Ethnography & Research Methods Analysis
ANTH/FOLK/MUSI 2114:
In-Class Assignment # 5 (5%)
Analyzing Your Data: Coding Exercise
DUE: Upload your assignment to the Moodle assignment dropbox. If you code by hand, simply scan the coded interview into a single .pdf file and upload to the Moodle assignment dropbox
This assignment asks you to practice the qualitative research methodology of coding––a way tohelp you analyze and make sense of your ethnographic data, especially interviews and field notes. The method is also useful for analyzing archival materials and policy documents.
Coding is the identification and selection of words, phrases, key terms, or ideas that represent and capture the primary content and essence of your data (Saldaña 2016, 4). Coding can help you identify underlying patterns and themes throughout your research, gain intellectual control over your research materials, and help you work towards explicating the meaning of your data. Inshort, it’s another way to take your “raw” data and “cook” it.
In preparation for this assignment, view the lecture and read recommended reading by Dewaltand Dewalt, Chp. 9: Analyzing Fieldnotes (see especially pp.166-180) as well as Saldaña, Chp. 1: An Introduction to Codes and Coding (see especially pp. 4-13; 18-23; 29-30). If you have any questions about these readings, please reach out to me.
Using the interview provided, descriptively code the interview for emerging key words, ideas, concepts and themes following the practices outlined in the lecture and in the Dewalt and Dewalt and Saldaña readings. Read the interview carefully. It may take you several reads to find the codes that best represent the information contained within the interview.
The interview explores issues of livelihood, food production, and the changing nature of farming––particularly farm buildings––in Nova Scotia. Identifying information has been removed from the interview to maintain the confidentiality of the informants. The interview is part verbatim transcription and part summary. Code BOTH the verbatim transcript and the summaries (indicated in italicizes).
You may code the interview either digitally (e.g. use Word comment bubbles or insert different coloured text or fonts – see sample coded interview] or you may code by hand using pen and/or highlighters and writing in the margins of the transcript. Codes may repeat throughout the interview, and you should indicate this. I encourage you to distinguish repeating codes using the same font or coloured pen, highlighter, or Word comment bubble.