Using affinity diagramming to generate a codebook: a case study on young military veterans and community reintegration. (August 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Haskins Lisle, Ali; Merenda, Coleman; Gabbard, Joseph
• Is Part Of: Qualitative research. Volume 20:Number 4(2020)
• Page Start: 396
• Page End: 413
• Publication Date: 2020-08
• Subjects: affinity diagramming -- codebook -- military veterans -- reintegration -- thematic analysis; Qualitative research -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Research -- Periodicals; 300.72
• DOI: 10.1177/1468794119851324
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1468-7941

Abstract

Use of a codebook to categorize meaning units is a well-known research strategy in qualitative inquiry. However, methodology for the creation of a codebook in practice is not standardized, and specific guidance for codebook ideation is sometimes unclear, especially to novice qualitative researchers. This article describes the procedure that was utilized to create a codebook, which adapted an affinity diagram methodology (Scupin, 1997), an approach used in user-centered design. For this research, affinity diagramming was applied to a method outlined by Kurasaki (2000) for codebook ideation. Annotations of a subset of military veterans' transcripts were utilized in congruence with affinity diagramming to create a codebook to categorize the phenomenon of reintegration into the civilian community after service (Haskins Lisle, 2017). This method could be useful in exploratory research that utilizes a codebook generated in vivo from annotations, especially for novice researchers who are overwhelmed by the codebook creation phase.