Back in the Sadle

As I sat down to write my reflections on this week’s readings I was struck by how long it had been since I formally reflected on the use of digital tools. Then it dawned on me, like the proverbial ton of bricks – I had completely forgotten to write my response to class March 11^th! I don’t know if it was the rush of wrapping up loose ends and wedding presents in anticipation of my trip out East or a subconscious way of asserting my not so hidden dislike of transcription. Either way, I feel terrible as this is something relatively out of character for me! With this said, I didn’t avoid all thoughts of digital tools and qualitative analysis over the break. In fact I attempted to work on my second skill builder – to relatively disastrous results.  I’ll be working on this project over the coming weeks and hopefully at least my analysis of Text to Talk apps will work out.

So, on to the subject at hand… Coding!

As much as I dislike transcribing I actually really enjoyed coding. What I really like about coding is seeing everything come together and working to draw the larger connections. I enjoy stretching my imagination to identify themes and trends in my interviews and even don’t mind attempting to connect the findings to larger theoretical frameworks presented by established researchers. In fact the coding process might actually be my favorite part of the research process!

Though much like other aspects of my previous research experiences I have to admit I’ve not given my methods too much thought. Coding for me has been a relatively intuitive experience. As I transcribed and edited my transcriptions I would identify some emergent findings that I would later use to develop what Saldaña would define as descriptive codes. From there I’d get down to the business of rereading the transcripts and categorizing certain passages and coding within these passages – however if I’m being completely honest I probably “lump” my coding, avoiding the more nuanced coding described as splitting (p. 19).

Even with this admission after reading both Konopasek (2008) and Saldaña (2009) I feel as if I need to be more precise in my decisions, less holistic in nature. I consider myself a pragmatist and was grateful to see that Saldaña incorporated this belief into the Coding Manual. The acknowledgement of using the right tool for the task at hand is refreshing and I would hate to be tied to any one particular set of tools. I’ll likely check out the text further for some advice and guidance on establishing a coding schema for my dissertation.