1/21/2016
Thematic analysis and
exampled studies
Presented by: Le Thi Thanh Xuan and Le Minh Thanh
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Content
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• A brief summary of thematic analysis
• Exampled studies used thematic analysis
(concept-driven and data-driven)
What is thematic analysis?
• Thematic analysis?
– a process for encoding qualitative information
(Gibb, 2007)
– the process of analyzing data according to
commonalities, relationships and differences
across a data set (Gibson and Brown, 2009)
– 'thematic' relates to the aim of searching for
aggregated themes within data.
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What is thematic analysis?
• Thematic analysis:
– A way of seeing
– A way of making sense out of
seemingly unrelated material
– A way of analysing qualitative
information
– A way of systematically observing a
person, an interaction, a group, a
situation, a culture, or an organization
– A way of converting qualitative
information to quantitative data
(Gibbs, 2007)
What is thematic analysis?
• 3 sets of aims in thematic analysis:
– Examining commonality
– Examining differences
– Examining relationships
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Code: index, theme, or category?
• Terms used in qualitative analysis
• Index: codes refer to one or more passages in the
text about the same topic (Ritchie et al., 2003)
• In phenomenological research: theme rather than
code, reveals the person’s experience of the world
(Smith, 1995 ; King, 1998)
• Category: a deliberate and thoughtful process of
categorizing the content of the text (Dey, 1993)
What is a theme?
• A theme:
– A pattern found in the information
– Identified at the manifest level (directly
observable in the information) or the latent level
(underlying the phenomenon)
– Generated inductively from the raw information;
or deductively from theory and prior research
(Boyatzis, 1998)
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When to develop a theme?
– Something occur more than once
– Something is said with intensity or strong emphasis
– Parties in a conversation very readily agree on
something or something goes uncommented or
unnoticed
– People disagree
– Mistakes occur
(Gibson & Brown, 2009)
How to develop a theme?
• Two ways to classify types of themes (codes):
– 3 approaches (Boyatzis, 1998): theory-driven
(deductive); prior data and research (deductive);
and data-driven (inductive)
– 2 approaches (Gibbs, 2007): concept-driven
coding and data-driven coding
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How to develop a theme?
• Concept-driven coding:
– Coming from literature, prior studies, …
– Developed in advance (key thematic ideas)
– Amended during analysis
• Data-driven coding (open-coding):
– Not to start with preconceptions
– Generated by reading texts and teasing out
things/ideas
– Not imposed any interpretation based on preexisting theories
(Gibbs, 2007)
Examples in applying thematic analysis
Topic:
Managers’ perceptions of Corporate social
responsibility – The construction industry in
Vietnam
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Examples in applying thematic analysis
• Managers’ perception of Corporate social
responsibility – The construction industry in
Vietnam
1. What do Vietnamese managers perceive of as CSR?
2. Why do they perceive CSR in the way they do?
3. What are the differences in managers’ perceptions
and why do these differences exist?
4. From their personal views, how is CSR conducted in
their companies?
Examples in applying thematic analysis
• Managers’ perception of Corporate social
responsibility – The construction industry in
Vietnam
1. What do Vietnamese managers perceive of as CSR?
– Coming from literature, prior studies, …
- Concept-driven coding
– Developed in advance (key thematic
ideas)
– Amended during analysis
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Based on Carroll’ CSR pyramid (1991) with 4 types of
responsibilities: economic, legal, ethical and
philanthropic
Coming from
literature
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Examples in applying thematic analysis
• Managers’ perception of Corporate social
responsibility – The construction industry in
Vietnam
1. What do Vietnamese managers perceive of as CSR?
Key themes of responsibilities:
- Economic responsibility
- Legal responsibility
- Ethical responsibility
Developed in advance
- Philanthropic responsibility
(key thematic ideas)
Examples in applying
thematic analysis
Amended during analysis
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Examples in applying thematic analysis
Examples in applying thematic analysis
• Managers’ perception of Corporate social
responsibility – The construction industry in
Vietnam
2. Why do they perceive CSR in the way they do?
- Data-driven coding – Not to start with preconceptions
– Generated by reading texts and teasing out
things/ideas
– Not imposed any interpretation based on preexisting theories
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No previous studies explored the factors influencing
one’s perceptions
4 themes found: education, working life, personal
issues, and other interactions
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Examples in applying thematic analysis
• Managers’ perception of Corporate social
responsibility – The construction industry in
Vietnam
2. Why do they perceive CSR in the way they do?
- 4 themes found: education (2 sub-themes), working
life (4 sub-themes), personal issues (4 sub-themes),
and other interactions (2 sub-themes)
Examples in applying thematic analysis
Topic: Towards brand positioning: a comparative study of top
ranked hotels on TripAdvisor between HN and HCM city
The purpose of TA
NVivo 10
Identifying patterns of
meaning across a dataset Patterns are identified
that provides an answer to through a rigorous process
the research questions
of data familiarization,
data coding, and theme
development and revision.
Patterns of
Meaning
Data need to be
transcribed into
written form to
conduct a TA
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Examples in applying thematic analysis
Overview of NVivo’s functions for data analysis
Examples in applying thematic analysis
Topic: Towards brand positioning …
Research question: How could the competitive factors
contribute to the leading positions of top ranked hotels?
Deductive Analysis
• Coding the data without
trying to fit into a preexisting coding frame or
the researcher’s analytic
preconceptions on hotel
competitive factors
• Coding and analysis tend to be
driven by the researcher’s
theoretical or analytic interest in
the area, such as value creators
and
the
mechanisms
of
differentiated responses
Inductive Analysis
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Examples in applying thematic analysis
Topic: Towards brand positioning …
• The specific research question
can evolve through the coding
process which maps onto the
inductive approach.
• The analyst would not look to
any theory given previously
by any author’s influential
research identifying in brand
positioning.
Deductive Analysis
• The analyst can either code for a
quite specific research question
which maps onto the more
theoretical approach about profile
of target customers, identification of
value creators, and mechanisms of
differentiated responses.
Inductive Analysis
Examples in applying thematic analysis
Topic: Towards brand positioning …
• The analyst would read and
re-read the data for any
themes related to positioning
and code diversely, without
paying attention to the
themes
that
previous
research on the topic might
have identified.
Inductive Analysis
Deductive Analysis
• The analyst may well be interested in
the way positioning plays out across
the data and focus on that
particular feature in coding the
data. The result could be a number
of themes around positioning, which
may include, speak to, or expand on
original themes.
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Examples in applying thematic analysis
Topic: Towards brand positioning …
Generating Codes
Coding will to some extent depend on
- whether the themes are more ‘data-driven’ in which
themes depend on data
- or ‘theory-driven’ in which data are approached with
specific questions in mind that analyst wish to code around
Codes identify a feature of the data (semantic content or
latent) that appears interesting to the analyst (Boyatzis, 1998)
Examples in applying thematic analysis
Topic: Towards brand positioning …
Searching for Themes
- Sort different codes into potential themes & consider how
different codes may combine to form a theme
- Think about relationships between codes, themes, different
levels of themes & write the name/brief description of each
code on a separate memo
Example: the mechanism of differentiated responses of
researched hotels to the macro trends by globalization,
localization, and personalization
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Examples in applying thematic analysis
Topic: Towards brand positioning …
Reviewing the Themes
- Have a set of candidate themes & refine those themes
- Some candidate themes are not really themes (not
enough data to support them, or the data are too diverse)
- Formulate one theme from two apparently separate
themes or break down one theme into separate ones
Example: The value creators from guests’ perspective with
respect to associated costs (time, effort, money) of the
expected total brand experience (functional, social and
emotional benefits)
Examples in applying thematic analysis
Topic: Towards brand positioning …
The process of developing a theme
- A theme captures something important about the data in
relation to the research question
- The ‘keyness’ of a theme is not necessarily dependent on
quantifiable measures but it captures something important
in relation to the overall research question.
- Where relevant, the analyst broadens his analysis out,
moving from descriptive to an interpretative level of
patterned response relating to existing literature (Braun and
Clarke, 2006)
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