By Owen Sullivan
For the past few weeks, members of the NOISE Project have been coding responses from interviews that were conducted over the summer. During the coding process, we scan interview answers for their main ideas, and then assign them words or phrases that capture these main themes. These words and phrases are called codes. For more information on coding, check out Luna Castelli’s video here! Each week, we’ll outline our “Moment of the Week,” in which we share an interesting coding discussion. Here’s this week’s!
What They Said
“Once that started happening, you know, then I think Cornell was right by releasing a little bit more power to the community organizations.”
Interviewee
How We Coded It
-In this excerpt, the interviewee comments positively on the collaboration by stating that Cornell was “right.” From this, we applied the codes Trust and Value.
-A key implication of this answer, that is not explicitly stated on surface level, is that Cornell is the institution that holds the power. Cornell possesses the ability to “release” power whether they as an institution see fit.
-From this, we applied the codes Gatekeeper, because this interviewee refers to the fact that Cornell has the ability to choose whether to include community organizations in the sciences by deciding whether to “release” power. Similarly, we applied Top Down, because this response acknowledges that opportunities are being disseminated from the top of the power hierarchy, downwards to community organization. This is an implication about the structure of our society and our institutions, and so we coded Status Quo and Systems.
-Finally, we thought about which White Supremacy Culture Characteristics were relevant to this response. We coded Paternalism because, taken in the context of the broader answer, this excerpt from the interviewee refers to the way of thinking on Cornell’s part that they can “help” communities simply by collaborating with them.
-It’s interesting to note the process that took place as this answer was coded. First, we looked at the surface-level, written words, and applied the codes Trust and Value. Then, we thought about the implications and deeper meaning of the excerpt, and coded Gatekeeper, Top Down, Status Quo, and Systems. Finally, we referred to white supremacy culture characteristics and found that Paternalism applied.
Do you agree with the codes we applied? Do you disagree? Are you comfortable with the thought process that took place?
Let us know!
