Creating the final template

 

The coding of the initial data using the initial template was largely carried out by Dennise. We used a matrix layout to display this for ease of reference. I then went through each transcript in turn, looking out for material we were not successfully encompassing with the existing template, and changing the template when necessary. These changes included the full range of types of modification discussed in my chapter on template analysis (King 1998), and which are outlined in the section describing the technique.

Some of the main changes from the initial template were as follows:

• Much more detailed coding at the lowest level - This reflects the diversity of themes emerging from a close reading of the full set of transcripts.
• Merging of the "Sources of Support" and "Impressions of Services" top level codes, into a new "Quality of out-of-hours care and support" code - By specifying sources at the second level it was possible to make the issues relating to specific services more apparent as third level codes. I also recognised that the initial coding did not focus closely enough on out-of-hours issues.
• Inclusion of a "General Carer Support Issues" code, with "Bereavement care" as a second level code - On reflection, I realised that bereavement care - though an extremely important issue - was not directly relevant to the aims of the research, which were explicitly concerned with out-of-hours care and support where a patient was receiving palliative care at home. It is in the nature of qualitative research that the focus of a project can change in the light of findings, and I certainly did not want to lose the valuable material relating to bereavement; at the same time, out-of-hours issues needed to be central to our report. I therefore included bereavement care as one of a number of areas raised by participants as important to their experiences as Carers, but tangential to the main aims of the study.

See the "final" template.

See an example of coding using the "final" template.

Note that I have used inverted commas in my references to the "final" template because it is always possible to find ways of modifying your coding as you return to the data. The version here is the one included in the study report (King, Thomas, Bell and Bowes (2003)) . I am soon going to begin work on a journal article based on this study; it is quite possible that I may make changes to the template as I look at the material again for a new purpose. Remember that the template is not the end product of a study - it is a tool to help you produce your report, paper, dissertation or whatever.