Analyzing

Qualitative Data
Learning Objectives:

1) Define data analysis

2) Describe the stages of thematic analysis

Review
What is data analysis?

Trent and Cho (2014) defined analysis as

“summarizing and organizing data” and
interpretation as “finding or making meaning”.
General Phases of Analysis and Interpretation

data
preparation initial categorizing
and immersion coding and theming
interpretation

organization
How do you analyze qualitative data?
What is thematic analysis?
Thematic analysis is a method for analyzing qualitative
data that entails searching across a data set to identify,
analyze, and report repeated patterns (Braun and Clarke
2006).

 searching for recurring ideas (referred to as themes) in a

data set
Stages of Thematic Analysis by Braun and Clarke (2006)
Immersing oneself in the data

Generating initial codes

Searching for themes

Reviewing themes

Defining and naming themes

Producing the report

Stage 1: Immersing oneself in the data

 familiarization

TRANSCRIPTION
 transforming qualitative research data, such as audio
recordings of interviews or field notes written from
observations, into typed text called transcript
Stage 2: Generating initial codes

SEGMENTING  dividing the data into meaningful

analytical units

 marking segments of data with

CODING symbols, descriptive words, or
category names called codes
 Personally, I’m not
sure. I think the climate is
changing, sure, but I don’t
know why or how. People
say you should trust the
experts, but who’s to say
they don’t have their own
reasons for pushing this
narrative? I’m not saying
they’re wrong, I’m just
saying there are reasons not
to 100% trust them. The
facts keep changing – it used
to be called global warming.
Personally, I’m not sure. I think
the climate is changing, sure, but I
don’t know why or how. People say
you should trust the experts, but who’s
to say they don’t have their own
reasons for pushing this narrative?
I’m not saying they’re wrong, I’m just
saying there are reasons not to 100%
trust them. The facts keep changing –
it used to be called global warming.
 Personally, I’m not sure. I CODES
think the climate is changing, sure,
but I don’t know why or how. Uncertainty
People say you should trust the
experts, but who’s to say they don’t Acknowledgement
have their own reasons for pushing of climate change
this narrative? I’m not saying
they’re wrong, I’m just saying Distrust of experts
there’s reasons not to 100% trust
them. The facts keep changing – it Changing
used to be called global warming. terminology
Approaches to Coding

In vivo coding  using participants’ exact language to generate codes

Descriptive coding  using nouns to summarize segments of data

Values coding  focuses on conflicts, struggles, and power issues

Inductive and A Priori Codes

Inductive codes  generated by a researcher by directly

examining the data

In vivo codes  use the words of the research

participants

A priori codes  developed before examining the

current data
Stage 3: Searching for themes

CATEGORIZING  the process of grouping similar or

seemingly related codes together (Saldaña,
2014)

 identifying a word or set of words (called

THEMING themes/s) denoting an important idea that
occurs multiples times in the data
 CODES
Uncertainty
Leave it to the experts
Incorrect facts
Misunderstanding of science
Resentment toward experts
Changing terminology
Distrust of scientists
Alternative explanations
Fear of government control
Biased media sources
CATEGORIES
Uncertainty
Leave it to the experts
Alternative explanations
Changing terminology
Distrust of scientists
Resentment toward experts
Fear of government control
Incorrect facts
Misunderstanding of science
Biased media sources
 CATEGORIES THEMES
Uncertainty
Leave it to the experts Uncertainty
Alternative explanations
Changing terminology
Distrust of scientists Distrust of experts
Resentment toward experts
Fear of government control
Incorrect facts
Misunderstanding of science Misinformation
Biased media sources
Approaches to theme development

Researcher’s prior theoretical

A Priori Approach or understanding of the
Deductive Approach phenomenon under study
Involves the identification of
Inductive Approach themes based on the data
gathered
Stage 4: Reviewing themes
 Refinement of the themes
 coherence of data within themes
 distinct boundaries between themes

 Coded extracts fit together

 Themes capture the entire data set

Stage 5: Defining and naming themes

 identify the central idea in each theme and provide a

name that captures that idea

Braun and Clarke (2013) suggested writing a

detailed analysis of each individual theme and how it fits
into the overall picture of the data set.
Stage 6: Producing the report
 writing the final analysis and write-up of the report
 providing sufficient evidence of each theme using
vivid examples from the data

What does this theme mean?

What is the overall story the different themes reveal

about the topic?
Let us synthesize!
Group Activity