Welcome to this MAXQDA tutorial on coding. In MAXQDA, coding means assigning a specific element from our material to an analytical category, and there are different ways to create new codes and code our material with them. For example, we can create a new code by adding a new code to our code system. This can be done either by clicking this button, by clicking on the green plus symbol on codes in the codes window, or by right-clicking on an already existing code in the codes window. We can now give our new code a name, add a color tag and, if necessary, write a code memo.
We can then apply this code via drag-and-drop to various highlighted segments in our material. These components thus become coded segments. This works for texts, images, videos, and tables. We can also create a new code by right-clicking on a segment in the document browser and selecting “Code with new code” from the context menu. Now when we enter the code name, similar code names are also suggested to us. This way we can quickly check if a similar code already exists in our project.
As soon as we have assigned a code to a segment, a coding strip appears next to the coded segment. The length of the coded segment can be adjusted here. Using the context menu, we can also assign a weighting to the coded segments. When we analyze our data later, we can filter the coded segments by weight. If we decide to proceed with an approach informed by Grounded Theory, we can also use the Open Coding mode to directly generate a new code as soon as a segment is selected. In the similar in vivo mode, selected segment is coded, and the content of the code is used for the code name. In addition, we can create keyboard shortcuts for different codes by simply dragging and dropping them into this table. Via the context menu, we can also use one of the three most recently used codes to code a highlighted segment.
When we click on “Code favourites”, a window opens to which we can add our favourite codes via drag-and-drop. With this list we don’t have to drag-and-drop the codes to the corresponding segment. We simply highlight the corresponding segment and click on the corresponding entry in the list.
We can also apply multiple codes to a segment by highlighting the segment, selecting the appropriate codes and dragging them onto the selected segment. We can also activate the codes and select the corresponding option from the context menu. In addition, we can search for specific keywords in MAXQDA and then code them automatically. To do this, we click on Text Search in the Analysis tab, enter our search term, and let MAXQDA search for it. Now, we can automatically code the search results by clicking on this button. Here we can not only code the keyword itself, but also the sentence in which the keyword appears or the entire paragraph.
Especially at the beginning of a project, it often makes sense to highlight important sections of a document with different marker colors. For this, we can use color codes in MAXQDA. When we select a segment, we can choose one of the five highlighter colors to highlight the segment. These color codes then also appear in the text. A new code for the color is then created in the code system.
If we now activate codes and then some of the documents, the list of coded segments shows us every segment in the activated documents that the activated codes have been assigned to. If we have assigned a lot of codes to our document, the sidebar can appear a little cluttered. In order to create a better overview, we can now display or hide individual colors, select that we only want to display activated codes or only display the codes created by a specific person. And that’s it for this video tutorial on coding with MAXQDA 2024. We wish you all the best for your project.
