ABSTRACT
Coding is necessarily intertwined with theory building. Memoing is another example: decisions about recording the reasons for choosing a particular label for a text segment, or the definition of a codeword, are informed by the theoretical thinking of the researcher. In grounded theory, open coding is an intensive process of speculating about the emerging meanings, and laying down provisional tracks through the data to be pursued in more detail at a later stage. This chapter discusses the groundwork for the emergence of theoretical concepts, which may then be elaborated through the study of different social situations where their variations may be observed and their relevance tested. Coding frameworks typically evolve piecemeal, and even where a priori frameworks are used, they normally undergo extensive revision. Once theories have been evolved, they need to be tested, and this is an area of great complexity in computer-aided qualitative analysis.
