Speaker 1: Hey guys, welcome to Grad Coach TV, where we demystify and simplify the oftentimes confusing world of academic research. My name's David and today I'm chatting to one of our trusted coaches, Amy, about 6 tips to keep in mind when you're conducting your thematic analysis. This discussion is based on one of the many, many articles over at the Grad Coach blog. So if you'd like to find out more about thematic analysis, you can visit the blog at gradcoach.com forward slash blog. Also, if you're looking for a helping hand with your dissertation, thesis, or research project, be sure to check out our one-on-one private coaching service, where we hold your hand throughout the research process, step-by-step. For more information and to book a free consultation, head over to gradcoach.com. So hey Amy, welcome back to the CoachCast. As always, super great to have you on it with us today.

Speaker 2: Hi David, I'm happy to be here.

Speaker 1: So Amy, today we're talking about thematic analysis and sort of some tips and tricks that we can do to sort of ease the process of running thematic analysis. And the first tip that we're going to mention is probably one anyone who's been watching our content will know will come up, is making sure you're considering your golden thread when running your thematic analysis. So Amy, what should we be looking out for here?

Speaker 2: Well, the first place to start is with your research questions. So look at the qualifying words you've attached to your research questions. What type of research questions are you using? Are they exploratory in nature? Are they predictive? Are they interpretive? So this matters because this is going to determine how you're analyzing your data and sort of what phrases you use when you're finalizing your themes. So then the next thing you can look at is the types of research aims and objectives you have. So again, if your study is more exploratory, then you need to remain kind of more open when you're identifying patterns in what your participants have said or in whatever data source you're using. Conversely, if you're trying to make some sort of a prediction or some sort of a conclusive statement, then you might need to be a bit more intentional about how you're looking at your data and what you're looking for. And then you might look at your theoretical framework or model if you're using one. I always think they're a good idea because they just really help organize your whole study and make sure that golden thread is tightly aligned throughout each chapter. So a framework, a model will have different constructs, different features. And so what are those constructs? What are the branches of the model? Really dissect that and then that can help organize your data and it can, you know, it should be the lens through which you're analyzing your data anyway, that theoretical framework. So for example, if you're doing a study and you're using social identity theory, then the thing that you're looking for is relationships. So you're looking for the presence and the patterns and anytime the participants are talking about personal relationships. If you're using a framework that's about an intervention, let's say social workers and discipline at a school, you're going to be looking in the data for anytime your participants are talking about anything that has to do with student discipline to identify whether or not and the degree to which the presence of social workers is helping with discipline.

Speaker 1: I think that's really helpful to think through sort of those core parts of your golden thread. If what we're talking about sounds a little strange, don't worry. We do have a video up on YouTube explaining what the golden thread is and how to use it. The link to that will be down in the description below, but it's really helpful to think about letting your golden thread lead you through how you're going to undertake the thematic analysis, but it's also good to go back to it right at the end. Once you feel comfortable with your analysis that you've identified themes, it's a good thing to take a look at those themes and just make sure you're in line with what you set out to do. You don't want to have set out to do an exploratory study and then by the time you get right to the end, you're actually doing something completely different. So we're always looking for that alignment back to what we started off with. And so the golden thread is going to be super helpful there.

Speaker 2: Part of that, I always say it's a little bit helpful to just copy and paste your research questions at the beginning of each chapter and you don't have to end with that. You can take those out, but just to keep you, okay, am I veering too far off of the research questions and just keep referring back to those at the start of every chapter?

Speaker 1: I can't agree more with that. I do it all the time myself and I encourage all my students to do it as well. The research questions have to come up at least in every chapter whether they stay there, maybe not, but definitely putting them there is just going to help you out down the line. So our second tip is to remember that thematic analysis and qualitative analysis in general is iterative. You're not just going to do a single run through of your analysis. Amy, why do we need to follow this sort of back and forth process with our data?

Speaker 2: Well, David, I think a lot of times, well, every time actually, we as researchers, we're coming into our projects with a certain worldview, a certain perspective, which is good. This is a part of it. And you talk about that in your method section and your positionality perhaps. You have certain expectations for what you're going to find in your study and you might even be hoping for certain things. And inevitably in your raw data and your transcripts, you're going to find certain things that probably reflect those expectations in some way. So those are going to emerge in some form or another as your dominant themes. So that's why to minimize that bias, you want to make sure to circle back to that raw data, to those transcripts, and you'll probably find some lines, some things that your participants said that you didn't quite capture just because it's not as dominant as the other things doesn't mean it's not worth incorporating into your findings. And in fact, it could lead to something quite interesting. So you want to just make sure you're capturing all angles of what your participants have said in their experiences. That is the whole point of doing qualitative work. One thing I really suggest is helpful for me is taking quick breaks, leave your desk, leave you the computer, get some fresh air, or even, you know, stare at another screen for a while. And what you'll do is get your eyes off of those words, get your brain off of those words, is you'll come back with fresh brain, fresh perspective. And you'll see things completely differently. You'll see things perhaps that you didn't see at all before. So that might actually require that you step away for more than just a few minutes, that could be a week or more if you're just really kind of stuck, which happens a lot when we're really engrossed in our work.

Speaker 1: So I think that's super helpful, and it's one of the things that I know I do in more than just analysis chapters, in write-up, in planning. It's always good to take that step back to do something else and then to come back and look with fresh eyes. But again, with the thematic analysis, remember that it's an iterative process. We're going to be looking at our data, we're going to be looking at the codes we've generated, seeing the relationships that exist, and then consider developing them into themes. We're then going to take those themes right back to the data to confirm they exist. And you're going to do that a few times. There's multiple rounds to a thematic analysis. You know, you might do an initial round just to identify the core themes. You might do a second round and identify potential sub-themes that are making up a theme, or maybe a theme you thought you had might actually not have the support that you initially thought. So it's always good to come back and re-look at your data because your data is what's supporting your view.

Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely. That's so critical, especially in qualitative work, to demonstrate to your audience, to your committee, to whomever, that you have gone systematically, methodically, in rounds, step by step. So it's not just you read the transcripts once, came up with codes, came up with themes, and that was it. This should take a fairly lengthy amount of time. And that's also where that putting time and distance between you and the transcripts comes into play as well.

Speaker 1: I think that's a really helpful point. And it's somewhat a little unclear when you're reading a paper that's done a thematic analysis. It sounds like they've just coded it and found the themes. They don't always mention how many steps there are. Definitely take a look at any of the methodological textbooks out there, any of the key resources, I swear by Braun and Clark, but definitely take a look at those and they can be so helpful in the thematic analysis process.

Speaker 2: I mean, if you look at the systematic thematic analysis, those people, they will take hours and they will be in teams and you'll be in committees sitting around boardroom desks before they finalize their ultimate themes. So you're absolutely right that it may look like a very short phrase, okay, it takes nothing to come up with that. But no, in fact, it takes a lot of thoughtfulness, a lot of consideration, a lot of tying all of these pieces together to feel confident about what you're ultimately saying about your study is wholly reflective of what your participants actually said.

Speaker 1: So our third tip is to expect the unexpected. Amy, what's unexpected in thematic analysis?

Speaker 2: To me, this is kind of the fun of doing qualitative work is that, or any research really, you don't really know what you're going to find. And I think one of the things that I have found with the students that I work with is that if they're going into it with certain expectations, and then in the findings, it's not there, or it's there in a different way, then they feel like they've done something wrong. But that's not the case. And in fact, it's quite the opposite is as long as you have enough evidence to support your findings, you want to have those unexpected findings. I mean, that's kind of the unexpected in significant way that you're contributing to research. And that's definitely something you'll want to emphasize is this is how your study is contributing to existing research. Let's say that you're looking at a particular leadership framework that emphasizes the importance of clear communication. But when you actually go to interview the employers, your participants are employers, and they're not really talking about communicating with their employees, then that's significant. I mean, you're finding that that's not actually happening. And this could have important implications for those organizations that there needs to be standardized the framework, they need to better apply it. Or maybe the framework itself needs to be adjusted in some way.

Speaker 1: I think that's really helpful to think through, especially because it's really easy to think when something doesn't go the way that the literature is stating that you think the problems with you. It's very much something that happens with imposter syndrome, particularly with young researchers who are just learning the ropes. What I can say is have a bit of faith in yourself. This is your analysis. And as long as you can go back to your data that you have strong support from the interviews through the use of quotes and the analysis that you've done, then it's totally okay to have these results. And if anything, they're going to be the surprising results that help improve your study. But just make sure not to throw out the expected findings in lieu of the unexpected. Make sure that if there are four out of five of the aims and objectives that you had that totally makes sense with the literature, deal with each of those. And where there is that unexpected finding, then you can bring that in as needed. So don't feel you have to question your own results, but also make sure you've got the data to support it.

Speaker 2: Yeah, I like the way that you say that. It is about finding that confidence as a researcher. Especially if this is your first time doing this, a lot of the clients that we work with, it is their first time. That's why you want to be so methodical and so thoughtful and read, read, read, get some coaching help, get outside help for each step of the process. So at the end, you can have that confidence and feel like, well, this is not what I thought I was going to find, but I've done everything correctly. So I'm going to include this. Yes, I'm going to stand by this. This is something unexpected, but I think there's something interesting here.

Speaker 1: There's so much richness to doing that. It's definitely what makes for fun qualitative analysis is when you do identify these little interesting tidbits that sort of enrich the concept that you're dealing with. And I guess that's why we're coming to qualitative research is for that level of richness in the data set. So our fourth tip is to not forget the importance of keeping good quality research journals. When we're doing research journaling during thematic analysis, what are the things we need to be keeping in mind and why is it beneficial?

Speaker 2: Well, I keep coming back to this notion of doing qualitative work and the importance of conveying rigor and being systematic. So one of that is transparency. So you want each and every steps that you're taking in your design to be clear, the logic behind each of the design decisions that you made. And there's going to be a lot of decisions and a lot of thinking that you have. So keep track of that in a reflexive journal. So this start from the very beginning, but you need to have this documented in some way so you can keep reflecting back to it because later on, you're going to circle back and you're going to think, what was, what was I thinking there when I said that, or when I coded it this way? And then if you have that there, you go, okay, yes, that was my logic there. Inevitably, you're going to forget things. So keeping a journal for each step will be helpful, especially when you get to your coding, just to get out of your head and get your thoughts onto paper, start listing your codes, you have your empirical indicators, those are your exemplar that reflect the examples of those codes. And then you have a brief description and then maybe add a column for your own reflective thinking your own memo to fill in the dots of maybe what isn't, you know, literally reflected in the words of the quote itself. Memos and journals are really important too, in the actual interviews. So as you're interviewing a participant, you have the, you know, over zoom or in person, you're recording the audio, okay? But you're also writing down the, all of the whole context, everything, and that's what we call thick notes. And that you can actually add to your methods section as a part of your method. Thick notes is that you're writing down, there might be something significant in the, in the nonverbal communication, but the participant isn't saying that you might factor into your later analysis, that's important. So for example, if you ask, ask a question about something and they give a long extended pause, or they seem uncomfortable in some way, you write that down and then you later on it might make something later on make more sense. But the point is, you know, it's kind of a fairly easy thing to do keeping a research journal it's for yourself. You're not going to necessarily include it in your paper. So you can write however you want to write it, whatever you want to write, but being able to circle back and remind yourself about why you made certain choices will help you later on, turn that into more academic writing of those explanations for those choices.

Speaker 1: I think that is really good advice. And it's something that can even help as a thinking process by getting those ideas onto paper at that point and going back and reflecting on them, you can generate further insights. It's also really helpful when it comes to defending your research because that inevitably happens a month or a little bit after you've handed in a little bit further since you did your analysis. So having a document that you can go back to that has sort of the outline of your thinking and how your thinking has developed is going to be super helpful in the writeup phase, but also when you're defending your thesis, simply taking a read through of your journal prior to a defense is just going to give you so much more confidence in the way you approach to your research topic and how you answered those questions.

Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true too, because inevitably in research, it's an evolution and your paper is going to change probably in quite a few ways from where you initially started. And that's okay too. That's totally normal. That's how it should happen. But there might be some things at the beginning or along the way that are also really important. And maybe it got lost as you refined and refined and everybody's giving their input and you're just hacking your paper apart and getting to the finalized version. So going back to that journal and really reminding yourself about what is it that you originally wanted to get out of this research? What was the point you were trying to make? What were your goals? What was the story you wanted to tell that maybe got lost a little bit along the way so that journal can help you bring you back to why you wanted to do this to begin with?

Speaker 1: My advice is, and it's the same thing I tell quantitative scientists, just keep notes of every step because the worst case scenario, you used up a little bit of paper or in the modern era, a few megabytes of computer space, but not having those notes and needing to come back to them, that's always way worse than having them and not needing them. So I always suggest take notes throughout the process. Just keep track of your research. It's only going to strengthen your final product. So our fifth tip is to take advantage of visualization methods. Amy, what can we do to use visualization techniques to help us in the thematic approach?

Speaker 2: Well, I mean, I don't know about you, but I'm a very visual person. So it helps me to see the words on a table, a graph, a chart, some pictorial form to think about things differently and see things differently. So for example, you're trying to come up with your themes. You might have some sort of chart or graph or, you know, it just depends on what kind of a learner you are. So if you are a software person and you work well with different software, use that, use PowerPoint or Microsoft Word. It doesn't matter what, whatever makes sense to you. When I was a teacher, I used a software called Inspiration. It's still around. It's very user friendly, and you can either use one of their templates or come up with your own. So let's say you're coming up with your themes. Take your codes, put the codes in some sort of a shape, a circle or square, put it any kind of color you want, and then you'll be able to see, okay, these codes are kind of similar, so I'm going to cluster them and put them into a category. Or conversely, these codes are very different, so we're going to separate them out. But the point is, getting out of just staring at the computer will facilitate a different way of thinking. And that's what we're trying to get at, to get that fresh perspective and those really good, tight, original, compelling themes. And for me, I'm also very much about writing things down. It's something about the act of writing it down. So I have a million sticky notes everywhere. Write down your codes on the stickies, put them up on a bulletin board, put them up on your desk, and just move them around and in different ways. Because the point is, you want to engage with your data with different approaches so that you can come up with the best, most effective, most relevant findings.

Speaker 1: I totally agree with you on using alternative methods. I will say I personally, maybe it's because I come from the quantitative background, do not think in pictures. I think in spreadsheets and those. But I totally use Excel to help me find connections between themes. So I will do things like develop a column that is just my initial codes, develop a second column, which is my sort of refined code. From there, I'll develop some sub themes or potential themes, and then I'll start color coding. I'll start using filtering, sorting. And through that, I'm able to tackle those codes in a different way. That said, I still will take those codes, take those themes, and put them on a mind map. Because as much as I'm a thinker in spreadsheets and hard data, it's really helpful to just have that visualization that's helping me make connections between themes or sub themes that I wouldn't normally interact with. And so I always suggest to clients, take a look at using a methodology that you're not familiar with just to help in the planning and analysis phase. Doesn't need to be pretty. You're not necessarily going to be publishing this, but it's going to be really helpful for you thinking through how things are connected and how to develop your themes.

Speaker 2: Right. I mean, there's a variety of ways to do it. And as a first step, you might even just Google codes, categories, themes. And if you just Google that and click on images, a million things will come up. So that might be a place to just kind of, okay, how do I do this? Get out of your head and just literally type in those words and click on one of those pictures, images, and that will give you a direction of, okay, this pictorial way makes sense to me and just go with it. And don't worry about being right or wrong.

Speaker 1: Yeah, totally agree with that, particularly at the analysis phase. It is that analysis. It's an iterative thinking process. Ideas will change. Ideas will develop. And having that on paper can just really help you out or in a visualization. One other thing to mention is while you probably won't be publishing the thinking that you do in these initial visualizations, sometimes these connections, mind maps, word maps that you generate are the seeds for a visualization or a graphic that you'll be presenting in your final dissertation. So don't just think of it as an analysis section. It's also something that helps you move towards the final presentation of that data as well.

Speaker 2: I've seen some really amazing word clouds and so it's really cool software that extract the most commonly used words in your participants' responses and put them in a really neat visual. And so this is part of your methods as well. You can arrive there and maybe you will just starting out. Maybe you don't worry about it being pretty, but you never know how these things can evolve. Maybe it gets to the point where you want to include this in your paper and then you'll need to worry about making it look more academic. But for starting out, you don't have to worry so much about that.

Speaker 1: So our final tip, tip number six, is to remember that you are becoming the expert and it's your analysis. So you can have some confidence there, but also don't feel that you have to do everything alone. Amy, I've sort of presented two opposites here. How do we put those together?

Speaker 2: Well, it is complicated, right? This whole undertaking of a thesis or dissertation is overwhelming and complicated and time consuming. And by the end of it, you will have done so much reading. But all of that time and by the end, you should have that confidence that you have become an expert in this because you've done all the reading in these different ways and these different topics, different areas, and you've put it all together in some kind of a unique way. And you are that expert on those topics in that way. And that's kind of an exciting part about doing a research paper. So you need to trust yourself and your analysis. In a thematic analysis, you come up with your themes and then in your discussion chapters, it is your job to go beyond the literal data. Your analysis is exactly that, your analysis. And also, I think there are some things that you can and should do to help instill that confidence both in yourself and in your audience, in your committee, and that is getting outside opinions. In qualitative work, there's a few ways to do that. There's something called member checking and that is, okay, so you've generated your codes, the codes have been clustered into categories. And then from there, you've analyzed and abstracted them into themes. And so once you have your final themes, send them back to your participants and get their input. And so they'll say, okay, yes, you got it. You've got the spirit of what I was saying, or they might say, no, that's not what I was saying at all. But that's important that you learn that, okay? You can actually put that into your methods section as well, that you, this is a part of your triangulating of your findings, of your data, supporting your ultimate findings is you did some member checking. You can also do purity briefing, which is enlisting the help of someone who's not involved in your study, but might have an academic background and who can look at your results, look at your findings and say, yes, okay, I can see how you got there. I see this transcript and I can see the logic behind getting from there to your themes. And so having other people agree with you and sort of confirm what you found can help you as you are this emerging scholar and that confidence building that you'll need when you get to the end and you have to defend all of these choices.

Speaker 1: I think that's really helpful. It's also a great way to sort of avoid any bias. A peer debriefer is going to be able to help you pick up if there's any biases that you have in the way that you're analyzing, thinking through and working through those transcripts. But it does come up as well that if you have a strong theme that's counter to the literature and you've gotten a peer debriefer, who's looked at it and says, actually, this totally makes sense. Then you can totally lean into it. It's a valid finding. As long as it's well supported by the literature, having that peer debriefer, you can feel confident in that result, even though it is counter to what was expected or what you set out to find out. So definitely keep that in mind while you are doing this. You are becoming an expert. You are the individual that collected the data. You've analyzed the data. You've read the associated literature. Give yourself the confidence that you deserve. You have put the effort in. Now it's just about writing it in a convincing way and getting that across to your panel and your committee.

Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely. And I mean, think about every researcher, every published article that you read. Those researchers started out at some point as a student who had no published articles or anything and probably felt the same sorts of doubt that we all experience when we're writing our first paper. But now you're becoming, you're taking that leap from student to scholar, becoming the person that other people are going to start citing. And that's really exciting.

Speaker 1: Yeah, it really is. So, Amy, thanks so much for joining us today as we tackled a bit about thematic analysis and some tips and tricks to keep in mind. As always, super great to have you joining us.

Speaker 2: Absolutely. My pleasure.

Speaker 1: All right, so that pretty much wraps up this episode of Grad Coach TV. Remember, if you're looking for more information about thematic analysis, be sure to check out our blog at gradcoach.com forward slash blog. There, you can also get access to our free dissertation and thesis writing mini course, which gives you all the information you need to get started on your research journey. Also, if you're looking for a helping hand with your dissertation or thesis, be sure to check out our one-on-one private coaching service where you can work with one of our friendly coaches just like Amy. For all the information and to book that free consultation, head over to gradcoach.com. ♪♪♪