What is thematic analysis, and why is it used in qualitative research?

Happy to share knowledge,

Anitha

I've argued for over a decade now that it is 'essential' that the terms health promotion and health education are delineated and separated out. Many health practitioners use the terms interchangeably to mean the same thing. Many of those practitioners might view the 'difference' between them as semantics; as not important - especially those working in healthcare and health service-based settings. I, however, have suggested that the only way that health professionals can be seen to be credible with the wider health promotion community, is if we all fully use the exact language and context of health promotion and health education and apply this to clinical practice and other health arenas. Do you agree - or have a differing view?

For thematic analysis or interpretation of the data.

Just sharing my experience of doing thematic analysis for my in-depth interviews conducted:

When conducting in-depth interviews for a qualitative study on school stakeholders, i tried to compose the responses in spoken language -verbatims and then to transcripts. Well ,with a little of my experience of qualitative research, can suggest a few approaches handle large datasets in qualitative studies, please note that it requires the following for effective management:

- Guys methodically classifying unprocessed data (e.g., coding transcripts in qualitative data analysis programs such as Atlas.ti or NVivo)- I have personally used Atlas ti and personally loved it. (becos of the web version)

- later considered dividing data into digestible categories using early coding frameworks.

The next challenging phase needs more focus- please note how it was handled..... The categories were iteratively refined to prevent redundancy and data saturation.

Corbin J, Strauss A. Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Sage publications; 2014 Nov 25.

Many qualitative studies determine the number of interviews based on achieving data saturation.

Usually themes emerge from the connection between two or more codes. But is it possible to have a theme that is based on a single code? Is there a reference supporting that?

Hi. I am working on a thesis about gender equality and female leaders' leadership identity. After literature review I conduct a conceptual framework, involving reviews of gender equality and a theory to understand leadership identity. Then I generate some research questions according to the framework. As I find there is no pre-existing theory which can holistically explain the interconnections between gender equality and leadership identity best fit for my topic in the specific context, I use grounded theory, then conducting interviews to collect data. The interview outline is developed based on my conceptual framework and research questions. In the section of data analysis, I say that I will use content analysis under the guidance of grounded theory, then open coding, axial coding and selective coding, to answer my research questions.

I am wondering is this okay? Did I use these terms incorrectly?

I'm working with biographical qualitative interviews and have a very intersting single case that would allow an in-depth investegation of the worldview and religiosity of an extreme-right individual. I was now wondering if there are journals in social science that publish qualitative research findings derived from a single case?