Explain How Researchers Use Inductive Content Analysis (Thematic Analysis) on Transcripts

1. Explain How Researchers Use Inductive Content Analysis (Thematic Analysis) on Transcripts

2. Definition • Inductive Content Analysis (Thematic Analysis): an example is grounded theory that was invented for studying social processes in sociology • Coding: finding specific categories in the data material

3. Introduction • A common practice with the analysis of qualitative data is identifying key themes, concepts, and categories • In the first stage of analysis, descriptive labels are given to discrete instances of phenomena • Low-level categories emerge as the coding process continues, followed by the higher-level categories (here lower-level categories are integrated into meaningful units)

4. Analyzing data that way identifies and integrates categories of meaning from data, with the aim of generating new theory based on the data • The same as traditional content analysis, where the categories are defined before the analysis begins • Categories emerge from the data material in grounded theory

5. Goals and Analysis • • Goals⁃ To gain insight….⁃ The answer emerges from itself⁃ Grigoriou 2004• Analysis⁃ Interpretation of the participant's experience⁃ Smith 2004⁃ Elicited themes to draw out conclusions. 

6. Willig (2001) • Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) • is an approach to psychological qualitative research  • aims to offer insights into how a person, in a given context, makes sense of a given phenomenon • Usually these phenomena relate to personally significant experiment- such as a major life event or the development of an important relationship • allows the researcher to gain an inside perspective of how individuals make sense of the world • Willig (2001) outlines the stages as analytic strategy in IPA with the use of transcripts and semi-structured interviews

7. Reading and rereading transcripts • familiar with each participants account • notes on thoughts and observations to be analyzed • ex. key phrases, contradictions, interpretations, summary statements, language use 2. Identification of emergent themes • characterize each section of the text • emerging themes from first reading are known as “raw data themes”

8. 3. Structuring emergent themes • list emergent themes • see if themes are related in clusters or hierarchies • clusters are labeled appropriately according to the theme • ex. could be labeled “childhood cluster”, which includes themes such as “relationship with friends” and “relationship with family” • can be organized by higher-order themes and subordinate themes • source material needs to be reviewed to ensure interpretation is supported • Summary table of the structured themes and relevant quotations that illustrate each theme • should only include essential themes of participants experiences • relevant to original research question • includes cluster and subordinate theme labels, quotations, and references to interview transcript

9. Conclusion • Content analysis can be used with either qualitative or quantitative data and in an inductive or deductive way. • Qualitative content analysis is mainly used in nursing studies, as there is little information published about the analysis process. • The aim of content analysis is to build a model that can then be used to describe the phenomenon in a conceptual form. • Distinguishing inductive from deductive processes is important in identifying what counts as qualitative research. • Inductive reasoning uses data to generate ideas, whereas deductive reasoning begins with the idea and uses the data to confirm or reject the idea. • Commonly used in cases where there have been no previous studies.

10. Video • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrDONsoVoXE&feature=related • http://www.onlinepsychologydegrees.com/interview/lara-mayeux/