Establishing Interrater Reliability in Qualitative Coding

• In Event: Hilton Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Perforating the Boundaries of Qualitative Research

Abstract

Though qualitative research, particularly in education, has become more prevalent in practice over the last 20 years, there is still considerable uncertainty among researchers regarding how to establish inter-rater reliability when coding qualitative data. In this paper, we offer an explanation of methodology that our qualitative team used to achieve systematic, reliable coding of our dataset in a way that preserved both the contextual, subjective nature of the data and lent itself to the inductive and deductive creation of our codebook. Because this methodology led us to subsequent analyses from which we drew logical and substantiated conclusions, we believe it is a welcome addition the literature on reliably coding qualitative data.

Authors

• Vonna Hemmler, iDesign

• Allison W. Kenney, RMC Research Corporation

• Carolyn M. Callahan, University of Virginia

• Elizabeth Jean Gubbins, University of Connecticut

• Susan Dulong Langley, University of Connecticut

• Shannon Holder, Central Connecticut State University