The Reproducible Open Coding Kit: A Human and Machine Readable Standard for Coding Qualitative Data
Abstract
The Reproducible Open Coding Kit (the ROCK) is a standard for human- and machine-readable qualitative (coded) data. It was designed to be accessible to researchers without dedicated software, while simultaneously offering enough structure to enable programmatic processing. Through this combination and a number of features tailored to these ends, the ROCK lends itself well to facilitate application of open science principles in qualitative research, to catalyse methodological innovation in qualitative research, and to progress towards machine-readability and interoperability of (coded) qualitative data, to ultimately enable truly Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable (FAIR) qualitative data. In this canonical reference, we lay out the ROCK standard v1.0. We hope this allows developers to implement the ROCK in existing free and open software, stimulates the development of additional applications, and ultimately, democratizes methodological innovation in qualitative research.
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