held education groups .” “… door W r i t i n g

Respond to at least one of your colleagues’ posts and reflect on their  data analysis. Explain how clearly you as the reader can see the  connections between codes, categories, and themes. In your response,  include more examples of your work to compare and contrast your process  with your colleagues

Codes, categories, and themes are used to analyze textual data in  qualitative research. Codes are words assigned to the idea in a portion  of text. In the Scholar of Change Video #2, for example, a code word of  heroin was created since that came up in the video often. Quotes of the  text containing the word were captured to conceptualize heroin in the  way it was portrayed in the video. Other drugs were mentioned that could  also be used as codes. Categories are words or phrases used to describe  a group of codes. Using the Video #2 example, an appropriate category  for the codes heroin, cocaine, dope, and prescription painkillers could  be drug abuse. Drug abuse is the category into which the codes fall and  represents another concept presented in the video. A theme is a word or  phrase to describe an overarching idea. In this case, drug progression  is a phrase that represents the theme from the video that heroin abuse  is the culmination of a progression of drug use from more innocuous  drugs to potentially fatal ones. Comments referring to heroin abuse as  popular in the nation and no longer only a big city problem are bits of  text that are used to illustrate this theme (Kundert, 2012). There are a  number of ways text can be coded and that depends on the research  question and individual interpretation. This is a very simplistic  example of coding. Interpreting qualitative data from interviews and  focus groups is more complex, but the concept is the same.

I identified several codes in my phone interview, including Good  Trouble and Advocacy. These codes could be grouped into a single  category- Civic Engagement.  Civic engagement, in this context, is a  combination of resisting the status quo, yet also advocating for  positive social change.

Good Trouble (how the participant phrased it) is conceptualized by the following quote from the interviewee:

“I’ve participated in marches, sit-ins, other demonstrations…”

Advocacy is conceptualized by the following quotes from the interviewee:

“I’ve held education groups.”

“…door to door knocking…”

“…spoken at several city council meetings advocating for an  integrated care facility for mental and behavioral health clients in my  county…”

The theme I see developing from the data analysis process can be  named as Grassroots. There is an overall impression that social change  is something that begins with individuals actively participating in  their community by demonstrating, engaging with local government,  advocating for causes, and promoting education. There is an emphasis in  both the phone interview and the Scholar of Change videos on grassroots  efforts that can have bottom-to-top impact. The concept of social  change, based on the data from these sources, is centered on the efforts  of individuals and communities, rather than governmental and  non-governmental agencies.

References

Kundert, J. (2012). Battling drug addiction in the heartland [Video file].