What is the purpose of coding in qualitative research?

The purpose of coding in qualitative research primarily involves categorizing and analyzing patterns within qualitative data. Coding serves as a systematic method for organizing the data collected from interviews, open-ended survey responses, or observations. By assigning labels or codes to specific segments of text, researchers can identify trends, recurring themes, and relationships within the data. This facilitates a deeper understanding of the participants' perspectives and provides a structured framework for analysis, helping the researcher to interpret complex qualitative information effectively.

Coding helps researchers to distill large volumes of text into manageable concepts that can be scrutinized for meaning. This process is crucial in qualitative research as it transforms subjective narrative data into a form that lends itself to systematic analysis, supporting the development of theories or insights grounded in participants’ experiences. Hence, the effectiveness of qualitative research often hinges on how well coding is executed and how it informs subsequent analysis and findings.