A Dissertation by GRACE HUI-CHIN LIN Submitted to the Office of ...

that was described thickly and interpreted. As Clifford (1990) argued, the thick
description provided a body of knowledge prefigured for theoretical development.
Also, Denzin and Lincoln (1994) affirmed that the thick description emphasized
more in description than conceptualization, and it determined whether the different
examples in data were relevant to each other. This was the reason why this study
could provide accurate concepts and themes defined from the complex data collected
from the interview.
Open Coding
Open coding was a significant qualitative strategy recommended by Glaser
and Strauss (1999). It suggested that the content of the interview should be coded
word by word and the text in transcription should be read line by line and interpreted
ad hoc. The reason why this study used the analysis method of open coding was
because open coding was related to the truth that we were doing our best to pay
attention to the participants’ views.
Strauss and Corbin (1990) argued, “Open coding is the process of breaking
down, examining, comparing, conceptualizing and categorizing data” (p. 61). Also,
Dey (2004) emphasized in the open-coding process, “the analyst must come to open
coding without preconceptions, but not entirely without ideas” (p. 85). Specifically,
open coding suggested researchers should be familiar with previous theories, find out
participants’ similar and different perceptions, and not ignore any details provided by
participants. Therefore, the method of open coding meant that everything offered by
the respondents was valuable, and each marginal issue and phenomenon provided by
the participants should not be ignored at all. That is, trivial information expressed by
an individual had to be coded and discussed deeply and extensively.
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