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

Background. Qualitative research explores complex phenomena encountered by clinicians, health care providers, policy makers and consumers. Although partial checklists are available, no consolidated reporting framework exists for any type of qualitative design. Objective. To develop a checklist for explicit and comprehensive reporting of qualitative studies (indepth interviews and focus groups). Methods. We performed a comprehensive search in Cochrane and Campbell Protocols, Medline, CINAHL, systematic reviews of qualitative studies, author or reviewer guidelines of major medical journals and reference lists of relevant publications for existing checklists used to assess qualitative studies. Seventy-six items from 22 checklists were compiled into a comprehensive list. All items were grouped into three domains: (i) research team and reflexivity, (ii) study design and (iii) data analysis and reporting. Duplicate items and those that were ambiguous, too broadly defined and impractical to assess were removed. Results. Items most frequently included in the checklists related to sampling method, setting for data collection, method of data collection, respondent validation of findings, method of recording data, description of the derivation of themes and inclusion of supporting quotations. We grouped all items into three domains: (i) research team and reflexivity, (ii) study design and (iii) data analysis and reporting. Conclusions. The criteria included in COREQ, a 32-item checklist, can help researchers to report important aspects of the research team, study methods, context of the study, findings, analysis and interpretations.

Consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research (COREQ): a 32-item checklist for interviews and focus groups

The Foundations of Qualitative Research - Rachel Ormston, Liz Spencer, Matt Barnard, Dawn Snape The Applications of Qualitative Methods to Social Research - Jane Ritchie and Rachel Ormston Design Issues - Jane Lewis and Carol McNaughton Nicholls Ethics of Qualitative Research - Stephen Webster, Jane Lewis and Ashley Brown Designing and Selecting Samples - Jane Ritchie, Jane Lewis, Gilliam Elam, Rosalind Tennant and Nilufer Rahim Designing Fieldwork - Sue Arthur, Martin Mitchell, Jane Lewis and Carol McNaughton Nicholls In-depth Interviews - Alice Yeo, Robin Legard, Jill Keegan, Kit Ward, Carol McNaughton Nicholls and Jane Lewis Focus Groups - Helen Finch, Jane Lewis, and Caroline Turley Observation - Carol McNaughton Nicholls, Lisa Mills and Mehul Kotecha Analysis: Principles and Processes - Liz Spencer, Jane Ritchie, Rachel Ormston, William O'Connor and Matt Barnard Traditions and approaches Analysis in practice - Liz Spencer, Jane Ritchie, William O'Connor, Gareth Morrell and Rachel Ormston Generalisability Writing up qualitative Research - Clarissa White, Kandy Woodfield, Jane Ritchie and Rachel Ormston

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Qualitative Research Practice: A Guide for Social Science Students and Researchers

Publie anterieurement sous le titre : Handbook of qualitative research, 1994 Comprend des references bibliographiques Comprend un index

The Sage handbook of qualitative research

The use of reliability and validity are common in quantitative research and now it is reconsidered in the qualitative research paradigm. Since reliability and validity are rooted in positivist perspective then they should be redefined for their use in a naturalistic approach. Like reliability and validity as used in quantitative research are providing springboard to examine what these two terms mean in the qualitative research paradigm, triangulation as used in quantitative research to test the reliability and validity can also illuminate some ways to test or maximize the validity and reliability of a qualitative study. Therefore, reliability, validity and triangulation, if they are relevant research concepts, particularly from a qualitative point of view, have to be redefined in order to reflect the multiple ways of establishing truth. Key words: Reliability, Validity, Triangulation, Construct, Qualitative, and Quantitative This article discusses the use of reliability and validity in the qualitative research paradigm. First, the meanings of quantitative and qualitative research are discussed. Secondly, reliability and validity as used in quantitative research are discussed as a way of providing a springboard to examining what these two terms mean and how they can be tested in the qualitative research paradigm. This paper concludes by drawing upon the use of triangulation in the two paradigms (quantitative and qualitative) to show how the changes have influenced our understanding of reliability, validity and triangulation in qualitative studies.

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Understanding Reliability and Validity in Qualitative Research

PART ONE: GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS Why Quality Matters Post Scientific Critiques Trust, Truth and Philosophy Guiding Ideals PART TWO: RESEARCH PRACTICE Converging on a Point? Accounting for Contradiction Grounding Theory Generalising from Qualitative Research Using Numbers Reliability and Replicability Reflexivity and Writing Reinstating the Author

The quality of qualitative research

A variety of conceptions of qualitative research exist, with competing claims as to what counts as good quality work. Rather than opting for the criteria promoted by one variety, “paradigm,” “moment,” or school within qualitative research, practicing researchers can learn valuable lessons from each one. This is because social research is a craft skill, relatively autonomous from the need to resolve philosophical disputes. At the same time, methodological awareness is a valuable mental resource in research studies. It can be acquired by exposure to almost any intelligent methodological discussion, whether from positivist, naturalistic, constructivist, or postmodern paradigms, as well as from careful consideration of research studies done by others. Particular techniques developed originally to fulfill the requirements of particular paradigms can often be used for other purposes and from within other paradigms if need be. This is illustrated in a case study of triangulation. A lot of effort has been expended by methodologists over the years, trying to give some guidance to qualitative researchers in improving or judging the quality of qualitative research. You could say that all methodological writing is ultimately directed at such a goal, because the idea of writing about how one can do research is presumably aimed at giving other people some good ideas on how they might proceed with their own studies. Explicit discussions of quality in social research, though, began from concerns designated with words such as validity and reliability, developed within the quantitative or scientific tradition, and then moved on under the pressure of critique from the qualitative research community. At first, this led qualitative methodologists to spawn new terms that either substituted for the scientific language of earlier periods or added new ideas to them. More recently, with postmodernist perspectives in fashion, the whole issue of whether we ought to be trying to generate criteria for judging the quality of research has become controversial. Maybe we should be letting a thousand flowers bloom, people say. The result

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Quality in Qualitative Research

Introduction - Clive Seale PART ONE: RESEARCH CONTEXTS Selected Issues in the Philosophy of Social Science - David Lazar Politics, Identities and Research - Suki Ali et al Developments in Social Theory - Paul Filmer et al Research and Social Theory - David Silverman Research and Social Policy - David Silverman Validity, Reliability and the Quality of Research - Clive Seale History of Social Statistics and the Social Survey - Fran Tonkiss History of Qualitative Methods - Clive Seale Ethics and Social Research - Moira Kelly and Suki Ali Research Design and Proposals - Moira Kelly PART TWO: DOING RESEARCH Doing a Literature Review - Duncan Branley Doing Social Surveys - Alice Bloch Qualitative Interviewing - Bridget Byrne Using Focus Groups - Fran Tonkiss Making and Managing Audio Recordings - Duncan Branley Doing Ethnography - David Walsh Generating Grounded Theory - Clive Seale Doing Historical and Archival Research - Ben Gidley Using Visual Materials - Suki Ali Using the Internet - Pamelah Odih Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Methods - Neil Spicer Coding and Analyzing Data - Clive Seale Statistical Reasoning - Alice Bloch From One to Two Variables Statistical Reasoning - Clive Seale Causal Arguments and Multivariate Analysis Using Data Archives for Secondary Analysis - Clive Seale Analyzing Text and Speech - Fran Tonkiss Content and Discourse Analysis Analyzing Conversations - Tim Rapley Reading and Writing Research - Les Back Doing a Dissertation - Chetan Bhatt When Things Go Wrong - Mike Michael PART THREE: CASE STUDIES Representing Otherness - Thomas Zacharias Collecting and Analyzing Visual Data Embodiment, Reflexivity and Movement Re-Education - Jen Tarr An Ethnographic Case Study My Research Practice - Clive Seale PART FOUR: WORKSHOP AND DISCUSSION EXERCISES

Researching Society and Culture

Objective To study medical students' views about the quality of the teaching they receive during their undergraduate training, especially in terms of the hidden curriculum.

Design Semistructured interviews with individual students.

Setting One medical school in the United Kingdom.

Participants 36 undergraduate medical students, across all stages of their training, selected by random and quota sampling, stratified by sex and ethnicity, with the whole medical school population as a sampling frame.

Main outcome measures Medical students' experiences and perceptions of the quality of teaching received during their undergraduate training.

Results Students reported many examples of positive role models and effective, approachable teachers, with valued characteristics perceived according to traditional gendered stereotypes. They also described a hierarchical and competitive atmosphere in the medical school, in which haphazard instruction and teaching by humiliation occur, especially during the clinical training years.

Conclusions Following on from the recent reforms of the manifest curriculum, the hidden curriculum now needs attention to produce the necessary fundamental changes in the culture of undergraduate medical education.

https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/329/7469/770.full.pdf

The hidden curriculum in undergraduate medical education: qualitative study of medical students' perceptions of teaching.

Introduction - Clive Seale et al Inside Qualitative Research PART ONE: ENCOUNTERING METHOD Interviews - Tim Rapley Oral History - Joanna Bornat Biographical Research - Gabriele Rosenthal Focus Groups - Phil Macnaghten and Greg Myers Grounded Theory - Ian Dey Performance and Rehearsal - Paul Atkinson The Ethnographer at the Opera PART TWO: ANALYTIC FRAMEWORKS Narrative Research - Molly Andrews et al Feminist Approaches - Celia Kitzinger The Foucaultian Framework - Gavin Kendall and Gary Wickham Ethnomethodology - Paul ten Have Conversation Analysis - Anssi Perakyla Discourse Analytic Practice - Alexa Hepburn and Jonathan Potter Critical Discourse Analysis - Ruth Wodak PART THREE: FIELD RELATIONS Ethnography and Participant Observation - Sara Delamont Ethical Issues - Anne Ryen Working in Hostile Environments - Nigel Fielding Politics, Research and Understanding - Les Back Collaborative and Team Research - Linda S Mitteness and Judith C Barker PART FOUR: CONTEXT AND METHOD Context - James Holstein and Jaber Gubrium Working it Up, Down and Across Working Qualitatively and Quantitatively - Julia Brannen Secondary Analysis of Archived Data - Louise Corti and Paul Thompson Reanalysis of Previously Collected Material - Malin Akerstr[um]om, Katarina Jacobsson and David W[um]asterfors The Internet as Research Context - Annette Markham Documents - Lindsay Prior Visual Methods - Sarah Pink PART FIVE: QUALITY AND CREDIBILITY Quality in Qualitative Research - Clive Seale Five Misunderstandings about Case Study Research - Bent Flyvbjerg Sampling, Representativeness and Generalizability - Giampietro Gobo Working with `Key Incidents' - Bob Emerson Computer Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis - Udo Kelle PART SIX: AUDIENCES AND APPLICATIONS Preparing and Evaluating Qualitative Research Proposals - Janice Morse Qualitative Market Research - Gill Ereaut Qualitative Evaluation Research - Moira Kelly Action Research - Donna Ladkin Teaching Qualitative Method - Martyn Hammersley Writing a Social Science Monograph - Barbara Czarniawska Publishing Qualitative Manuscripts - Donileen Loseke and Spencer Cahill PART SEVEN: THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT The Globalization of Qualitative Research - Pertti Alasuutari

Clive Seale

Papers

The quality of qualitative research

Quality in Qualitative Research

Researching Society and Culture

The hidden curriculum in undergraduate medical education: qualitative study of medical students' perceptions of teaching.

Qualitative Research Practice