Thematic Analysis – A Practical Guide

I’ve spent much of the week reading Braun and Clarke’s book – Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide.

It was something of a surprise – as an active user of thematic analysis for a number of years, and having regularly cited the classic Braun and Clarke paper – just how different their view of reflexive TA is. The first half of the book is somewhat evangelical, and I found it a little hard to read; particularly as some sections can be seen as looking down on those practitioners that do not take a reflexive approach. As a HCI practitioner, very few of the papers I have reviewed or read – let alone written – take such an approach, and I found it disquieting for the book to take such a strong line on this.

However, I found the second half of the book much stronger, as the authors compare and contrast the reflexive TA approach against other TA approaches. Chapter 6 covers one of the best summaries of the “ologies” I’ve ever read, outlining the range of ontologies and epistemology that underpins TA practice. It has clarified the way I think about research ((post)positivist and small q theory) that underpins my own codebook-style approach to TA, as is common across much of the HCI literature. This is to be lauded; to often we see poorly baked analyses done because it seemed right, an as computing professionals, we should be clearer about the underlying theories and approaches that ensure we approach qualitative analysis robustly. The end of chapter 5 has an outstanding list of questions to ask yourself when drawing conclusions – aimed principally at TA processes, but equally important across many different types of work.

I would recommend the book, but not as a starting point. I’d ask my students to read the classic paper first, and then spend some time reading many examples of TA papers published in their area. The book needs to be interpreted through community norms, and ontological and epistemological backgrounds; which is heavy going for students new to qualitative analysis. While sometimes community norms need shaking up, it is necessary to understand what they are first. A good book; but not an introductory text.

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