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Public Health Workforce Training
Link to beginning section of An Introduction to Qualitative Analysis with ATLAS.ti

What Can be Coded?

Here are some examples of different types of codes.

What Can be Coded: Behaviors, specific acts
Examples: Seeking reassurance, Bragging.
What Can be Coded: Events—short once in a lifetime events or things people have done that are often told as a story.
Examples: Wedding day, day moved out of home for university, starting first job
What Can be Coded: Activities—these are of a longer duration, involve other people within a particular setting
Examples: Going clubbing, attending a night course, conservation work.
What Can be Coded: Strategies, practice or tactics
Examples: Being nasty to get dumped, staying late at work to get promotion
What Can be Coded: States—general conditions experienced by people or found in organizations
Examples: Hopelessness “I’ll never meet anyone better at my age,” settling for someone who is not really suitable
What Can be Coded: Participation—adaptation to a new setting or involvement
Examples: About new neighbors “In my new house I have to keep my music down at night as the neighbors have young children”.
What Can be Coded: Relationships or interaction
Examples: Seeing family “Now my sister lives in the next road she visits more and we’ve become much closer.”
What Can be Coded: Conditions or constraints
Examples: Lose of job before financial difficulties, moving away before lost contact with old friends
What Can be Coded: Consequences
Examples: Confidence gets dates, positive attitude attracts opportunities
What Can be Coded: Settings—the entire context of the events under study
Examples: University, work place, housing estate
What Can be Coded: Reflexive—researcher’s role in the process, how intervention generated the data
Examples: Probing question “How did you feel when he said that?”

Source: Table adapted from Lewins, A., Taylor, C. & Gibbs, G. 2005)