Thematic analysisF

Familiarisation

Phase 1 of reflexive thematic analysis: reading and rereading the dataset, and noting initial ideas, before coding begins.

On this page
  1. In more detail
  2. In Themescape
  3. Where to read more

In more detail

Familiarising yourself with the dataset means becoming deeply immersed in it. Researchers read transcripts more than once, listen to recordings, and make notes on what strikes them, both about individual accounts and across the whole dataset.

Familiarisation is not a step to rush. The notes made here often shape the first codes and remind the researcher later of their first impressions.

In Themescape

Themescape is not used in phase 1. It comes in once coding is under way and the coded data sits in the template.

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The viewer with a theme selected, its codes around it and its definition in the panel. Sample data.

Where to read more

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (n.d.). Thematic analysis. The University of Auckland.

Related terms

The words that sit closest to this one.

Back to the A to Z
Thematic analysisReflexive thematic analysisBraun and Clarke's approach to thematic analysis, in which the researcher actively develops themes through six recursive phases and treats their own interpretation as a resource rather than a bias.Read the entryThematic analysisCodeA short label the researcher gives to a segment of data to capture something meaningful about it. Codes are the building blocks themes are developed from.Read the entryThematic analysisReflexivityThe researcher's ongoing reflection on how their own position, assumptions and choices shape the analysis.Read the entryThemescapeBuild modeA Parent mode, in beta, for turning a figure style into a finished figure, reshaping it and exporting it.Read the entryThematic analysisCandidate themeA provisional theme generated in phase 3, held loosely while the researcher reviews whether it works against the coded data and the whole dataset.Read the entryThematic analysisCodebookA structured list of codes with definitions, used in codebook approaches to thematic analysis to apply codes consistently, often across several coders.Read the entry

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