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Process

From interview excerpt to code, category and theme

One illustrative excerpt traced through the three levels of qualitative analysis

Process showing one interview excerpt becoming a code, then a category, then a theme about stalling when setup needs approval.
Each step moves further from the words and closer to an answer
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A four-step example of qualitative analysis that follows one interview excerpt about waiting for admin rights. It is labelled with a code, grouped into a setup friction category and finally interpreted as a theme that makes a claim across participants. Use it to explain the difference between describing data and interpreting it, for example when training a team to code customer interviews.

Where this appears

What's in this process

  1. Excerpt: The participant's words: I gave up after the third screen asking for admin rights. I had to wait for IT.
  2. Code: A short label for that excerpt: waiting on IT.
  3. Category: Related codes grouped together: setup friction, with permissions, invites and data import.
  4. Theme: A claim across the data: people stall when setup depends on someone else's approval.

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Free to use in your docs, decks and posts under CC BY 4.0, as long as you credit Koji with a link to this page. To embed it, paste this into your page:

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<a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/excerpt-to-code-category-theme-process"><img src="https://www.koji.so/visuals/excerpt-to-code-category-theme-process/excerpt-to-code-category-theme-process.png" alt="Process showing one interview excerpt becoming a code, then a category, then a theme about stalling when setup needs approval." width="1200" height="630" /></a>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.koji.so/visuals/excerpt-to-code-category-theme-process">From interview excerpt to code, category and theme</a>, Koji</p>

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