Coding (social sciences)

In the social sciences, coding is an analytical process in which data, in both quantitative form (such as questionnaires results) or qualitative form (such as interview transcripts) are categorized to facilitate analysis. One purpose of coding is to transform the data into a form suitable for computer-aided analysis. This categorization of information is an important step, for example, in preparing data for computer processing with statistical software. Prior to coding, an annotation scheme is defined. It consists of codes or tags. During coding, coders manually add codes into data where required features are identified. The coding scheme ensures that the codes are added consistently across the data set and allows for verification of previously tagged data. Some studies will employ multiple coders working independently on the same data. This also minimizes the chance of errors from coding and is believed to increase the reliability of data. One code should apply to only one category and categories should be comprehensive. There should be clear guidelines for coders (individuals who do the coding) so that code is consistent. For quantitative analysis, data is coded usually into measured and recorded as nominal or ordinal variables. Questionnaire data can be pre-coded (process of assigning codes to expected answers on designed questionnaire), field-coded (process of assigning codes as soon as data is available, usually during fieldwork), post-coded (coding of open questions on completed questionnaires) or office-coded (done after fieldwork). Note that some of the above are not mutually exclusive. In social sciences, spreadsheets such as Excel and more advanced software packages such as R, Matlab, PSPP/SPSS, DAP/SAS, MiniTab and Stata are often used. For disciplines in which a qualitative format is preferential, including ethnography, humanistic geography or phenomenological psychology a varied approach to coding can be applied.