A researcher is supposed to have a deep understanding of his/her field and a solid grasp of the basics. Unfortunately to even begin to understand stuff at that level, we need a decent high school level general science background. Not to mention that Computer Science is quite interdisciplinary - it includes topics from physics, mathematics, statistics and lots of other knowledge areas.
Coding is a skill, it enables you to do your work quicker - it helps you do research but is very rarely the research itself. Even " the dirty work of coding" needs some basic background knowledge. If you know how to make rubber, doesn't mean you can make a tire without knowing what a tire is ! Making a tire requires knowledge of things like heat tolerances, load capacity, strength etc.
BUT this is not to discourage you, Absolutely not! Rather to know where you stand and what to expect and how to approach people for opportunities.
I have a few suggestions -
Look for freelancing programming opportunities - there quite a few websites _ I personally know of freelancer.com and fiver.com. Here you can work on programming assignments set by people and get paid for it. This sets you up for the next level - why ? If you do a good enough job that people pay you for, then many more will take you seriously ...
Now for pure research oriented opportunities - The best idea is to talk to people who are conducting undergraduate research - why ? students who are say in first or second year of their undergraduate programs would have more or less the same level of knowledge you have. Plus if you actually worked doing freelancing stuff or some-other paid or otherwise serious opportunity, this will give you an extremely positive point to negotiate an opportunity.