4. Deductive coding of text

Deductive coding is a closed top-down method for describing and analysing your material. 

In this exercise, you will code text sections based on codes/categories defined in advance. 

How to: 

Create three new codes: “Purpose of study”, “Method”, and “Sample”. 

This is done by going to the menu “Create” > “Code”, "Create Top-Level Code. Write the appropriate name and description of what content you will include in that code, give the code a colour and click “OK”. 
Repeat for all three codes. 

Open one (or more) of your articles in NVivo by double-clicking the document. (The articles can be found under “Data”>“Files”.) 

• Now code text sections with the newly created codes: Mark the relevant text section and right-click the marked section. Choose "Code selection", "To existing codes or cases...”. Choose one or more of the codes from the list and click “OK”. 

Coding stripes and highlighting

• If you wish to see which codes, you have used in the document, click the top menu directly above the PDF and then the tab “Coding Stripes”. Choose “All”. Your codes will now show to the right of the document. If you click on a code, all the text coded with the code in question will now be highlighted in yellow in the document (default) or the colour you assigned the code when you creaeted it. 
• If you wish to highlight all text coded within the document, you once again go to the menu directly above the PDF. Choose the tab “Highlight” and “Coding for all codes and cases”. All coded text will be highlighted.

You can find your codings in the menu “Coding”>”Codes”. Double-click a code to see which text sections you have coded with the particular code.