- Grouping open codes into key categories that could potentially shape a theory 

Claremont Graduate University

There are many different stages of coding, the following three are the general steps: 
1) Open Coding 
2) Selective Coding 
3) Theoretical Coding 


Stages of Coding in Grounded Theory Method

Urquhart, C. (2013). Grounded theory for qualitative research. SAGE Publications, Ltd https://www.doi.org/10.4135/9781526402196

- A coding process that explores what the data might be telling researchers through the coding data line by line/paragraph by paragraph 

- Connecting categories to understand their relationships to build theories 