Hello everyone,
I've been writing up thematic analyses of interviews for the first time ever, and I can't help but write way too much for a thesis, let alone the papers that will make up a thesis. I either spend too much time in description, or feel like I haven't included enough information around what the themes and interpretations of responses mean.
What are some tips/resources that I can use to write up my thematic analysis in a smaller word count, more appropriate for publication? Any and all help is greatly appreciated!
Think of the themes as the basic headings in an outline and then start each section with a brief description of that theme. Follow that with relevant quotes and you will have the formula for a journal article.
Jake - you are experiencing a common phenomenon in terms of first-time thematic analysis. Researchers know that they should attempt to 'reveal' rich and illuminative narrative data - but are then torn in terms of inclusing too much narrative that expands outside of 'themes'. For a qualitative thesis - the findings chapter is expected to be the likely longest chapter. That said, in terms of publication, journals will raerly offer the opportunity for a similar lengthy narrative. The atatched chapter on qualitative data analysis may asisst.
Think of the themes as the basic headings in an outline and then start each section with a brief description of that theme. Follow that with relevant quotes and you will have the formula for a journal article.
Still struggling with the initial opening for the results but thank you for the ideas. Just need a lead in sentence to start.
What is your view on counting two groups of people’s talk in each theme? For examples of comparing in- and per-service teachers’ understanding of equity.
If you develop countable codes, then most people would probably label that content analysis, rather than thematic analysis.
Dear Jake D. Franklin , what I do is outline before writing the text. To be consistent, I follow that same outline to write the conclusions
This article might be of interest to you please try consult. But the idea is to populate as much information as would allow another person to do the same and arrive at the same findings and conclusion using the same data set. Article Increasing rigor and reducing bias in qualitative research: ...
In addition, to the great advice already in the thread, for mine, I find that there is no substitute to the tried and true formula of writing and re-writing. Its remarkable how if you do this systematically, and several times, you get a far more nuanced and concise piece. Rather like polishing a gem stone.
One constraint that stands in the way is that very often, writers are reluctant to 'kill their darlings' as the saying goes. Brevity comes with practice and as an early career researcher, I was constantly trying to impress the reader with how much I knew and wanted to throw everything at them. Standing back and whittling down the 'nice to know' into the 'important to know' is a vital process. Your writing practice will get better the more you write. Best of luck.
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