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In quantitative research, a priori coding schemes tend to be developed before data collection begins. In qualitative research, inductive, context-sensitive coding schemes evolve and are continually examined and refined in an iterative process in concert with data collection. Codes consist of word labels and phrases that attempt to capture or stand for some central idea that the data convey to the researcher. However, field researchers often develop more than one coding system for purposes of "'data management as well as for analytic purposes.

Contingency table is a synonym for crosstabulation and is a term preferred by some authors. In a cross-tabulation, the frequency of occurrence of each combination of categories of the two variables is displayed in an /-by-/ rectangular array, where / is the number of rows in the table (and therefore the number of categories for one of the variables) and / is the number of columns (the number of categories for the other variable). The 'boxes' of the table that contain the actual frequencies are called cells.

S. federal law as protected health information, which means that its use and disclosure is not subject to HIPAA regulations. ) In instances where some protected data are important to a study, a limited data set allows for the sharing of certain information fields, such as birth dates, admission/discharge dates, and zip codes that may be critical to the data analysis, but excludes all direct identifiers of the individual or others, such as family members or care providers, as defined by HIPAA. In these circumstances, in order to obtain or share the data, the researcher must enter into a data use agreement with health care entities whose standard transactions are covered by HIPAA.