Braun and Clarke 2006 thematic analysis

 (Braun and Clarke, 2006) argue that thematic analysis offers an accessible and theoretically flexible approach to analysing qualitative data and is compatible with constructionist research paradigms.

 (Braun and Clarke, 2006) thematic analysis provides a flexible and useful research tool, which can potentially provide a rich and detailed, yet complex account of data (p.78).

 (Braun and Clarke, 2006) Offer guidance for thematic analysis explaining what it is and how to do it in a six phase guide. It acts as a vocabulary and ‘recipe’ for people to undertake thematic analysis in a way that is theoretically and methodologically sound (p.78).

 (Braun and Clarke, 2006) Define terms such as the ‘data corpus’ referring to all of the data collected as part of the research project, a ‘data set’ being the data from the corpus that is being used for analysis, ‘data items’ as the individual pieces of data collected and ‘data extracts’ referring to an individual coded piece of data which has been extracted from a data item (p.79).

 (Braun and Clarke, 2006) Thematic analysis is a method for identifying, analysing and reporting patterns and themes within the data (p.79).

When it comes to interviews, Rubin and Rubin (1995) claim that the analysis of data is exciting because it helps to uncover emerging themes and concepts that are embedded within the data.

Thematic analysis is not a linear process, it involves repeatedly moving back and forward through the data as needed to be able to code, theme and refine it (Braun and Clarke, 2006). Themes and patterns will emerge and get worked up from the data, but thematic analysis does not commit fully to the…..thematic saturation of grounded theory (Charmaz, 2002).

 (Braun and Clarke, 2006) Describe a theme as something that captures something important about the data in relation to the research question, and represents some level of patterned response or meaning within the data (p.82). The identification of themes may not necessarily depend on quantifiable measures or the amount of times a theme is present in the data, but rather its relevance for capturing something important in relation to answering the research question.

 (Braun and Clarke, 2006) Explain that part of the flexibility of thematic analysis is that it allows researchers to determine the themes.

 (Braun and Clarke, 2006) Themes and patterns within a data set can be identified in one of two primary ways in thematic analysis. In an ‘inductive bottom-up’ way (Frith and Gleeson, 2004) where themes are driven and directly emerge from the data and not directed by a researcher’s theoretical interest in the topic under investigation.

Or analysed in a theoretical or deductive ‘top-down’ way (Boyatzis, 1998; Hayes, 1997), explicitly driven by the theoretical or analytical interests of the researcher. This means they map and code the data specific to a research question.

Themes within thematic analysis can be identified as either at a semantic or latent interpretive level (Boyatzis, 1998), with most thematic studies typically focusing exclusively on one of these levels  (Braun and Clarke, 2006).

 (Braun and Clarke, 2006) Thematic analysis does not simply use just the questions that participants have answered to drive the analysis of themes. Instead thematic analysis involves searching across the data, such as focus groups or interviews, to find repeated patterns of meaning.

 (Braun and Clarke, 2006) Offer six phrases for thematic analysis, such as the researchers familiarising themselves with the full corpus of data; generating initial codes; searching for themes; reviewing themes; defining, naming and mapping of themes; and then producing the final report (p.87).

 (Braun and Clarke, 2006) The final write up would then provide evidence of the themes in the data in the form of extracts to demonstrate and capture the essence and prevalence of the theme. These extracts would be a clearly identifiable example of the issue highlighted and be embedded within a compelling analytic narrative to support key arguments and persuade the reader of the plausibility of the argument (Foster and Parker, 1995).

 (Braun and Clarke, 2006) In essence, coding continues to be developed and defined throughout the entire analysis (p.87).

 (Braun and Clarke, 2006) With theory driven thematic analysis the data is approached with specific questions in mind that would be coded around to identify new patterns (p.89).

 (Braun and Clarke, 2006) A good thematic analysis needs to make sure that the interpretations of the data are consistent with the theoretical framework (p.95).

 (Braun and Clarke, 2006) The researcher is positioned as active in the research process because they are the tool for the analysis and identifying the prevalence of the emerging themes.

 (Braun and Clarke, 2006) explain that the challenge for the researcher in thematic analysis is to interact with research participants in such a way that they generate rich and complex insights (p.98).