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Qualitative Coding and Business

Ricky Gettys

rgettys@psu.edu | Website | LinkedIn

Penn State

Smeal College of Business

M&O DBA | October 2023

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Introduction

Anthropologist (2012-2016)

Research on how business owners navigate changes in policies and culture in Thailand, Vietnam, China, & US.

Research Manager (2017-2020)

Helped a large multinational non-profit revamp its core strategy and engage Gen Z employees.

University Instructor (2015-2021)

Taught classes on applied qualitative methods and intercultural communication. Trained over 50 researchers to use applied qual. methods.

Ph.D. Student (2022-Present)

Studying deep-level diversity and how new ideas spread in teams and organizations

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Agenda

Products of Qual Coding
Coding Examples

"An Anthropologist walks into a bar"
Other business examples
Academic Examples

"Fake it till you make it" & Coding

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Qualitative Coding

Focused on Interpretation and meaning
Analogy: Speedometer versus Roadmap
Optimizing Outcomes versus Creating a Conceptual map

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Qualitative Coding Types

	Grounded Coding	Top-down Coding
Starting Point	Raw data (inductive) OR general lens (abductive)	Pre-defined codebook (deductive)
Definitions of what “counts” as a code	Researcher gets to create the rules, typically starting with in-vivo quotes (direct quotes from the text)	Strict rules and definitions (see next slide for an example)
Outcomes & Uses	New codebooks (scripts) New ways of seeing the world (lenses) Deep, context-specific understandings (movies)	Counts of codes per document Percentages of code overlaps Interrater reliability scores Compare populations

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Top-down Codebook Template & Sample Entry

This codebook template and entry come from a project attempting to categorize all the kinds of pro-social responses companies made to the Covid-19 pandemic using corporate twitter data.

TEMPLATE	EXAMPLE
Code Name Definition: (1-5 sentences that describe the “yes” criteria for this code) �Keywords: (3-10 unique words, separated by a comma, that would make this code instantly recognizable.) �Core Example: Company name- what the company is doing. (explanation why it is a clear example of this code) �Edgecase, Yes: Company name- what the company is doing. (explanation what makes this fit even though it might seem like it shouldn’t) �Edgecase, No: Company name- what the company is doing. (explanation why this does not fit the code, even when it might seem like it should)	Access to Product & Services Definition: Free or discounted or more available for different groups �Keywords: Free access, donate, waive fees, extended free trial �Example: Adobe offers online learning resources for free to students during Covid-19. (Adobe is offering something they already created, and it is related to the cause they are trying to help) �Edgecase, Yes: Havana eats offers PB&Js to hungry students during covid. (Havana eats doesn’t typically offer PB&J on the menus, but this is squarely in the purview of a restaurant and is not a new product or controversial.) �Edgecase, No: Everlywell creates a for-profit Covid-19 test kit (This is creating a product that hasn’t been created before, belongs in innovation)

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Potential Products from Coding

Script. A theory that is intended for testing with other methods.
Lens. Structures to help see new insights in other phenomena.
Movie. Thick descriptions of a phenomenon in its context.

Adapted from a table describing the products of grounded theory research. See O’Connor, M. K., Netting, F. E., & Thomas, M. L. (2008). Grounded Theory: Managing the Challenge for Those Facing Institutional Review Board Oversight. Qualitative Inquiry, 14(1), 28–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800407308907

Grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss; Eisenhardt)

Constructivist Grounded theory

(Charmaz)

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An Anthropologist Walks into a Bar

How do customers view our promotions and practices? (Movie)

After using more traditional marketing analyses, Beerco tries qualitative methods.
Themes they find include that customers view their promotions as a "box of crap" and female servers feel "hot pantsed“ or overly sexualized .
They use these findings to revamp sales and improve employee experiences.

How do we compete in a changing environment? (Script)

Lego developed and diversified product lines that made building easier and "cooler", but they were seeing small returns.
They find that kids wanted to achieve mastery, not just do an easy build.
They used that finding to cancel products that did not fit their strategy.

How can we capture new sources of growth? (Lens)

Coloplast wanted to explore the experiences of living with an ostomy bag to see if their assumptions were correct.
They found that customers stopped complaining because they had lost hope, not because the product was effective.
They created new product lines that helped them provide unique value to customers.

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Other Business Cases for Qualitative Coding

How do we break down silos? (Movie)

Tech consulting firm. $900 million in revenues, 15,000 employees, recent merger and large growth.

How do we compete against incumbent companies? (Script)

B2B software company. $300 million revenue, 300 employees, growth-stage startup.

How do we attract and retain Gen Z talent? (Lens)

Big Non-profit. 60,000 full-time Gen Z volunteers, 7,500 full-time employees in 120 countries.

How do we expand into a new country? (Lens)

App company. $1 billion revenue, 1,400 employees.

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Academic Case for Qualitative Coding

Why do employees stay silent about good ideas they have? (Milliken, et al. 2003) (Script)
What happens to ideas after they are raised? (Satterstrom, et al. 2020) (Movie)
How do workers deal with the ethics of a new technology implementation? (Rauch & Ansari 2022) (Lens)
How do public failures impact organizational legitimacy? (Chai & Doshi 2022) (Script)
How are strategic change initiatives implemented? (Gioia & Thomas 1996) (Movie)

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General Overview of the Coding Process

An iterative process between:

Initial Coding (or open coding)
Secondary Coding
Axial Coding

Figure 2.1 is from Saldaña, J. (2013). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (2nd ed). SAGE.

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Part-Whole Analysis

Hermeneutics- style of analysis that looks for many possible interpretations.
Iterates between looking at small parts (like individual comments, or even lines in a comment) and comparing them to the whole (like the full body of comments).
Note: You will see me moving from part to whole, and whole to part in my analysis.

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Coding Example (MaxQDA)

Initial Steps:

Upload documents into program
Explore documents
Highlight important lines
Assign codes

Initial Coding (Pink codes)
Secondary Coding (Blue codes)
Axial Coding

Analyze codes

Screenshot from MaxQDA 2020, a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS).

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Memo: Initial Coding

Initial coding of NYT article (pink codes)
Coded the following entries

Size of investment

"There is more money at stake, so it just changes the calculus,” (The End of Faking It in Silicon Valley - The New York Times, p. 2)

Lack of money

"when the easy money dries up, everyone parrots the Warren Buffett's proverb about finding out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out" (The End of Faking It in Silicon Valley - The New York Times, p. 2)

Grouped entries as “What causes people to care about fraud”

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Memo: Initial Coding

Coded entries (only one example shown below)

"Start-ups have many of the conditions most associated with fraud, Mr. Dyck said. They tend to employ novel business models, their founders often have significant control and their backers do not always enforce strict oversight." (The End of Faking It in Silicon Valley - The New York Times, p. 4)

Grouped entries as “What do people believe leads to fraud”

Novel business models
Founders with control
Backers not enforcing oversight

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Memo: Initial Coding

Found two typologies to explore in comments: (scripts)

Bad behaviors

Playing Fast and Loose, Transferring money to shell companies, Misappropriations, Lying, Unethical behavior, Falsifying, Fraud...

Legal actions

Conviction, Scandals, Allegations, Lawsuits...

Next phase- see what everyday people think leads to people caring about fraud or what leads to fraud.

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Memo: Secondary Coding (Blue Codes)

Secondary Coding: What do laypeople think?

When do people care about fraud?
What do people believe leads to fraud?

Screenshot from MaxQDA 2020, a computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software (CAQDAS).

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Memo: Secondary Coding

When do people care about fraud?

Size of investment
Lack of money
(Threat to) privilege

“Based on this article two things are clear, the only people persecuted for being fraudsters are women and of color. White male privilege and the absolution of criminal activity.” (Comment 15, Paragraph 1)

“As a member of the privileged older white male demographic, I find it immensely gratifying that these interlopers finally get their comeuppance. Spectacular wealth gained from exploiting other people is an exclusive right we have reserved to ourselves for centuries and it has been most distressing to see it squandered on this undeserving rabble. It good to see the plebians’ hard earned tax dollars put to work fighting this terrible to my exclusive good. Go get ‘‘em tigers!”” (Comment 4, Paragraph 1)

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