The goal of Thematic Analysis is to generate themes, which would occur as consistent patterns in the way that people answer your full set of questions. It might help to think of the themes as the outline structure for your Results section, and although there is no magic number for how many themes you should have, 3-5 is typical.

If, however, you want to organize your Results section on a question-by-question basis, then you should probably use Content Analysis rather than thematic analysis. In this case, the difference is the Content Analysis would use a formal codebook to count the most common responses to each question.

The goal of Thematic Analysis is to generate themes, which would occur as consistent patterns in the way that people answer your full set of questions. It might help to think of the themes as the outline structure for your Results section, and although there is no magic number for how many themes you should have, 3-5 is typical.

If, however, you want to organize your Results section on a question-by-question basis, then you should probably use Content Analysis rather than thematic analysis. In this case, the difference is the Content Analysis would use a formal codebook to count the most common responses to each question.

The following sources should also be helpful:

• Elo, S. and Kyngäs, H. (2008). The qualitative content analysis process. Journal of advanced nursing, 62, 1, pp. 107-115.
• Joffe, H. and Yardley, L. (2004). Content and thematic analysis. In: Marks, D. F. and Yardley, L. (eds.) Research Methods for Clinical and Health Psychology. London: SAGE Publications Ltd, Chapter 4, pp. 56-68.
• Vaismoradi, M., Jones, J., Turunen, H. and Snelgrove, S. (2016). Theme development in qualitative content analysis and thematic analysis. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 6, 5, pp. 100-110.
• Vaismoradi, M., Turunen, H. and Bondas, T. (2013). Content analysis and thematic analysis: Implications for conducting a qualitative descriptive study. Nursing and health sciences, 15, 3, pp. 398-405.

Generally, information from a structured questionaire comes as quntitative data. Hence, it is more rational to analyse them using quntitative methods. Although there is no restictions, Thematic Analysis Method(TAM) is use to analyse qualitative data. Richie and Spencer (1994) explain five stages in TAM. They are; 1. Familiarisation 2. Identifying a thematic framework 3. Indexing 4. Charting 5. Mapping and interpretations.

The classic reference on Thematic Analysis is Bruan & Clarke (2006), which has over 30,000 citations.

Braun and Clarke's text is also extremely useful. https://au.sagepub.com/en-gb/oce/successful-qualitative-research/book233059

Hi Yc Pitt,

It is important to recognize that content analysis is different than thematic analysis. To answer your initial question, yes, the data from semi-structured interviews can be analyzed using thematic analysis, but be sure you understand the difference in the two. It is not likely you'd be doing a content analysis with a semi-structured interview.

Second, the question you have asked is more of a hypothesis, rather than a theme. You would generate themes and sub-themes from the overarching question(s) or variables you set out to analyze when doing the semi-structured survey. Also, note that semi-structured means there are questions you asked where you were looking for a specific answer, and open ended prompts, where additional themes would emerge. Depending on how you asked your questions and set up your questionnaire, you could have both counts (frequencies in responses) and themes generated from the open-ended responses. Depending on the questionnaire, you might have a mixed-methods design (I know you already completed the interviews), and subsequent analysis.

Hope this helps!

Kathryn

To add to what Michelle Leanne Oppert said about Braun & Clarke's text, it is basically an introductory overview of qualitative research in general. It only has only chapter on thematic analysis, and as far as I'm concerned, that chapter did not have any new content. So, if you are just getting started, it is a useful introduction, but if you are looking for more detail about thematic analysis, I recommend their chapter from the APA Handbook of Research Methods in Psychology.

As far as thematic analysis is concerned, the following sources are also helpful:

• Attride-stirling, J. (2001). Thematic networks: an analytic tool for qualitative research. Qualitative Research, 1, 3, pp. 385-405.
• Braun, V. and Clarke, V. (2012). Thematic analysis. In: Cooper, H., Camic, P. M., Long, D. L., Panter, A. T., Rindskopf, D. and Sher, K. J. (eds.) APA handbook of research methods in psychology, Vol 2: Research designs: Quantitative, qualitative, neuropsychological, and biological. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, pp. 57-71.
• Fereday, J. and Muir-Cochrane, E. (2006). Demonstrating Rigor Using Thematic Analysis: A Hybrid Approach of Inductive and Deductive Coding and Theme Development. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5, 1, pp. 80-92.
• https://www.researchgate.net/post/Thematic_Analysis_to_an_interview
• https://www.researchgate.net/post/Any_recommendations_on_references_for_thematic_analysis/1
• https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_best_can_one_apply_thematic_analysis_in_a_qualitative_study_where_interviews_were_carried_out

There are two ways to approach this kind of thematic analysis.

1. You can use someone else's typology of themes and analyse the extent to which your data conforms to that model, or

2. You can look for recurring ideas in your data and construct your own themes.

Number 2 is my personal preference, because approach 1 can hide things in your data that approach 2 can find.

It is always better to form your own themes from the data collcted. That make your analysis unique

Yc Pitt

You might have analysed your data yet I share my reflection on your question.

The data from semi-structured interviews can be analyzed using thematic analysis provided it has rich text data. The six steps prescribed by Braun and Clarke (2006) has proposed six steps to carry out a thematic analysis. The six steps are as follows:

1. Familiarising yourself with your data: A comprehensive understanding of the content of the data provides the foundation for the subsequent analysis.

2. Generating initial codes: Once familiar with the data, then start identifying preliminary codes, which are the features of the data that appear interesting and meaningful.

3. Search themes: Relevant data extracts are sorted (combined or split) according to overarching themes.

4. Reviewing themes: A review of identified themes is done in two phases: (a) check themes in relation to coded text, (b) check themes for overall data set. This helps generate thematic map. Important to note that the data within themes should cohere together meaningfully yet they should be clear and distinctive.

5. Defining and naming themes: This step involves ‘refining and defining’ the themes and potential sub-themes within the data.

6. Producing the report: Finally, transform analysis into an interpretable piece of writing by using vivid and compelling extract examples that relate to the themes, research question, and literature. The report must go beyond a mere description of the themes and portray an analysis supported with empirical evidence that addresses the research question.

Reference:

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

Best Wishes,

Apurva