitation.” If the participant is hopeful, positive, and spirited, the code word may be “confident.” Simply put, codes are words or phrases given to data to define the participant’s experiences. Boyatzis (1998) suggested defining the way codes are made. That way codes will be used consistently.

Categories

A group of similar code words form categories. For instance, during an interview, several code words were marked as bright, compassionate, and willing. These codes formed the category of “optimistic.” From the scholar of change video #2 from Week 2, Jackie Kundert discussed the loss of her son to a drug overdose. Jackie Kundert is a mother and a nurse. Her son was addicted to prescribed pain medication, which turned into a heroine addiction. Jackie’s son overdosed on heroine. An unnamed women also gave a testimony. She was an adoptive mother whose son overdosed on heroine as well. Her son started using drugs for recreational purposes, then moved on to cocaine, then to heroine. Categories for this scholar of change video could be “drug abuse,” “guilt,” “regret,” and “substance progression.” The code word from both accounts such as “pain” and “hurt” would fit into the “regret” or “guilt” category. The code word “emptiness,” “sadness,” or “self-blame” would fit into the “drug abuse,” “guilt,” or “regret” category.

Themes

Themes are clusters of codes (Ravitch & Carl, 2016). Unlike categories, themes are a group of codes that do not have to be similar. In fact, Ravitch and Carl (2016) believed that themes are not always patterns or commonalities. However, more research suggested that themes are developed from categories. Therefore, if categories derive from codes, then it makes sense that themes would contain codes as well. Codes are words or phrases. Categories are groups of similar words or phrases. Themes are also groups of words or phrases. Similar codes develop categories. Categories of codes develop themes.

I could use categories such as “bright,” “hopeful,” and “passion” from the interview I conducted to form themes such as “vision,” “hope,” or “change.” These themes are latent or underlying aspects of the phenomenon. I could use categories from the scholar of change video #2 to form themes such as “signs,” “attention,” and “vision.” These themes are manifest or directly observable aspects of the phenomenon.

References

Boyatzis, R. E. (1998). Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Corbin, J., & Strauss, A. (2015). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldaña, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Ravitch, S. M., Carl, N. M. (2016). Qualitative Research: Bridging the Conceptual, Theoretical, and Methodological, 1st Edition. [MBS Direct]. Retrieved from https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/#/books/97814833…

Rubin, H. J., Rubin, I. S. (2012). Qualitative Interviewing: The Art of Hearing Data, 3rd Edition. [MBS Direct]. Retrieved from https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/#/books/97814522…