Macros for qualitative coding of interview transcripts


First of all, a few words about what these macros are for. They are designed to simplify the process of assigning codes to selections of text from interviews, group discussions, or even free-answer sections of surveys. So, for example, in a set of interviews where participants describe problems that they have had, you might want to classify each comment about a problem in terms of what type of problem it is. Usually this is done with numeric codes (e.g., 1 = health problem, 2 = financial problem, 3 = social problem, etc.)

With these macros, you can easily code a document within Microsoft(TM) Word for Windows, using a dialog box that pops up beside each selected section of text. With this system, you can code text along up to five independent dimensions (or categories) at once. For example, you could assign one code to classify the type of problem, another to classify the type of solution attempted, and another to classify the outcome.

Once a document has been fully coded, these macros can automatically copy the coded quotations (along with the codes) into a table in Microsoft Word. This table can easily be sorted by any combination of the coding dimensions.

To prepare to download the required files, first select the desired version of Word of Windows:

Word 97
Word 6.0/95