Coding and Data Interpretation

4.7.2 Coding and Data Interpretation

The next stage in the data analysis process is the crucial task of sorting the transcriptions into relevant codes or themes. Theme discovery is crucial for research progress as it enables the transcription of a voluminous amount of raw data to be systematically organised according to important themes pertaining to the research. Without such thematic discovery, a researcher may not be able to move to the next major steps of analysing and interpreting the data (Boyatzis 1998:3). Relevant themes or codes can be identified from the researcher‟s “prior theoretical understanding of the phenomenon under study” (Ryan and Bernard 2003: 88). Therefore, as the Rambo Model provides the theoretical framework for this study, the “master codes” in

organising the raw material for this study are the six stages of the model, namely the crisis, quest, encounter, interaction, commitment and consequences stage, and a separate category on the context.

In order to ensure the coding process is in line with the analytic induction technique, a careful scrutiny of the data is extremely important so that re searchers “are not finding only what they are looking for” (Ryan and Bernard 2003: 92). Thus, to prevent the

unfortunate dismissal of data which seemingly do not fit into any of the established codes, topics unrelated to the established codes which repeatedly emerge during the coding process should be identified as new themes and to be noted and coded accordingly (Bogdan and Taylor 1975:83).

Each interview transcript was repeatedly read and coded. The first reading of the transcript was to develop the se nse of the life story of the informant. To “map” the life journey of the informant is crucial because the informants, in sharing their conversion Each interview transcript was repeatedly read and coded. The first reading of the transcript was to develop the se nse of the life story of the informant. To “map” the life journey of the informant is crucial because the informants, in sharing their conversion

organised according to the informant‟s life course. Thus, the first read of the transcript would construct the whole picture of the informant‟s conversion experience so that a better sense of the experience could be obtained.

Moreover, it is vital for the first reading to grasp the meanings that are embedded in the events and situations described by the informants in their interview. By looking at how the informants perceived and made sense of these events, it can generate more details than had been verbally voiced by the informants. This becomes even more important as the literature review of the existing studies reveals that the definition of the conversion stages and the sequence of the stages significantly differ from one setting to another. Thus, although there were events experienced by the informants are seemingly identical to the events identified by Rambo, the way the informants made sense of the events could be different from how the event brings meaning to Rambo‟s theory. For example, the informant‟s contact with religious missionaries evidently did

not bring any religious significance to the former, as illustrated by the following interview excerpt:

[E12.Muslim Dusun.I9]

I did have some contact with the da’wah people before my

conversion and I also made friends with some of them as we always met in the religious events conducted by the department where I worked. We did sometimes talk about everyday life issues and about Islam as well but these talks were not in any way a religious dialog... [Trans.]

The meaning of the above quotation evidently contradicts to the way Rambo attaches an importance to a meeting with religious missionaries. Thus, by understanding the way in which the life events meant to the informants, it will ensure their conversion story were correctly interpreted and coded.

The second reading would code the transcript according to the master themes of the Rambo Model. The transcript was coded line by line where events, facts, and perspectives were coded under relevant themes. For an easy identification of the different codes, different colour schemes were used for different codes. When an event or a fact potentially represents two or more different codes, a memo was written at the left side of the transcript to note the potential linkage or overlapping between the different codes.

Saldana suggests that “coding is a cyclical process that requires you to recode not just once but twice (and sometimes even more)” because “virtually no one gets it right the first time” (Saldana 2009: 29). Thus, the third reading of the transcript is another round

of the coding process to revisit the established codes as well as to identify new codes which are unrelated to the existing ones.

For example, one of the biggest non-Rambo themes that repeatedly emerged during this particular round of the coding process is observation (which was later brought under the „encounter‟ master theme). Across different transcripts, the informants

revealed that they often observed the way Muslims close to them lived their life and this observation gradually pushed the informants to gain a better understanding of Islam. Thus a new theme, „observation‟ was added to the category tree with sub- revealed that they often observed the way Muslims close to them lived their life and this observation gradually pushed the informants to gain a better understanding of Islam. Thus a new theme, „observation‟ was added to the category tree with sub-

experience, it later became clear during the data analysis that this „observation‟ theme is indeed a social learning process that allows the informants to see the appeal of

Islam. Such effects of the observation is very much similar to the effects of Rambo‟s encounter stage and accordingly the „observation‟ theme was brought and integrated under the master theme „encounter‟ at the later part of the coding process.

As the themes expanded and grew in a hierarchical order, it became necessary for the coding process to employ an electronic coding or Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Software (CAQDAS). Saldana argue s that “CAQDAS, unlike the human mind, can maintain and permit you to organize evolving and potentially complex coding systems

into such formats as hierarchies and networks” (Saldana 2009: 24). Considering the needs of this study, Weft QDA had been chosen to electronically code the transcripts of this study, primarily due to its solid, yet uncomplicated, set of core features that

work with similar effectiveness with other commercial CAQDAS packages. Essentially, interview transcripts can be imported into the software and coded under their relevant categories, as can be seen from Screenshot II on next page.