1. Miles and Huberman (1994, ch. 4.B) suggested that coding should be guided by a conceptual framework and research question(s). At the initial stage, both the framework as well as the questions could be very loosely defined.
2. Strauss and Corbin (1998, ch. 5) suggested to do "microscopic examination" (line by line) to the initial data.
3. Glaser (1978) suggested a pure "constant comparative" method. Just do the initial step, "Open Coding", until it yields a "Core Category" [GLASER92, p. 39]. A substantive theory may need about 10 - 15 codes [GLASER78, p. 71]. However, someone needs "Theoretical Sensitivity" that might be accumulated over months if not years.

URLs

• The Memo Pages of Grounded Theory

References:

• [GLASER78] Glaser, Barney G. 1978. Theoretical Sensitivity. Sociology Press, pp. 164. [HM48 Gla CLMS, -]
• [GLASER98] Glaser, Barney G. 1998. Doing Grounded Theory: Issues and Discussions. Sociology Press, pp. 254. [-, -]
• [MILHUB94] Miles, Matthew B., and Huberman, A. Michael. 1994. Qualitative Data Analysis. Sage Publications, pp. 339. [fH62 Mil CLMS, ISBN 0-8039-5537-5]
• [STRAUSSCORBIN98] Strauss, Anselm L., and Corbin, Juliet. 1998. Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Sage, 2nd ed., pp. 312. [HA29 Str, ISBN 0-8039-5939-7]