Having checked the difference between quantitative and qualitative research, I looked at this website to gain an understanding of thematic analysis and how I might utilise it:
https://delvetool.com/blog/thematicanalysis
In response to the ideas in this link:
I’m asking questions of my focus group both as a questionnaire and as written transcript of conversations during interview so I want to be able to analyse this effectively and any guidance I can get at this stage will help to shape my approach for the best possible outcome.
I am hoping to be able to identify key recurring points in the feedback that I get from the study and get an insight into how people use their awareness of challenge when they are exploring their subject matter or learning a new skill or technique. This article suggests that thematic analysis will help to identify patterns in my data. I’m concerned in case this would rely on a larger data-set than I will achieve with the 8 participants I am planning to interview.
I like the idea of the analysis being flexible – I do wonder what the alternative to that would be and whether it’s something that I should consider in order to make the most of my results.
I found this link:
This article discusses three main types of analysis, suggesting that thematic is the principal technique widely used, allowing the data to be analysed in terms of ‘principal concepts or themes’. The other two approaches discussed in the article are, firstly: ‘grounded theory’ which appears to be involve more interaction with the ideas of the participants and finally; ‘Conversational analysis’ which is most effective when how something is said is as important as what is said. I can imagine that all of these techniques would feature in my data gathering, not having carried out any kind of research before, I want to be able to apply the technique that will help me obtain the most information that I can use from the study. I wonder how I can quantify how someone replies to a question. If I’m asking them to talk about having gone outside of their comfort zone, how do I analyse or quantify their response?
There’s a description in this article of a study where emergent themes which were unexpected but common to the interviewees, relied on the intuition of the researcher to analyse them. This suggests to me that there is no clear pathway with qualiative research but that keeping the questions as succinct as possible and being thorough will be important. This is reinforced by this quote:
In their introduction to thematic analysis of qualitative data,
Marshall and Rossman (1999: 150) suggest that data analysis is
the process of
‘…bringing order, structure and interpretation to the mass of
collected data. … It is the search for general statements about
relationships among categories of data … it is the search among
data to identify content.
The article also has these areas of focus which I think could be helpful :
• organise the data
• generate categories or themes
• code the data
• test emergent understandings of the data
• search for alternative explanations of the data
• write-up the data analysis