Using thematic analysis in psychologyWord格式.docx

Using thematic analysis in psychologyWord格式.docx

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TheUniversityofAuckland TheUniversityoftheWestofEngland

PrivateBag92019 FrenchayCampus

Auckland Bristol

NewZealand BS161QY

v.braun@auckland.ac.nz Victoria.clarke@jwe.ac.uk

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+6493737599x87561 +441173282176

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+6493737450 +441173282904

MSWordLength（incl.references,notes,tablesandfigures）:

13510

Thematicanalysisisapoorlydemarcated,rarely-acknowledged,yetwidely-usedqualitativeanalyticmethodwithinpsychology.Inthispaper,wearguethatitoffersanaccessibleandtheoretically-flexibleapproachtoanalysingqualitativedata.Weoutlinewhatthematicanalysisis,locatingitinrelationtootherqualitativeanalyticmethodsthatsearchforthemesorpatterns,andinrelationtodifferentepistemologicalandontologicalpositions.Wethenprovideclearguidelinestothosewantingtostartthematicanalysis,orconductitinamoredeliberateandrigorousway,andconsiderpotentialpitfallsinconductingthematicanalysis.Finally,weoutlinethedisadvantagesandadvantagesofthematicanalysis.Weconcludebyadvocatingthematicanalysisasausefulandflexiblemethodforqualitativeresearchinandbeyondpsychology.

Keywords,thematicanalysis,qualitativepsychology,patterns,epistemology,flexibility

AuthorBiographicalNotes

VirginiaBraunisaseniorlecturerintheDepartmentofPsychologyatTheUniversityofAuckland,wheresheteaches,supervisesandconductsqualitativeresearch.Herresearchinterestsareprimarilyfocusedaroundwomen’shealth,genderedbodies,andsexandsexuality,andtheintersectionsbetweentheseareas.Sheiscurrentlyworkingonprojectsrelatedto'

sexinlong-termrelationships'

'

femalegenitalcosmeticsurgery'

and‘thesocialcontextofSTItransmission’.

VictoriaClarkeisaseniorlectureinsocialpsychologyattheUniversityoftheWestofEngland.Shehaspublishedanumberofpapersonlesbianandgayparenting,andco-editedtwospecialissuesofFeminism&

PsychologyonMarriage（withSara-JaneFinlay&

SUeWilkinson）.SheiscurrentlyconductingESRC-fundedresearchonsamesexrelationships（withCarolBurgoyne&

MareeBurns）andco-editing（withElizabethPeel）abookLGBTpsychology（OutinPsychology,Wley）.

Thematicanalysisisapoorlydemarcatedandrarely-acknowledged,yetwidely-usedqualitativeanalyticmethod（seeBoyatzis,1998;

Roulston,2001）withinandbeyondpsychology.Inthispaper,weaimtofillwhatwe,asresearchersandteachersinqualitativepsychology,haveexperiencedasacurrentgap:

theabsenceofapaperwhichadequatelyoutlinesthetheory,application,andevaluationofthematicanalysis,andonewhichdoessoinawayaccessibletostudentsandthosenotparticularlyfamiliarwithqualitativeresearch.1Thatis,weaimtowriteapaperwhichwillbeusefulasbothateachingandresearchtoolinqualitativepsychology.Therefore,inthispaperwediscusstheoryandmethodforthematicanalysis,andclarifythesimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweendifferentapproachesthatsharefeaturesincommonwithathematicapproach.

Qualitativeapproachesareincrediblydiverse,complexandnuanced（Holloway&

Todres,2003）,andthematicanalysisshouldbeseenasafoundationalmethodforqualitativeanalysis.Itisthefirstqualitativemethodofanalysisthatresearchersshouldlearn,asitprovidescoreskiIIsthatwillbeusefulforconductingmanyotherformsofqualitativeanalysis.Indeed,HollowayandTodres（2003:

347）identify“thematizingmeanings”asoneofafewsharedgenericskillsacrossqualitativeanalysis.2Forthisreason,Boyatzis（1998）characterisesitnotasaspecificmethodbutasatooltouseacrossdifferentmethods.Smilarly,RyanandBernard（2000）locatethematiccodingasaprocessperformedwithin‘major’analytictraditions（suchasgroundedtheory）,ratherthanaspecificapproachinitsownright.Wearguethematicanalysisshouldbeconsideredamethodinitsownright.

Oneofthebenefitsofthematicanalysisisitsflexibility.Qualitativeanalyticmethodscanberoughlydividedintotwocamps.Withinthefirst,therearethosetiedto,orstemmingfrom,aparticulartheoreticalorepistemologicalposition.Forsomeofthese-suchasconversationanalysis（[GA]e.g.,Hutchby&

Wooffitt,1998）andinterpretativephenomenologicalanalysis（[IPA]e.g.,Smith&

Osborn,2003）-thereis（asyet）relativelylimitedvariabilityinhowthemethodisapplied,withinthatframework.Inessence,onerecipeguidesanalysis.Forothersofthese-suchasgroundedtheory（e.g.,Glaser,1992;

Srauss&

Corbin,1998）,discourseanalysis（[DA]e.g.,Burman&

Parker,1993;

Potter&

Wetherell,1987;

Willig,2003）ornarrativeanalysis（e.g.,Murray,2003;

Ressman,1993）-therearedifferentmanifestationsofthemethod,fromwithinthe