1. It helps the researcher see the emerging themes at a glance.
2. It stimulates the researcher to find themes in future open coding.
3. The researcher uses the list to build a universe of all themes in the study, which he or she reorganizes, sorts, combines, discards, or extends in further analysis.
Qualitative researchers very in how completely and in how much detail they code. Some code every line or every few words; others code paragraphs and argue that much of the data are not coded and are dross or left over. The degree of detail in coding depends on the research question, the “richness” of the data, and the researcher’s purposes.
Open-ended coding extends to analytic notes or memos that a researcher writes to himself or herself while collecting data. Researchers should write memos on their codes (see the later discussion of analytic memo writing).
Axial Coding. This is a second pass through data. During open coding, a researcher focuses on the data themselves and assigns code labels for themes. There is no concern about making connections among themes or elaborating the concepts that the themes represent. By contrast, in axial coding, the researcher beings with an organized set of initial codes or preliminary concepts. In this second pass, he or she focuses on the initial coded themes more than on the data. Additional codes or new ideas may emerge during this pass, and the researcher notes them; but his or her primary task is to review and examine initial codes. He or she moves toward organizing ideas or themes and identifies the axis of key concepts in analysis.