Introduction to Qualitative Analysis

and writing up your analysis:

Thematic Analysis
Dr. Shaun Ruggunan
Discipline of Human Resources
Management

Why Thematic Analysis

Qualitative Analysis is varied and nuanced.
Discourse, Narrative, phenomenological
but common across most qualitative analysis
is some form of Thematic Analysis.
So if we get the foundation right then it
becomes more manageable regardless of the
theoretical approach or method you use.

Structure of Presentation
The best way to do this is to talk through
some of the qualitative projects I have worked
on and supervised. So some bias towards my
experiences.
So not everything can be covered in detail but
you will have a sense of how to structure your
methodology chapter and organise your
discussion.

Writing your methods Chapter

A key heading in your methods chapter needs to
be philosophy of research or something similar.
This is missing 90 percent of the time from
positivist/quantitative projects esp in
management studies.
Statistics and statistical analysis are not
atheoretical or neutral.
Say more than you are adopting a qualitative
approach. Its about voice, theory, argument.

Use the correct terms

Qualitative methods and Analysis has a
technical language of its own: USE IT!
Common sense versus academic/scientific
terminology.
For example story telling, interviews, coding,
axial coding, hierarchical coding, nodes,
patterns, themes have very specific meanings.
This means you have to read.

Some Terminology that students

should use but dont use in writing

Data Corpus
Data Set
Axial coding
Open coding
Hierarchical coding
Latent themes
Semantic meanings etc

Using the right language

So please pay careful attention to the
technical language that you use in your
proposal, methods chapter and discussion
chapter.
Id like to see more than generic references to
coding and patterns.

Presentation of your Sampling

Ruggunan,2013
Table 1 Participants Demographics
Gender

Race

Sector

2 female

1 White South African

7 Private Sector

14 male

2 Black South African

9 Public sector

13 Indian South African

Sampling example 2
Groh et al, 2011

Sampling example 3
Ruggunan 2013

Sampling example 4
(Sidat,2007)

Writing up your sampling section

Must have a narrative. Detailed description as
possible.
Most journals I have published in have asked
for a tabular representation as well.
Percentages not always useful with small
numbers.
No one perfect tabular representation.

Thematic Analysis: Method or Tool?

You need to know what your data corpus is.
Then determine your data set.
HRD of South African seafarers: Data Corpus is
interviews, websites, labour market reports,
focus groups, notes made at maritime
conference, youtube interviews with key
stakeholders.
Data set 1 are all my interviews only, data set two
may be my focus groups only etc.
Really important for big projects. Eg. Medical lab
specialist project.

Thematic Analysis
Unlike quantitative research, where survey
instruments can be administered effectively by
third parties or electronically, I suggest that you
do as much of your qualitative data collection by
yourself.
Esp interviews, focus groups
Exceptions may be where ethical conflicts exist.
Rationale is that it makes subsequent steps easier
but not always possible with larger samples,
global research sites etc. Use your discretion.
Aim is data reduction

Step. 1 Familiarise yourself with the

data
If you have done the data collection on your own
you still need to re listen to audio and read
transcripts a few times. Easier to do with 15 to 20
interviews than 80 but it needs to be done.
If you outsource transcription please double
check with audio tape!
Biggest project Ive been in had about 86
interviews but there were three of us but had to
read all anyway.

Step 2 Generate initial codes

Code interesting features of the data in a systematic fashion
across the entire data set. (semantic or latent)
Collate/ organise data relevant to each code.
Code manually or use software. Be strategic in your choice.
Your interview schedule questions are NOT your codes.
You can either go in blind or you can read the literature on
your topic first.
Related to theoretical approach
Eg. Seafarers (blind) medical lab specialists (read theory
first first)
Data driven or theoretical driven

Code for as many potential themes.

Seafarer and nationality/race/ethnicity example.
Professional status/ hierarchy example
Code with context
Extracts can be multiply coded
Code minority and contradictory features
You are trying to establish patterns from your
codes.

Medical Specialists example

And I think one of the biggest [challenges] is the remuneration
because the public sector cannot compete with the private sector
(Interview: Participant 1)
Pay is lower and they [are] struggling to retain people in the public
sector (Interview: Participant 3).
it is common sense to move out of the public sector, as the private
sector pays higher salaries than the public sector. There are
attempts by the public sector to improve salaries but at this point
its far, far more lucrative to be employed by the private sector.
(Interview: Interview: Participant 5).
Coded for 1. pay differentials(semantic), 2 . Tension between publicprivate sector (latent)

Theory driven coding

The code pay differentials eventually
developed into the theme REMUNERATION
Remuneration was identified as pull factor
from the public sector to the private sector.
Fitted into the debates on push pull theory in
the literature which identifies remuneration as
a known push factor amongst health
professionals.

Data Driven coding

Sometimes we dont know much about an
empirical case or we want to develop our own
model or theory from the data.
Seafaring example
Seafarers identity instrumental to
employment practices.
Added new element to diversity perspectives
in HRD

Step 3.Discovering themes/searching

for themes
Active process. Please write in an active way.
Dont use passive themes emerged.
Broader level of analysis. Codes become
themes/sub-themes
Software/mind maps/ visualisation good for
this.
Iterative/intuitive
Trustworthiness? Multiple coders? examples

4. Reviewing Themes
You now have candidate themes which have to
be reviewed.
They are candidates because some may not have
enough data to support them for example, or you
may want to merge or separate themes or even
remove certain themes.
You want to reduce data further
You want internal coherence in a theme and
strong distinctions between themes.

Examples of themes

Themes examples

Themes examples
Pull Factors from the public to the private sector (n=16)

Reasons to migrate out of

Number of interviewees

Percentage of interviewees

the state sector

who cited this reason

who cited this reason

Remuneration

16

100

Working conditions

14

88

Autonomy of work

14

88

Flexibility of working time

13

81

Career pathing.

10

63

Step 5 Defining and naming themes

So this is about describing the themes in a
way that captures the essence of the theme.
Dont demand too much from a theme.
Maybe Remuneration is too broad a theme
and can be defined differently for example?
Sub themes can be named here (private
remuneration/public remuneration etc)
Can you describe your theme in one or two
sentences? Thats the test.

Step 6 Writing the Analysis

Best way to learn this is to read peer reviewed
qualitative articles.
To read journals about Qualitative research.
Do not summarise each interview.
You are not a journalist so do not report facts
only.
You need to provide an analytic narrative

Writing for a journal

Some journals require a findings section then
a discussion section. This format may be
useful for your thesis as well.
Avoid Results opt for findings
Under findings you provide the themes you
have discovered with examples of extracts
that have been coded for that theme.
You can do this in a matrix form or a narrative
form.

Writing your findings

Career pathing: Histopathologists have better career pathing in the private sector

A common thread through the various narratives of the participants was their implicit and explicit
references to career pathing and career mobility. Their narratives demonstrate respondents beliefs that
the public sector offers minimal career pathing opportunities compared with employment in the private
sector.
Thats an interesting questionmy experience has been that unless I wanted to become head of
department there was no other career path available to me. Now that I am in private employment, I can
decide to have a career track towards partnership, or focus more on marketing of the laboratory, or
pursue research based projects on my own. Im still young so I havent decided how I want to develop
but there are for sure many many options available to me here [in private sector] than at my previous
employer. (Interview: Participant 4)
Long-term career prospects are better in the private sector than in the public sector. As one participant
from the public sector expressed:
They have frozen posts...the people who qualified are still stagnant, not moving up- no job offers. So, if
jobs are frozen, people are going to leave. They are not going to stay at that level- registrar or whatever
level because they are now qualified. There is a need for more consultants but they are not opening it
up. So there is an exodus at the moment. People are leaving and it is a lot (Interview: Participant 15,
2011).

 So writing up your findings is more

descriptive of your data than your discussion.
BUT your discussion needs to be analytical.

Discussion of the finding on Career

pathing
Participants accounts also revealed a concern with career pathing and the lack of career pathing
opportunities in the public sector. Allsop et al [31] emphasise that the decision to migrate from one
employer to another is often associated with reasons such as the desire to gain additional experience.
For example, Maistry (cited in, Hudson, 2011: 22) reports that for a cytologist, returning to South Africa
after having worked three years in Saudi Arabia meant taking a few steps back professionally. Hudson
[44] adds that one of the reasons that newly qualified specialists move into the private sector or leave
the country is the unavailability of consultant posts in the public sector. It is evident from the interview
data that histopathologists need to have a sense of a future career path. That path could develop into
several routes, including but not only a managerial route, research route, or a more operational route.
Histopathologists want career choices or tracks to be available to them. Participants expressed a desire
to grow professionally beyond their diagnostics skills and roles. It is frustrating for them that these
career pathways are not available in the public sector. This is compounded by their having no control
over their careers in the public sector. If histopathologists are to be retained in the public sector, then
clear career pathing opportunities need to be made available for them. While in Ashmores 2013 [36]
study medical doctors cited team work, more academically rewarding work and a sense of service,
relevance and contribution to the greater public good as reasons why they remain in the public sector,
no such sentiments were echoed in the accounts offered by the histopathologists interviewed for this
study.

Thesis writing
Since you dont have variable here as in quantitative
research you may want to divide your discussion
chapters according to the themes you have discovered.
In this case there is no separate findings chapter, but a
series of discussion chapters based on your themes.
How are your themes similar to and different from the
literature?
Example of professional status/gendering of work
You are doing interpretive work not journalistic
reporting.

Rigour
You have to provide an explanation of rigour
in your data analysis process.
Meaning versus objectivity or whether
participants tell the truth.
Triangulation/ verification
Credibility , transferability (not always possible
or needed), dependability (explain in detail
the research process, reflective commentary,
confirmability (audit trail)

PRESENTING QUALITATIVE DATA

Unstrucutred
Direct
Observations

FORMS OF DATA PRESENTATION

Quotations

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Structured
Direct
Observations

Simple
Tables

Matrices Maps
Diagrams

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Taxonomies

TYPE OF
QUALITATIVE
DATA
COLLECTION

ETHNOGRAPHIC MODELS
Scales
(Single
...MDS)

Conceptual Behavioral

ConceptualBehavioral

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Key Informant
Interviews

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Focus Groups

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PRA Group
Techniques
Free Lists

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Pile Sorts
Triads

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Paired
Comparisons

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* less useful

less complex

**

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most useful *****

more complex

Matrices

Figure 3

Method

Key
Informant
interview

Direct
Observation

Free Lists

Pile Sorts

Paired
Comparisons

Focus Group
Discussions

Matrices

Reasons to Smoke Outside the Workplace

Type of Information
obtained
general i nform ati on
regardi ng peopl e's
percepti on of sm oki ng
outsi de the workpl ace

vari ed appearance of
the acti vi ty, not cl earl y
seen as rel axi ng when
hurri edl y done outsi de
the workpl ace

nam es for pl aces where

peopl e sm oke

Rel ati ve frequency of

where peopl e sm oke

Changes i n l ocati ons

of where peopl e sm oke
as a resul t of the ban

Conclusion

som e peopl e cl earl y see they

are addi cted, others cl ai m
nai vei ty

confi rm s addi cti ve

behavi or

cl earer understandi ng of
reasons peopl e sm oke
outsi de the Workpl ace

Peopl e sm oke m ore i n

confi ned l ocati ons than
before and expose others and
them sel ves to si de strea
sm oke

Sm oki ng outsi de bui l di ngs

has i ncreased exposure of
peopl e to si de stream sm oke
NOT born out by our sm al l
sam pl e si ze, but warrants
further i nvesti gati on

Next Investigative
Step

Observati on of the acti vi ty

gather m ore i nform ati on

on pl aces peopl e sm oke
besi des outsi de the workpl ace

obtai n i nform ati on on how

m uch peopl e sm oke i n
di fferent l ocati ons

See how the frequency

of ci garettes sm oked
has changed as a resul t
of the ban

Confi rm ati on by Focus

Groups, and consi derati on
of cessati on attem pts

Pl an an i nterventi on to hel p
those sm oki ng outsi de
bui l di ngs to stop