Week 7: Coding (but not what you think)

Hello, fellow brains!

This week I mainly worked on coding the data. Coding in psychology is not like the computer programming you are used to, it is used to classify data into different buckets. Often in coding, there is a coding scheme that outlines which scenarios are classified in which ways, and these schemes are tested using something called “agreement,” where two or more “coders” use the scheme to code a subset of the data and then compare their classifications through something called a Cohen’s kappa to see if the coding scheme is rigorous enough or not.

Right now I am working on binary coding where I am marking my data using a binary scheme (present or not present) for whether or not nurturing exists in our observational data. This will serve as a validation measure for us to explain why we chose to use the nurturing message (it is very uncommon so it is interesting to investigate). This scheme will not require a scheme as I am generally just marking anything a teacher says with remote relation to nurturing as present.

Throughout this data analysis process, I learned a lot about how to construct coding schemes as well as formulas for Excel to construct the agreement sheets. I also learned a lot about the process of data analysis within the psychological field as well as statistical analysis techniques applicable to any field.

See you all next week! Au revoir!