Coding & Thematic

Analysis
Lecture 4
Research Methods

Department of Business Administration

IQRA University (Gulshan Campus)

08/10/2014
Goal of Qualitative Data Analysis

Qualitative Data Analysis is the range of

processes and procedures whereby we move
from the qualitative data that have been
collected into some form of explanation,
understanding or interpretation of the people
and situations we are investigating.

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Common Stages of Analysis
• Familiarization with the data through review, reading, listening etc.
• Transcription of tape recorded material.
• Organization and indexing of data for easy retrieval and
identification.
• Anonymizing of sensitive data.
• Coding (or indexing).
• Identification of themes.
• Re-coding.
• Development of provisional categories.
• Exploration of relationships between categories.
• Refinement of themes and categories.
• Development of theory and incorporation of pre-existing knowledge.
• Testing of theory against the data.
• Report writing, including excerpts from original data if appropriate 3
(e.g., quotes from interviews).
Developing Descriptions & Themes
From The Data
• Coding data

• Developing a description from the data

• Defining themes from the data

• Connecting and interrelating themes

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What is Coding?

• In qualitative analysis, coding is the process of identifying

categories and meanings in text, creating and applying a
name or code to each, and systematically marking similar
strings of text with the same code name.

• Coding permits systematic retrieval of categories and

meanings during analysis. Codes help researchers
identify patterns in data.

• Coding is purposeful interpretation, with mindful

reflection on the meanings of the persons, context, 5
interactions, statements, assumptions, and so on.
 Coding Rules
• Code only relevant data (not all text be coded to complete the project)

• Codes may be based on:

• Actions, Behaviors, Topics, Ideas, Concepts, Terms, Phrases, Keywords, etc.

• It helps if code names are meaningful.

• When new relevant content is discovered, a new code is created.

• A string of text may contain more than one code.

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Coding Rules (cont.)

• Codes must be consistently applied

• Keeping a list of codes helps to:

• Identify the content of each code
• Reveal the contents of the text

• Codes should be grouped in some form (e.g. related clusters) to

advance analysis

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Sources of Codes
• A priori codes—expected, looked for
• Previous research
• Previous theory
• Research question
• Your intuition of the data or setting

• Grounded codes—discovered
• Suspend ideas about the subject and let the data determine the
codes

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Coding into Themes

• Look for themes involves coding

• Enables researchers to retrieve and collect
together all the text and other data that they have
associated with some thematic idea

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Example

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Interpreting A Code

• It is easy to write and code in ways that are

nothing more than descriptive summaries of
what participants have said or done

• But you need to trick is to move towards

explaining why things are as you have found
them

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Organising Codes
Researchers tend to approach this organisation in one of
two ways:

• Manual methods
• Notes and interviews are transcribed and transcripts and images
etc. are copied. The researcher then uses folders, filing cabinets,
wallets etc. to gather together materials that are examples of
similar themes or analytic ideas.

• Computer based
• Many analysts now also use dedicated computer assisted
qualitative data analysis packages. Can be tricky to learn and no
point unless your sample size is large. 12
What is A Theme?

• “A theme captures something important about the

data in relation to the research question, and
represents some level of patterned response or
meaning within the data set” (Braun & Clarke, 2006)

• Normally evidenced in a number of participants

responses

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Thematic Analysis

• “Thematic analysis is a method for identifying,

analysing and reporting patterns (themes)
within data” (Braun & Clarke, 2006)

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Themes Characteristics
• Reflect the purpose of the research

• Be exhaustive--you must place all data in a category

• Be sensitizing--should be sensitive to what is in the data

• i.e., “leadership” vs. “charismatic leadership”

• Be conceptually congruent--the same level of

abstraction should characterize all categories at the
same level
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Types of Themes
• Ordinary: themes a researcher expects

• Unexpected: themes that are surprises and not expected

to surface

• Hard-to-classify: themes that contain ideas that do not

easily fit into one theme or that overlap with several
themes

• Major & minor themes: themes that represent the major

ideas, or minor, secondary ideas in a database
• Minor themes fit under major themes in the write up 16
Inductive vs Deductive Thematic
Analysis

• Themes can be identified in

• Bottom up way (inductive – observation to theory)
• Top down way (deductive – theory to confirmation)

• Inductive – themes are strongly linked to data

itself, may not bear a strong relation to the actual
questions asked

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Inductive vs Deductive Thematic
Analysis (cont.)

• Deductive – themes are driven by the researchers

theoretical or analytic interest in the area

• Choice usually maps onto how and why you are

coding the data
• Code for a specific research question (maps onto
deductive approach)
• Specific research question can evolve through the
coding process (maps onto the inductive approach)

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Semantic or Latent Themes

• Semantic approach, the themes are identified within the

explicit or surface meanings of the data, and the analyst is
not looking for anything beyond what a participant has
said or what has been written.

• In contrast, a thematic analysis at the latent level goes

beyond the semantic content of the data, and starts to
identify or examine the underlying ideas, assumptions,
and conceptualizations / and ideologies /that are
theorized as shaping or informing the semantic content of
the data.

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Semantic or Latent Themes (cont.)

• If we imagine our data three-dimensionally as an uneven

blob of jelly, the semantic approach would seek to
describe the surface of the jelly, its form and meaning,
while the latent approach would seek to identify the
features that gave it that particular form and meaning.

• Thus, for latent thematic analysis, the development of

the themes themselves involves interpretative work, and
the analysis that is produced is not just description, but is
already theorized.

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Conducting and Writing-up
Thematic Analysis
1. Make sure you explicitly state the theoretical
position you are taking in your write up
2. Familiarise yourself with your data
3. Generate initial codes
4. Search for themes
5. Review themes
6. Define and name themes
7. Produce report
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 A Six Step Process
1. Familiarizing yourself with your data: Transcribing data (if
necessary), reading and re-reading the data, noting down initial
ideas.
• The transcripts are checked for 'accuracy'.

2. Generating initial codes: Coding interesting features of the data

in a systematic fashion across the entire data set, collating data
relevant to each code.
• Each data item has equal attention in coding.

3. Searching for themes: Collating codes into potential themes,

gathering all data relevant to each potential theme.
• Themes are not generated from a few vivid examples.
• All relevant extracts for each theme are collated. 22
A Six Step Process (cont.)
4. Reviewing themes: Checking if the themes work in relation to
the coded extracts (Level 1) and the entire data set (Level 2),
generating a thematic ‘map’ of the analysis.
• Themes are checked against each other and back to the original
data set.
• Themes are internally coherent, consistent and distinctive.

5. Defining and naming themes: Ongoing analysis to refine the

specifics of each theme and the overall story the analysis tells,
generating clear definitions and names for each theme.
• Data have been analysed – interpreted, made sense of – rather than
just paraphrased or described.
• Analysis and data match each other – the extracts illustrate the
analytic claims.
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 A Six Step Process (cont.)
6. Producing the report: Selection of vivid, compelling extracts,
final analysis of selected extracts, relating back of the analysis to
the research question and literature, producing a scholarly
report of the analysis.
• The analysis tells a convincing and well-organized story.
• There is a good balance between analytic narrative and illustrative
extracts.
• Enough time is given to complete all of the analysis
• The assumptions about and specific approach to thematic analysis
are clearly explained.
• There is a good fit between what is described as the method and
the reported analysis.
• The language/concepts are consistent with the epistemological
position of the analysis. 24
• The researcher is positioned as active in the research process:
themes do not just 'emerge'.
Pitfalls & Cautions
• Failure to actually analyse the data – you must include
analytic narrative as well as extracts and these must
be directly relevant to your objective

• Using the data collection questions as the themes

(here no analysis has been done)

• Weak or unconvincing analysis – themes do not work,

there is too much overlap, themes are not internally
coherent/consistent

• Mismatch between data and claims made – claims are

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not supported by data and report does not consider
alternative interpretations of data
Considerations – Aspects of
Qualitative Data
• Are you interested in interpreting the data in terms of
themes / concepts / ideas / interactions / processes?
• Then you have to do the thinking, the analysis
• There is no software that can actually do the thinking for you

• Data may be messy

• You need to give thought to efficient data management
• You need to find out what literature is there, around your
research topics

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Considerations – Aspects of
Qualitative Data (cont.)
• Qualitative data usually cannot be reduced to numbers
• If you are just trying to reduce the data to numbers, have you
properly understood the reasons for doing qualitative research?

• Will the sample size and/or sampling method be telling

you anything of value at all?
• Many qualitative samples are small and not proper random
samples

• If you are generating numbers then you should see the

numbers only as pointers to more thinking and
researching about where and why there are anomalies or
exceptions.
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• This may mean more data collection, more thinking, more testing