Deductive and Inductive Coding
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What is qualitative coding?
How does it help with my research?
Qualitative coding is a process of systematically categorizing excerpts in your qualitative data in order to find themes and patterns. Coding qualitative data is a great way to gain a deeper understanding of your data.
It enables you to take unstructured or semi-structured data such as transcripts from in-depth interviews or focus groups and structure it into themes and patterns for analysis through use of qualitative coding.
By qualitatively coding your data, it makes your analysis more systematic and rigorous. It also provides transparency and reflexivity to both yourself and others.
It’ll enable you to find insights that are truly representative of your data and the human stories behind them.
Inductive and deductive analysis in qualitative research
Both inductive and deductive analysis are used in qualitative research methods. Qualitative analysis methods like thematic analysis and grounded theory rely primarily on inductive analysis whereas other approaches like content analysis and program evaluation rely primarily on deductive analysis.
Is qualitative coding inductive or deductive?
The answer is both! Qualitative coding can involve deductive coding, inductive coding, or a combination of both.
Types of Coding Processes
Deductive and inductive coding are building blocks that make up a variety of different methods for coding. You can code with a full deductive method, full inductive method, or a combination of them.
Deductive Coding
Deductive coding is a top down approach where you start with a set of predetermined codes and then find excerpts that fit those codes.
Inductive Coding
Inductive coding is a bottom up approach where you start with no codes and develops codes as you analyze the dataset.
Decide on your approach before coding
Before coding, you should decide if you want to start off with a set of codes and stick with them (deductive coding), come up with the codes as you read what you see in your data (inductive), or take a combination approach.
Inductive coding
Ground up coding
Inductive coding is a ground-up approach where you derive your codes from the data. You don’t start with preconceived notions of what the codes should be, but allow the narrative or theory to emerge from the raw data itself. This is great for exploratory research or times when you want to come up with a new theories, ideas or concepts. Examples of inductive analysis are seen in methods like thematic analysis and grounded theory.
Deductive Coding
Top down coding
Deductive coding is a top down approach where you start by developing a codebook with your initial set of codes. This set could be based on your research questions or an existing research framework or theory. You then read through the data and assign excerpts to codes. At the end of your analysis, your codes should still closely resemble the codebook that you started off with. This is good when you have a pre-determined structure for how you need your final findings to be. For example, you may practice deductive data analysis and deductive approaches when doing program evaluation studies or content analysis.
Combining inductive and deductive approaches
In practice, research studies often combine both deductive and inductive approaches to coding. For example, you could deductively start with a set of codes, but then inductively come up with new codes and iterate on the codes as you sift through your data.
Learn more about inductive and deductive coding in our Intro to Qualitative Coding webinar recording.
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Reference
Saldana, Johnny (2009). The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.