Thematic Analysis Service for Interviews, Focus Groups and Open-Ended Responses

What this service covers

• Familiarisation with the data and initial analytic notes
• Inductive (data-driven) and deductive (framework-driven) coding
• Codebook development with definitions and example quotations
• Generating, reviewing, defining and naming themes
• Theme maps and tables linking each theme to its supporting quotations
• Reflexive thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke, or codebook approaches when coders must agree
• Analysis of interviews, focus groups, open-ended survey questions, diaries and documents

Our approach to thematic analysis

Thematic analysis identifies patterns of meaning across a dataset. We work through the phases described by Braun and Clarke: becoming familiar with the data, generating initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing and refining them, defining and naming each theme, and writing up. A theme is not simply a topic that appears often. A good theme captures a pattern that says something about your research question, and we test each one against the coded extracts and the full dataset before accepting it.

Inductive, deductive or both?

Inductive analysis builds codes from what participants actually say, which suits exploratory studies. Deductive analysis starts from a framework or theory and codes against it, which suits evaluations and studies that test an existing model. Many projects combine the two: a starting framework plus new codes that emerge from the data. We recommend the approach that fits your question and explain the choice in the methods text. Coding can be carried out in NVivo, MAXQDA or ATLAS.ti, or in a structured spreadsheet when the dataset is small.

Quality and transparency

Reviewers look for evidence that themes are grounded in the data and not in the analyst’s assumptions. We keep a clear audit trail: the codebook, memos recording analytic decisions, and a table that links each theme to its codes and quotations. Where two coders are needed we calculate and report agreement. Before coding, you can explore your raw text with our free word frequency counter and keyword in context viewer, and our theme finder highlights recurring words and phrases to help you start.

Thematic analysis or content analysis?

Thematic analysis interprets meaning and builds themes; content analysis systematically categorises and often counts content. If your aim is to build a theory from the data, see grounded theory. For very large volumes of text, our NLP and text analytics service can complement manual coding.

How the work runs

1. You share transcripts or responses together with your research question.
2. We agree the approach, coding frame and software.
3. We code the data, build and review the themes, and check them against the full dataset.
4. You receive the codebook, theme tables, quotations and a written summary, and we discuss revisions.

What you receive

• A codebook with definitions and example quotations
• A theme map and a table of themes, sub-themes and supporting extracts
• A written description of each theme and how it answers your question
• A methods paragraph describing the analysis for your report or thesis
• The analysis project file, if you want it