Coding

In qualitative researchQualitative research usually emphasises words rather than quantification in the collection and analysis of data., coding involves breaking down data into component parts, which are given names. In quantitative researchQuantitative research usually emphasises quantification in the collection and analysis of data., codes are numbers that are assigned to data that are not inherently numerical (e.g. in a questionnaire the answer ‘strongly agree’ is assigned a 5) so that information can be statistically processed.