Hello,
I am a MSc student planning my thesis. I have decided on a mixed methods approach with a quantitative survey and a follow up focus group which will be qualitatively analysed.
I am stuck on deciding on the analysis process for the focus groups.
I have read around the literature, in my opinion IPA seems best fit but I have been recommended to look into thematic analysis if I am choosing focus groups.
I was wondering if anybody had any tips or papers that would help me justify the decision. It seems that if I am set on focus groups thematic would be the best but I do not know how to justify it!!
My first question would be whether your mixed methods approach is an "explanatory sequential" design, where the goal of the focus groups is to help understand the results form the survey. If so, that would rule largely exploratory approaches such as grounded theory. For an explanatory sequential" design, you might well begin with a set of coding categories that reflect the issues raised by the earlier quantitative study (with the possibility that those codes would evolve, as you analyzed the qualitative data). This would be compatible with thematic analysis (Braun and Clarke, 2006).
It would be an explanatory sequential approach. So thematic analysis is ok to use, would IPA not be suitable for this? Also for thematic analysis, would I have to generate codes from survey responses (this will be largely quantitative data)?
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis is typically used to understand the lived experience of the participants. As such, it typically does not begin with any preconceived research goals, which would make it an unlikely choice in your case.
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