•TranscribeFast Team

Thematic Coding Cheat‑Sheet: From Codes → Categories → Themes

Student guide to coding interviews fast: definitions, examples, a worked transcript snippet, and simple inter‑coder agreement tips.

This cheat‑sheet helps you turn transcripts into findings without getting lost. You’ll code lines, group them, and name the big ideas—step by step.

Key definitions

  • Code: Short label for a piece of text (e.g., "late buses").
  • Category: Group of related codes (e.g., "Time barriers").
  • Theme: Bigger meaning across categories (e.g., "External schedules limit study consistency").

Quick process (repeat per interview)

  1. Skim transcript; highlight striking lines.
  2. Assign codes to lines (2–5 words each).
  3. Group similar codes into categories.
  4. Name themes from categories; pick 2–3 quotes per theme.

Worked example (short transcript)

[00:01:10] Student: "Buses made me late, so I studied at night."
[00:02:03] Student: "Night shifts at work mess up my sleep."
[00:03:45] Student: "Group chats help me review fast before quizzes."

Codes
  late buses; night study; work shift; bad sleep; peer review; quiz prep

Categories
  Time barriers (late buses, work shift)
  Sleep impact (night study, bad sleep)
  Peer strategies (peer review, quiz prep)

Theme
  External schedules disrupt sleep, so students rely on peers to catch up.

Inter‑coder basics (optional for group work)

  • Code 1–2 transcripts separately; compare labels.
  • Agree on a shared codebook (names + examples).
  • Track disagreements; merge or split codes as needed.

Common mistakes

  • Codes that are too long (write short labels).
  • Jumping to themes before grouping codes.
  • No quotes saved for each theme.