Transforming Qualitative Information: Thematic Analysis and Code Development

Thematic analysis, a process for encoding qualitative information, can be thought of as a bridge between the language of qualitative research and the language of quantitative research. The author helps researchers understand thematic analysis, a process that is a part of many qualitative methods, and provides clear guidelines about developing techniques to apply it to one's own research. He shows how to sense themes, the first step in analyzing information, as well as how to develop codes, through the use of numerous examples from research settings. Research-design issues, such as identifying, sampling, scoring and scaling, and reliability are addressed. This original volume confronts the debate between positivist and postmodernist, looking at research in an innovative way, and argues for an ecumenical approach to doing research.