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Survey Comment Coding

What is comment coding?

Comment coding turns survey feedback into actionable insights, making sense of responses to open-ended questions by categorizing them into themes.

Why does comment coding matter?

Comment coding, done well, supports equity by amplifying all voices. It makes sure that individual's thoughts and opinions are counted in a way that matters (not just the loudest voices).  It’s essential for inclusive and transparent public involvement. It helps synthesize diverse opinions into manageable reportable data and enables transparent and actionable decision-making. 

Comment coding captures nuanced feedback and enables transparent, actionable decision-making.

  • Start with clean data. Quote examples to illustrate key points. Include links to full data for people to review.

  • A strong framework leads to better insights. Start with a list of preliminary categories and adjust as new themes emerge. 

  • Keep summaries simple to make insights actionable. Use data visualizations (e.g., word clouds, bar charts, infographics) to increase understanding.