What does it feel like to be in-between? That's what the texts we're exploring in this course describe. If the purpose of our analysis is to understand this sense of straddling two worlds or two identities, we could say that this is our theme of interest. In order to label text that's related to this theme however, we have to operationalize it somehow. What's the label we want to use as we gather text related to this theme? Doesn't really matter. We could call it whatever we like, but the name should be meaningful and help us to remember what we're trying to capture. Often, our code names are the same as the theme we're working to analyze. We could call it being in-between or straddling two worlds. It doesn't really matter what we call the code, we can always change the name or adjust the name later. What does matter is how we define the code. Let's say we decide to use being in- between for our code name. What is it that we want to capture for this code? The author of Desi talked about always feeling like she was different, facing confusing questions, constantly battling other's perceptions of who she was, not being American or Indian enough, wanting to feel like she belonged. As you read some of the other texts, you'll see that others describe feeling like a stranger, being categorized by others, feeling inadequate or abnormal. Your code definition for being in-between might be something like this. This code captures discussions of feelings like one doesn't belong because they are between two or more worlds, cultures, races, or societies. Feeling different, abnormal, or inadequate, like they don't belong. Feeling like who or what they are is questioned or categorized by others. We might add that we would not use the code for a statement about feeling different for other reasons. In other words, your code definition guides you in applying the code to text as you're reading. Let's try a more concrete example. Let's say you're directing a theater show reproducing Elvis's Blue Hawaii, and you need to send your costume designer to buy Hawaiian shirts for the men in the production. You have a small budget, so you can't be terribly picky, but you want to be sure the designer purchases appropriate shirts. How would you describe them? I've done this exercise with a number of groups in different places, and here is a list of the things they mentioned. Hawaiian shirts typically have bright colors, they're multicolored. They have floral designs, or possibly tropical designs or beach images. They're loose fitting, button-down collared shirts with the light fabric, usually cotton and short sleeved. Now, using these characteristics of Hawaiian shirts, take a look at the pictures in the poll and choose which ones you would buy. If we were all in a room together, I suspect we would mostly agree that the first shirt fits pretty much all of the conditions in the definition. But is the second one really multicolored? Does every shirt have to meet all the conditions? The second one is bright-blue. The third one isn't even brightly colored, but it does have palm trees on it. How might we modify our definition of Hawaiian shirts so that we could all agree on what to buy? I find the same thing occurs when you start coding textual data. You might think you have a great definition, but when you interact with your data, questions arise. This is why I always recommend that you develop definitions and then try applying them to a few transcripts. See how well they're working, revise the definitions, and try a few more. Eventually you'll get there. Let's try another example using the same definitions of Hawaiian shirts, let's try again with the following pictures. Again, which shirts would you buy? Was this more challenging? I hope so. Or I wouldn't have made my point. Bachelor number 1 seems to fit the stereotype of someone on vacation in Hawaii sipping on a cocktail. What about bachelor number 2? Are those long sleeves? Did you notice the hats? What's up with the hats? You get the idea. What I'm trying to illustrate is that context matters. Sometimes our perception is affected by how we perceive it's context. Finally, what if we changed the purpose of the shirts? What if instead of a theater production, we were holding a 70th birthday party for my uncle and he wanted to have a Hawaiian theme. Who would you turn away from the party for inappropriate attire? Very different question, right? Our research questions or the ultimate purpose of our analysis also makes a difference. Developing appropriate code definitions requires interacting with the data and often thinking deeply about our research questions.
