Thematic analysis is a poorly demarcated, rarely acknowledged, yet widely used qualitative analytic method within psychology. In this paper, we argue that it offers an accessible and theoretically flexible approach to analysing qualitative data. We outline what thematic analysis is, locating it in relation to other qualitative analytic methods that search for themes or patterns, and in relation to different epistemological and ontological positions. We then provide clear guidelines to those wanting to start thematic analysis, or conduct it in a more deliberate and rigorous way, and consider potential pitfalls in conducting thematic analysis. Finally, we outline the disadvantages and advantages of thematic analysis. We conclude by advocating thematic analysis as a useful and flexible method for qualitative research in and beyond psychology.

Using thematic analysis in psychology

Building Theories From Case Study Research - This paper describes the process of inducting theory using case studies from specifying the research questions to reaching closure. Some features of the process, such as problem definition and construct validation, are similar to hypothesis-testing research. Others, such as within-case analysis and replication logic, are unique to the inductive, case-oriented process. Overall, the process described here is highly iterative and tightly linked to data. This research approach is especially appropriate in new topic areas. The resultant theory is often novel, testable, and empirically valid. Finally, framebreaking insights, the tests of good theory (e.g., parsimony, logical coherence), and convincing grounding in the evidence are the key criteria for evaluating this type of research.

Building theories from case study research

An Introduction to Codes and Coding Chapter Summary Purposes of the Manual What Is a Code? Codifying and Categorizing What Gets Coded? The Mechanics of Coding The Numbers of Codes Manual and CAQDAS Coding Solo and Team Coding Necessary Personal Attributes for Coding On Method Writing Analytic Memos Chapter Summary The Purposes of Analytic Memo-Writing What Is an Analytic Memo? Examples of Analytic Memos Coding and Categorizing Analytic Memos Grounded Theory and Its Coding Canon Analytic Memos on Visual Data First-Cycle Coding Methods Chapter Summary The Coding Cycles Selecting the Appropriate Coding Method(s) Overview of First-Cycle Coding Methods The Coding Methods Profiles Grammatical Methods Elemental Methods Affective Methods Literary and Language Methods Exploratory Methods Forms for Additional First-Cycle Coding Methods Theming the Data Procedural Methods After First-Cycle Coding Chapter Summary Post-Coding Transitions Eclectic Coding Code Mapping and Landscaping Operational Model Diagramming Additional Transition Methods Transitioning to Second-Cycle Coding Methods Second-Cycle Coding Methods Chapter Summary The Goals of Second-Cycle Methods Overview of Second-Cycle Coding Methods Second-Cycle Coding Methods Forms for Additional Second-Cycle Coding Methods After Second-Cycle Coding Chapter Summary Post-Coding and Pre-Writing Transitions Focusing Strategies From Coding to Theorizing Formatting Matters Writing about Coding Ordering and Re-Ordering Assistance from Others Closure Appendix A: A Glossary of Coding Methods Appendix B: A Glossary of Analytic Recommendations Appendix C: Field Note, Interview Transcript and Document Samples for Coding Appendix D: Exercises and Activities for Coding and Qualitative Data Analytic Skill Development References Index

The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers

�Traditional, hierarchical views of leadership are less and less useful given the complexities of our modern world. Leadership theory must transition to new perspectives that account for the complex adaptive needs of organizations. In this paper, we propose that leadership (as opposed to leaders) can be seen as a complex dynamic process that emerges in the interactive “spaces between” people and ideas. That is, leadership is a dynamic that transcends the capabilities of individuals alone; it is the product of interaction, tension, and exchange rules governing changes in perceptions and understanding. We label this a dynamic of adaptive leadership, and we show how this dynamic provides important insights about the nature of leadership and its outcomes in organizational fields. We define a leadership event as a perceived segment of action whose meaning is created by the interactions of actors involved in producing it, and we present a set of innovative methods for capturing and analyzing these contextually driven processes. We provide theoretical and practical implications of these ideas for organizational behavior and organization and management theory.

/pdf/building-theories-from-case-study-research-3wynzi9b0d.pdf

Building theories from case study research.

The Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions is the official document that describes in detail the process of preparing and maintaining Cochrane systematic reviews on the effects of healthcare interventions.

/pdf/cochrane-handbook-for-systematic-reviews-of-interventions-1xbdy6uvru.pdf

Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions

This chapter is not a discussion of research procedures as such, but is an extended illustration of open coding, with commentaries on particular instances of it. Again, readers who are eager to move directly to procedures should defer reading this chapter until later, although it is placed here because to most readers it should be useful to at least scan it, especially the analytic commentary in its closing pages. The chapter consists of one case: a research seminar session which was recorded on tape. The format of the presentation is this: first, a short introduction to the case; second, the analytic discussion itself; third, an analytic summary, with a detailed commentary on each phase of that unfolding discussion. In the long extended case, the seminar participants are seen working together on the very real data of a researcher–student. By contrast, the pain-theory case in Chapter 2 illustrated a very active teacher, at a very early session of the seminar, “getting across” various elements of grounded theory methodology, using not a presenting student's data but only the combined experiential data of himself and the class participants. Here, while experiential data come visibly into play as an element of the analysis, the chief data are not collective data. Besides, there is the additional, if invisible, drama of a presenting student who is deeply concerned about the outcome – the product – of the class discussion. Of course, the materials in this chapter are designed not only to illustrate the teaching–learning of analysis within the seminar setting, but to clarify further how qualitative analysis, especially open coding, is carried out in the grounded theory style of analysis.

Qualitative analysis for social scientists: Seminar on open coding

This chapter will address other means for integrating the entire final analysis: namely, integrative diagrams, memo sequences, and writing itself. First, however, three preliminary points need to be made. To begin with, the operational diagrams, and perhaps other operational graphic devices, help directly to integrate clusters of analyses , but only indirectly the final analysis . These diagrams, however, may contribute to filling out the more general integrative diagrams drawn from time to time. The sorting of memos likewise will usually contribute directly to the integration of analytic clusters but, especially near the close of the research project, may also contribute quite directly to the total analysis. Memo sorting does this latter by clarifying the current integrative diagram, whether early or late in the project, and by clarifying for the researcher what the total analysis is and ought to be. It can do the latter even with the use of integrative diagrams. As for coding: This makes a contribution to integrating both analytic clusters and the total analysis. Coding results are incorporated into the memos, and besides there is a recoding of old data along with coding of new data from time to time, as those procedures are deemed necessary because holes in the current analysis become apparent. In addition, the coding contributes to conceptual density, which in it itself is a part of the final total integration. It is true that integration can be made without much conceptual density (the multiple linkage of many categories, all linked with a core category or categories), but then recollect that this would leave the analysis very thin. (See Chapter 1.)

Anselm L. Strauss

Papers

Qualitative analysis for social scientists: Seminar on open coding

Qualitative analysis for social scientists: Integrative mechanisms: diagrams, memo sequences, writing

Betreuung von Sterbenden: eine Orientierung für Ärzte, Pflegepersonal, Seelsorger und Angehörige

Learning Language in Early Childhood

Knowing and the Known.John Dewey , Arthur F. Bentley