A 5 step reflecting process for collaborative coding?

Today we held a great collaborative coding session where a project was presented with focus groups held at three time points..we split the group in three, allocated transcripts from each time point and then came together after discussion in each group to compare notes as across the whole project...

This got me thinking about the best procedure to run such team reflections and how it can draw directly from Post-Milan Systemic Family Therapy reflecting teams

A 5 step reflecting process for collaborative coding....

1. Step 1...each group reads transcripts
2. Each team discusses meaning
3. Each team shares their analysis with each other while the researcher remains silent
-This discussion should start with affirmations directed to the researcher before constructive comments
-This discussion should always be tentative "Iwas wondering....."
4. The researcher is then asked what interested her the most about the process
5. The group is asked how this relates to their own projects

The allocation of discussion groups ca be made in many ways: analyse using different theories/look at transcripts from those with specific attributes/compare data from different data collection methods...ie: supports triangulation...

Paper Alert:Barry (1999) Using Reflexivity to Optimize Teamwork in Qualitative Research

HERE is a great paper, an old one, on use of team work in qualitative research that supports our collaborative coding parties in QRIP!

"Multidisciplinary teams, in particular, result in a broadening of possibilities in
the research: “A multi-faceted investigation can yield more information and be
more exciting than one which is restricted to a single mode of knowing” (Riesman &
Watson, 1964, p. 286). Multidisciplinary teams bring together people whose training calls on highly diverse assumptions and different knowledge bases (Opie,
1997). A team can draw on all the “fore-understandings” of individual members
about the area being researched, giving a wider base from which to explore the data."

The Benefits of Collaborative Coding

We just had a great collaborative coding session in our fortnightly meeting, a process that I highly recommend..basically it involves coding in a group, all have a transcript, the researcher reads chunks and the group discuss coding and try to reach consensus

We looked at a transcript from a study about how women adapt to breast cancer risk.

Its ideal if there is some different perspectives in the group, even people from outside Psychology, who can offer alternatives and contribute towards a real debate..today we had lots of debate, particularly wrestling with codes that could be seen as reading too much into the data and those that might have seen denial of risk as pathology rather than self-protection

You'd be surprised how this can add richness to your analysis, spark new ideas, reveal your biases, develop hypotheses for future interviews and more..

It is also , of course, another form of triangulation, adding trustworthiness and supporting a host of measures you might include in your study for this purpose