Thematic analysis is a qualitative data analysis technique. It is usually used to describe a group of text messages, such as a discussion or transcripts. The researcher carefully evaluates the data to find common themes – topics, ideas, and recurring meaning patterns. Thematic analysis can be done in a variety of ways, but the most common approach involves six steps: familiarisation, programming, producing concepts, reviewing themes, establishing, and summarising, and writing up. Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke invented this method for psychological research. However, thematic analysis is a versatile method that can be applied to a wide range of research. Thematic analysis is a good method for conducting research when you want to learn something about people’s views, opinions, knowledge, experiences, or values from a collection of qualitative data, such as transcripts, profiles on social media or survey responses.
Thematic analysis is extremely beneficial when dealing with a large amount of information because it enables you to distribute and organize a large amount of information, making it far simpler to digest. Thematic analysis is especially useful when looking for subjective data like a participant’s perceptions, views, and thoughts. It is typically performed on data derived from evaluations, online posts, interviews, and conversations.
