Coding categories derived from prior hypotheses risk circular validation

Evidence

Before the coding categories were defined all of the interviews were examined for content that seemed to distinguish prejudiced subjects from unprejudiced subjects. This again is an important fact because, as we shall see, it means that the study of the patient interviews was subject to one serious criticism that must also be made of all the other studies involving content analysis. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 521

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the broader critique of confirmation bias and circularity in The Authoritarian Personality research program. — connects to: The F Scale study’s coding allowed circular reasoning to creep into interpretations — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 744; Big Data logic rejects theory-driven hypothesis testing in favor of raw pattern extraction — Nick Couldry & Ulises A. Mejias, The Costs of Connection: How Data Is…, 394