Coding Streams of Language: Techniques for the Systematic Coding of Text, Talk, and Other Verbal Data
- Writing, Research
By Cheryl Geisler and Jason Swarts
Copy edited by Don Donahue. Designed by Mike Palmquist.
Coding Streams of Language is a systematic and practical research guide to coding verbal data in all its forms—written texts and oral talk, in print or online, gathered through surveys and interviews, database searches, or audio or video recordings. The thoughtful, detailed advice found in this book will help readers carry out analyses of language that are both systematic and complex. Situating themselves in the relatively new line of mixed methods research, the authors provide guidance on combining context-based inquiry with quantitative tools for examining big picture patterns that acknowledges the complexity of language use. Throughout Coding Streams of Language, exercises, points for discussion, and milestones help guide readers through an analytic project. As a supplement to the book, YouTube videos demonstrate tools and techniques.
Table of Contents
Open the entire book: In PDF Format 
Chapter 1. An Introduction to Coding Streams of Language
Chapter 2. Designing the Analysis
Chapter 3. Segmenting the Data
Chapter 5. Achieving Reliability
Chapter 6. Seeing Patterns of Distribution
Chapter 7. Exploring Patterns Across Dimensions
Chapter 8. Following Patterns over Time
Chapter 9. Evaluating Significance
Chapter 10.Writing the Analysis
Related Resources
Coding Streams of Language Video Playlists:
View the Playlist Main Page
Chapter 2 playlist
Chapter 3 playlist
Chapter 4 playlist
Chapter 5 playlist
Chapter 6 playlist
Chapter 7 playlist
Chapter 8 playlist
Chapter 9 playlist
Chapter 10 playlist
Chapter Exercises
Exercise 2.1 - Descriptive Frameworks
Exercise 2.2 - Sampling
Exercise 3.1 - Choose a Unit of Segmentation
Exercise 3.2 - Segmenting
Exercise 5.1 - Predicting Reliability
Exercise 5.2 - Creating a Pivot Table
Exercise 5.3 - Evaluating Reliability
Exercise 5.4 - Improving Reliability
Exercise 6.2 - Graphing Frequencies
Exercise 7.2 - Build Contingency Tables
Exercise 7.3 - Clustering Data Points
Exercise 8.1 - Identifying Phenomena in a Temporal Index
Exercise 8.2 - Reading a Temporal Index
Exercise 8.3 - Temporal Aggregations
Exercise 9.3 - Chi Square Test of Homogeneity
Exercise 9.3b - Chi Square Templates
Exercise 10.1 - Underlining Details
Exercise 10.2 - Filter Data to Find Details
Multinomial Logistic Regression Tool: http://shiny.chass.ncsu.edu/codingstreams/
About the Authors
Cheryl Geisler is Professor of Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University, where she served as the inaugural Dean of the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology. She has written extensively on the nature of texts, especially those mediated by new technologies. A recognized expert on verbal data coding, she organized a special section of the Journal of Writing Research (Vol 7, No 3) on current and emerging methods in the rhetorical analysis of texts and wrote an article on coding in the April, 2018 issue of Written Communication. She has published more than fifty articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings, as well as five books including Analyzing Steams of Language (2004). She has received awards for her work from Computers and Composition, the Rhetoric Society of America, and the National Communication Association. She is a Fellow of the Association of Teachers of Technical Writing.
Jason Swarts is Professor of English, specializing in technical communication, at North Carolina State University. His research focuses on practices of social cognition that are supported by texts and influenced by mobile networking technologies. He has written more than twenty articles as well as two books that both rely on techniques of verbal data analysis outlined in this book: Together with Technology (2007) and Wicked, Incomplete, and Uncertain (2018). His research has been recognized with awards from the National Council of Teachers of English, the Society for Technical Communication, and the Association for Teachers of Technical Writing.
Publication Information: Geisler, Cheryl, & Jason Swarts. (2019). Coding Streams of Language. The WAC Clearinghouse; University Press of Colorado. https://doi.org/10.37514/PRA-B.2019.0230
Digital Publication Date: October 21, 2019
Print Publication Date: April 2020
ISBN: 978-1-64215-023-0 (PDF) | 978-1-64215-024-7 (ePub) | 978-1-60732-730-1 (pbk.)
DOI: 10.37514/PRA-B.2019.0230
Contact Information:
Cheryl Geisler: cgeisler@sfu.ca
Jason Swarts: jswarts@ncsu.edu
Practices & Possibilities
Series Editors: Nick Carbone, Carbone Research and Writing, and Mike Palmquist, Colorado State University
Associate Editors: Karen-Elizabeth Moroski, Penn State University; and Aleashia Walton, University of Cincinnati)
This book is available in whole and in part in Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF). It is also available in a low-cost print edition from our publishing partner, the University Press of Colorado.
Copyright © 2019 Cheryl Geisler and Jason Swarts. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License. 408 pages, with notes, illustrations, and bibliographies. This book is available in print from University Press of Colorado as well as from any online or brick-and-mortar bookstore. Available in digital format for no charge on this page at the WAC Clearinghouse. You may view this book. You may print personal copies of this book. You may link to this page. You may not reproduce this book on another website.