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How to Edit and Manage Your Codebook

After your data has been processed, you will be taken to the main Codebook Editor. This is a powerful interface where you can review, clean, and finalize the coding of your open-ended data.

The editor has three main views, accessible via tabs at the top: Codebook, Coded data, and Original data.

1. The Codebook Tab (Main View) #

This is the primary workspace for coding. It displays a table where each row represents a unique “code” that the system has identified from the open-ended responses.

  • Name & Code: The name of the code and its assigned numeric value. These can be edited directly by clicking on them.
  • Frequency: Shows how many times this specific code appeared in the data.
  • Matches: Displays all the variations of open-ended responses that have been grouped under this code.

Toolbar Actions:
Above the table is a toolbar with several key functions:

  • Add Code : Manually add a new code to your list.
  • Update frequency cutoff : Adjust the count of occurrences to be coded as a separate code
  • Download : Export your finalized codebook or the coded data as an Excel file.
  • Save : Save all changes you have made to the codebook.
  • Show Logs : View a detailed log of the processing and coding actions.

2. Editing and Merging Codes #

The most important task in this interface is refining the codes. You can move miscategorized responses or merge similar codes together.

  1. In the Codebook tab, find the row containing the matches you want to re-assign.
  2. Click the Edit icon  on the far right of that row.
  3. The “Edit” pop-up window will appear.
  4. Select Matches to Move: From the top list, click on one or more responses that you want to move to a different code.
  5. Select Target: In the bottom list, search for and select the correct “target” code where the selected matches should belong.
  6. Click the Move button. The selected responses will be merged into the target code, and the frequency counts will update automatically.

3. Viewing Your Data #

  • Coded Data Tab: This tab shows your dataset with the original open-ended text replaced by the new numeric codes you have defined, making it ready for quantitative analysis.
  • Original Data Tab: This tab provides a read-only view of the raw, unprocessed data exactly as you uploaded it. This is useful for reference or for double-checking the original verbatims.