How to rapidly code qualitative interviews with a large team

This article was featured on UX Planet.

I’ve conducted research with teams of 20+ colleagues from across design, engineering, product, and operations. Coming back from a large research trip, I’ve had 200+ pages of interview transcripts that I needed to synthesize. The method below is great for quickly transcribing, coding and synthesizing interviews across large groups.

Step 1: After fieldwork, transcribe all interviews. I like to use services like rev.com which usually offers 1–2 day turnarounds and also offers rush transcriptions even more quickly.

Step 2: Re-read a couple of transcripts from interviews you’ve done and generated codes. You may already have a sense of these codes before conducting interviews, and you may refine them after fieldwork. For more on how to generate codes and themes, check out this article.

Step 3: Create a google spreadsheet with a tab for each code. See the fictionalized example below. (Feel free to use the template I’ve created.)

The first tab should be an easy reference to each interview, where to find it, and reading assignments for each team member

Team members will fill in each subsequent tab with quotes that match the code for that tab

Step 4: Create a “key” document with instructions and all codes. (Here’s another template!)

The key document should link back to the spreadsheet and include explanations for every code

Step 5: Assign sections of interview reading across team members (Column C in the spreadsheet) and assign deadlines to match your timeline.

This method allows you to distribute the coding exercise from all interviews across all team members. This simple strategy allows you to rapidly work through hundreds of pages of interview transcriptions while giving your colleagues an opportunity to participate in one of the most important aspects of UX research. The result will be a living, breathing document with codes and quotes from all of your interviews. You can then use this to generate themes and synthesize your results.