1

Coding Data

• About Coding• Deductive Coding• Inductive Coding

© 2015 Karen L. Thompson Department of English University of Idaho

2

About Coding • Coding is a methodology that allows a researcher to analyze linguistic

expressions by categorizing their qualities to uncover patterns or trends.

• A “linguistic expression” can be what is said, written, and it can also include sounds or signs.

• The linguistic expressions you will analyze will come from communication surrounding a crisis event found in popular media sources, public comments below these sources, images, and videos.

• You can code your data as you populate the Research Dossier or do it after you have gathered all the data. It’s your choice.

• Coding can be done deductively or inductively. This lecture will walk you through how to do it.

3

Deductive Coding

• To code deductively, means you are applying a predetermined code category to tag or label the data.

• For this project, you have two options to choose from if you want to code deductively:

1. Aristotelian rhetorical theory2. Stasis rhetorical theory

4

2,000 years ago, the philosopher Aristotle identified three ways to persuade an audience. He named these:

Ethos Logos Pathos

If you use an Aristotelian approach to coding, these are your code categories.

Most students have some familiarity with these three ways to persuade, but if you are unfamiliar or need a refresher on what they mean, see the next slide.

Aristotelian Rhetorical Theory

5

Aristotelian Code Categories

• Ethos: how we perceive the credibility of a writer or speaker. If we believe the person has good sense, good moral character, and good will, we are inclined to believe that person.

• Logos: the logic (can also be facts and statistics) a writer or speaker uses to support a claim.

• Pathos: the emotional or motivational appeals a writer or speaker uses such as vivid or emotional language.

It will be helpful to use a plus or minus sign when attaching the coding labels to the sources and comments. This way, you can easily see how much response is negative and how much is positive.

6

Example of deductively coding a source.

Sensationalized headline and photo of Deen.

Pathos –

Here the writer has coded sources that make appeals to emotion that are negative to Deen.

7

Example of deductively coding comments.

When you are coding a comments, you can consider several things, but don’t try to code everything.

In this sample of Twitter comments, the writer is coding Ethos- (meaning negative view of Deen’s character) or Ethos+ (meaning a positive view).

You also can’t code tons of comments. Remember, get a representative sample only.

You can also choose to code deductively using Stasis Theory instead of Ethos, Logos, Pathos.

8

Stasis Rhetorical Theory• Stasis Theory is a four-category analytical method developed

in ancient Greece and, later, refined by Roman rhetoricians.

• To code data using stasis theory, look for how writers and speakers are framing perceptions based on:

1. Facts. What facts are used and do people agree on these facts?2. Definitions. How are people defining a problem or describing

causes and effects? Do people agree on this?3. Values. Who or what is being valued? Do people agree on

these values?4. Action. What action should be taken? Who should take it? Do

people agree on the action?

9

Example of deductively coding a source: the excerpt is from an web article on the BP oil spill.

First paragraph is about valuing the ecosystem.

The second paragraph is about valuing employment, tourism, and taxes/royalties from oil and gas production.

Code:Values and Actions

This example of coding writer to see trends sources that discuss what Americans value and draw an inference about how hard it is to take action with so many stakeholders (people with a specific interest in the outcome) would find it hard to agree.

10

Example of deductively coding comments using Stasis Theory.

In a comment thread about the oil spill, some people were joking and other commenters took issue that the jokes were in bad taste.

Code: Action

This example of coding would allow the researcher to identify patterns in how some commenters were disagreeing about ways to protest (take action).

You could also choose to code sources and comments inductively.

11

Inductive Coding: Grounded Theory

• Grounded theory is an interdisciplinary research methodology to code linguistic expressions.

• To code inductively using Grounded Theory, you first look for themes.

• Next, you start forming code categories from these themes.

• Finally, you try to collapse the code categories to see if trends emerge from that.

12

Example of inductive coding of a source.

Here is the same data as in the first deductive example. Now, however, the coding derives a theme that emerges from the data instead of imposing a code category.

If other themes about racism emerge when coding source material, the researcher could collapse these into a single category and draw the inference about how strong the associations between racism and Deen was extremely damaging to her brand.

13

Example of inductive coding of comments.

From the themes, the researcher derived five code categories. The racial identity code emerged from how the commenters responded to one another.

1. Deen: Bigot2. Racial Identity: White3. Racial Identity: Black4. Deen: Phony5. Deen: Beautiful and True

One inference that could emerge from these code categories is how racial identity shaped how people responded to the crisis. Notice also how the three Deen categories could be collapsed into two: Deen Credible, Deen Not Credible.

14

Tips for Success• Control the amount of data you gather by following the

framework you chose to identify crisis stages.

• Pick representative examples of articles, comment threads, images, other media for each stage.

• When selecting comments, choose just a few from source articles for each stage, and concentrate on those who are responding to one another.

• The idea behind coding is to show how the inferences you draw about what people say or do is based on a transparent methodology that rests on data.

15

Tips for Success• Look for small patterns or trends as you code.

• Draw inferences by thinking about what the pattern or trend suggests about the crisis, how it’s being handled, the various stages of the analysis frame you chose etc.

• Create at least one graphic that represents the data (line graphs, bar charts, pie charts etc). – For example, how many news stories were negative or

positive during the initial stage of the crisis? How many comments about the crisis were positive toward Deen or negative?