As part of this process, you will be making decisions about what data to include and what to leave out. Keeping your research focus or question in mind will help. For instance, in interviews, there may have been side conversations or comments that don't relate.

You can also use a word processor to underline or highlight units. As well, you could use the search function to find similar words in the data or sets of data.

Do not try to categorize the units at this stage. (Although you might note ideas about patterns or categories on a separate sheet.)

Separate the units. Once you have identified units, cut them out and stick them onto 3" x 5" cards or pieces of paper. (Remember to identify the sources.) You can also work with the slips of paper, rather than stick them

Sort. Imagine you have to sort out a random selection of 200 grocery items (Merriam, 1988, p. 132). The first item is a box of cereal. The second is an orange. You'd likely put these items in two categories. You could sort all of the items into categories of fresh, frozen, canned or packaged. You could sort them by colour or weight. Or you could sort them in usual grocery store categories of meat, dairy, produce, etc. How you sort them will depend on your questions and on the meaning you bring to the data.

The following sorting process is based on what Glaser and Strauss (cited in Lincoln & Guba, 1985, p. 339) developed and named as a "constant comparison" process (a process of constantly comparing each new unit with the preceding ones). It is offered as a starting point; you'll likely find your own way of sorting, depending on the data you're dealing with.

• Put all the cards in a stack.
• Take the first card, read the unit and place it on the table.
• Take the next card, read the unit and compare it to the first one. If the data is similar in some way, put the second card with the first one. (For example, each unit may refer to a reason for leaving school, or they may both refer to a reading strategy). If not, start a second group (e.g., the first unit may be about leaving school, the second about a reading strategy). At this stage you are working with what "looks" or "feels" the same.
• Continue in the same way with the other cards. (At this stage, work with broad categories. You might develop sub-categories later.)
• Name the categories and review the units in them. You may need to review your categories and regroup some units. Check that all the units in a category are indeed similar. Also, check that the differences between categories are quite clear.