Metacoding
Metacoding is a term used in qualitative research to describe the practice of coding data about coding itself—the process of analyzing and codifying the coding framework as an object of study. It involves creating higher-order codes, or meta-codes, that describe characteristics, relationships, and decisions within the initial coding of data.
The purpose of metacoding is to improve transparency, consistency, and reflexivity in qualitative analysis. By coding
The methods typically include developing an initial codebook, conducting first-pass coding, and then performing meta-coding to
Metacoding is used across sociology, education, anthropology, health research, and related fields to systematize qualitative analysis
Relation to other concepts: metacoding is distinct from metacognition and metaprogramming, though it shares a meta-level
Example: In a study of interviews about work stress, meta-codes might include categories like “code justification,”
See also: qualitative data analysis, codebook, meta-analysis.