Thematic analysis Flashcards
What is thematic analysis?
A way of examining and making sense of qualitative data (such as interviews surveys or written texts) by looking for recurring themes or topics
What is thematic analysis used for?
To understand, organise and draw conclusions from data
How does thematic analysis allows researchers to understand?
They can understand the main ideas and common patterns within a large amount of data
How does thematic analysis allow researchers to organise?
It makes complex data more manageable by organising it into themes
How does thematic analysis allow researchers to draw conclusions?
Can draw meaningful conclusions based on themes they identify
What are the steps of conducting a thematic analysis?
- Familiarisation with data
- Coding the data
- Generating themes
- Defining and naming themes
- Identifying quotes
- Writing up
What is familiarisation with data?
Read and re-read the data to get a deep understanding of the content
What is an example of familiarisation with the data?
reading interviews transcripts multiple times
What is coding the data?
Identifying interesting features of the data and label them and these are usually single words or short phrases
What is an example of coding the data?
If someone mentions ‘stress at work’, you could code it as ‘work stress’
What is generating themes?
Look at codes and start to group them into potential themes, which is a broader category that captures something important about the data
What is an example of generating themes?
Codes like ‘work stress’, ‘long hours’ and ‘lack of support’ could form a theme called ‘workplace challenges’
What is defining and naming themes?
Clearly defining what each theme is about and coming up with a descriptive nae for each
What is an example of defining and naming themes?
A theme might be named ‘workplace challenges’ and be defined as ‘issues related to the stressful aspects of working environments’
What is identifying quotes?
Copy full quotes as examples of the themes from the participant communications
What is writing up?
Writing a report that tells the story of your data through the themes you’ve identified, including examples from the data to illustrate each theme
What is an example of writing up?
In the report, describe the theme ‘workplace challenges’ and provide quotes from the interviews that exemplify this theme
What is a research study for thematic analysis?
Matthew’s who analysed 1200 instances of graffiti in toilet walls
What was Matthew’s study?
They analasysed 1200 instances of graffiti on toilet walls in US bars and was coded into themes - sexual, socio-political, entertainment, physical presence, entertainment and love
What were Matthew’s findings?
Males composed more physical presence or sexual graffiti and females were more romantic
What are tips for thematic analysis?
Be systematic, flexible and use examples
How do you be systematic in thematic analysis?
Follow each step carefully and systematically to ensure thorough analysis
How do you be flexible in systematic analysis?
It is flexible and can be adapted to suit different types of research questions and data
How do you use examples in thematic analysis?
Include quotes or excerpts from your data to support your themes and make your analysis for convincing
What is the main difference between content and thematic analysis?
Content is objective and thematic is subjective
What are strengths of thematic analysis?
Few ethical issues, higher external validity and flexible approach
How does thematic analysis have fewer ethical issues?
The material already exists
Why does thematic analysis have higher external validity?
It uses real-life material
Why is thematic analysis flexible?
It is an approach that can be adapted
What are limitations of thematic analysis?
Information may be studied out of context, its subjective and reflexivity aims to address the issue of bias
