Thematic Analysis

• Thematic analysis is a qualitative analytic method for identifying, analysing and reporting themes (patterns) within data.
• Themes are identified through data coding.
• Thematic analysis organises, describes and interprets data.
• Identified themes become the categories for analysis with thematic analysis performed through the process of coding involving 6 stages.
• The first stage in thematic analysis is familiarisation with the data, which involves intensely reading the data to become immersed in its content.
• Thematic analysis goes beyond just counting words or phrases, and involves identifying ideas within data.
• Analysis in thematic analysis can involve the comparison of themes, identification and co-occurrences of themes and using graphs to display differences between themes.
• Coding in thematic analysis involves generating codes (labels) that identify features of the data important to answering the research question.
• Searching for themes in thematic analysis involves examining the codes and data to identify patterns of meaning (potential themes).
• Reviewing themes in thematic analysis involves checking the potential themes against the data, to see if they explain the data and answer the research question.
• Themes are refined in thematic analysis, which can involve splitting, combining or discarding one.
• Defining and naming themes in thematic analysis involves a detailed analysis of each theme and creating an informative name for each one.
• Writing up in thematic analysis involves combining together the information gained from the analysis.