Coding as analytical process: From profound to productive uncertainty

Abstract This paper starts with a moment of profound uncertainty: could the research questions be addressed with our data? And if so, how could coding in NVivo play a role? Through an iterative process, fumbling, and patience, the emergent solution was to systematically use ‘memos’, teasing out ‘between the lines’ insights and coding the ‘memos’, thus integrating coding within the analytical process. Choosing to pay attention to how we do analysis, but even more so to write about it, matters for the trustworthiness of our findings. But it can also contribute to illuminating the empirically grounded, palpable and data‐centred orientations of geography.