The Living Codebook: Documenting the Process of Qualitative Data Analysis
Transparency is once again a central issue of debate across types of qualitative research. Workon how to conduct qualitative data analysis, on the other hand, walks us through the step-by-stepprocess on how to code and understand the data we’ve collected. Although there are a fewexceptions, less focus is on transparency regarding decision-making processes in the course ofresearch. In this paper, we argue that scholars should create a living codebook, which is a set oftools that documents the data analysis process. It has four parts: 1) a processual database whichkeeps track of initial codes and a final database for completed codes, 2) a “definitions and keyterms” list for conversations about codes, 3) memo-writing, and 4) a difference list explainingthe rationale behind unmatched codes. It allows researchers to interrogate taken-for-grantedassumptions about what data is focused on, why, and how to analyze it. To that end, the livingcodebook moves beyond discussions around inter-coder reliability by documenting the process by which analytic codes are created, refined, and debated.