Analyzing Thematic analysis assignment in Qualitative Research: Strategies and Themes

Question

Task: How does Thematic analysis assignment enhance qualitative research in psychology, and what strategies are used to identify and analyze key themes?

Answer

Introduction

Thematic analysis assignment involves the collection data through qualitative techniques which is then used to identify patterns linked to information or feedback thus allowing the research identifies important trends which can be used to design an effective strategy. Thematic analysis assignment is commonly used in by psychologists who use the data collection technique to collect information from the client without causing any stress.

At the same time collecting important information which can be used to use to develop a clear analysis as well as determine important approaches which the psychologist can use to design an effective treatment or counselling plan for patients (Guest, MacQueen, & Namey, 2011). The report shall review strategies used in Thematic analysis assignment by identifying themes and strategies used by psychologies during interviews. These strategies are aimed are delivering relaxation but at the same time, they also allow the counsellor secure important data related to the patient's history and current operations which can be used to design rehabilitation plans for the client.

This data collection and analysis strategy therefore requires for the psychologist to utilize two aspects one being a calming and soothing approach where the other allowing the patients provide information and feedback (Boyatzis R. E., 1998). This helps understand the back ground while at the same time allowing the psychologies identify important psychological points which may be linked to the patient’s current stress or state of mind.

Literature review

Thematic analysis assignment has been a subject of extensive research thus there is a wide verity of literature related to the topic which delivers a vast amount of data and information. For this research the Subverting Masculinity: Hegemonic and Alternative Versions of Masculinity in Contemporary Culture by Russell West, Frank Lay in which muscularity in the Australian society has been discussed (West & Lay, 2000).

Views towards muscularity have a direct effect on an individual’s state of mind thus making it important to understand how muscularity affects men in the Australian society and its effects on their perception and psychological state. The literature delivers a vast understanding linked to muscularity and allows the researcher understand important factors linked to how Australian males thin thus helping design more effective Thematic analysis assignment strategies.

Thematic analysis assignment helps psychologist secure important information related to the history of the patent during the two-way discussion which is aimed at delivering relaxation and comfort to the patient (Offord, Kerruish, Garbutt, Wessell, & Pavlovic, 2014). To achieve this interviewer will need to utilize indirect questioning techniques while communicating with the patients so as to build a link with the patients and at the same time extract information without demonstrating their objective to be qualitative research and data collection related to the situation.

In view of Thematic analysis assignment as a qualitative data analysis techniques

Thematic analysis assignment is a qualitative data collection technique which involves interviewing patients using a special technique which helps communicate and calm the patient as well as help the psychologist or interviewer secure important information related to the case (Lyons & Coyle, 2016). Thematic analysis assignment is a special technique used to extract information from a client without distracting their focus as well as delivering support to assist them remains calm and while extracting information from the patient.

This data collection technique helps serve two purposes at the same time requires for the psychologist or interviewer to maintain control over the interview to ensure patient confidence and trust is maintained. It’s critical for the interviewer to avoid recording the interview points instantly and consistently during the interview and rather collect the information in stages in-between the interview (Bazeley & Jackson, 2013). This helps the interviewer maintenance constant communication with the interviewee who will in most situations.

Discreet information retrieval

Thematic analysis assignment is a qualitative data collection strategy which is used to extract information from an individual during an interview through simple discussion. This data collection strategy involves interacting with the interviewee and asking them a certain question related to their history and background with the intention on securing clues related to the individual's history which may help them identify important cues to the reasons linked to the problem or points which may require special attention (Hersh, 2006).

It is common to find people avoiding to communicate clearly regarding their history and will avoid communicating certain aspects which may contribute immensely towards the analysis. Being able to maintain discreteness while collecting data is critical towards any interviews success thus adopting this technique is a common requirement among interviewers.

Periodic data reporting

It’s also common to find many people developing considerable suspicion related to interviews when the interviewer begins collecting and writing down information. This makes it important to avoid constantly writing down information during the interview which can result in distracting the interviewee (Goldfinger & Pomerantz, 2013). Instead, the data should be registered in jolts thus allowing the interviewer to dedicate their attention back to the interviewee and help maintain contact and focus.

Brief description of the interviewee’s two participants

Ash

Ash is a 37-year-old male who’s now married and has a 2-month-old daughter. He left the university at an early age of 19 and has been traveling and working for the past 16 years. In reviewing his responses to the interviews it is clear he has experienced several traumatic events during his early life which has had a negative effect the individual’s life. Its clear Ash has participated in mischief at an early age during school which can be linked to the individual having left school at an early age. He was also keen on interacting which the opposite gender which could have distracted the individuals focus on his education leading to the early age drop out from the university.

Ash has also been observed to have a chaotic relationship with these parents and especially father and the two don’t seem to have built a strong bond towards each other from a young age. This could be linked to Ash’s attitude which may have resulted in his father maintaining a distance from the relationship. The same can be observed among ash’s siblings also who also maintain maintained a close relationship during their childhood due to play and competitiveness. Gradually as the siblings grew older they began developing communication gaps and distances between each other. Ash seems to have experienced some relationship problems during his childhood between his parents which led the siblings also developing mistrust among each other which also resulted in promoting negative competitiveness between all family members (Gurman, 2008). Gradually as the children grew independent ash’s parents also opted to separate and divorce as there were no issues further bounding the parents together. With the children now independent Ash’s parents divorced allowing each to pursue their own life. With this being a trend which has been observed among all Ash’s Family members it has become critical for Ash to consider seeking professional counselling and guidance to avoid developing and passing on the same attitude to his baby. He has taken an important step towards reliving this problem by approaching the counsellor who will be able to map his history before identifying important trends which can be used to develop a management plan for ashes concerns. being able to recognize a problem is considered to be among one of the most important steps linked to successful rehabilitation but it’s also important for the interviewer to also consider adopt Thematic analysis assignment techniques so as to extract information from the individual without losing their confidence in the counsellor or interviewer.

Jason

Jason is a 32-year-old male who is married and has a twin sister. Jason has lived in the UK for the majority of his life but had moved to south face for five years between the ages 5 and 10. During his stay in Africa, he gradually becomes Africanised and on returning to the UK faced major complications with the resident children. Bullying was a major concern due to his accent and habits but Jason also reveals he faced major complications with name calling.

Jason has always shared a close relationship with his twin sister who offered support during times of hardship and during the bulling but Jason reveals he never shared the incidents related to name calling with his sister or wife and has kept this a secret till this interview. this may have resulted in affecting Jason psychologically as he was psychological torcher but never shared the information or concern with any person thus intervention, guidance, and support was never given.

With name calling being the main concern it’s important to maintain a trust worth relationship between the counsellor and interviewee since the Jason has already experienced a traumatic event among his classmates which has had a direct effect on his confidence as well as managing his temper (Sullivan, 2011). To regain control over this issues the counsellor must maintain a keen ear and avoid repeating the same concerns again and again which will only refresh the memory which may result in further escalating the individual's focus and confidence. This, in turn, may also affect Jason’s response towards the rehabilitation thus reducing the chances of success.

Definition of three themes incorporating 20 codes

Theme one –relationships

The psychologist has used Thematic analysis assignment to extract information related to the patient’s background in all the interviews by interlinking and requestioning their incomplete answers. On the interview with ash, this is observed clearly on question 5 where the interviewer has asked for more clarity regarding the use of the term troubled (Baxter, 2010). Ash has used it to mention his parent’s relationship during his young age but does not mention clearly what the problem may have been. Sighting an opportunity which may have important information related to the client’s history the interviewer has returned for closer elaboration and clarity regarding this point by asking for further clarity related to the term troubled and the duration when this happened (Smith, 1992).

Theme two- bad habits

Once again the interviewee can be observed to use a code wording while describing his group and friends circle which was famed for getting in trouble. Again he only mentions trouble which is a very broad subject which requires closer analysis’s thus the interviewer makes sure she emphasizes on asking on exactly what ash means by being part of the group that was always betting in trouble (Boyatzis R. E., 1998). This would allow him to explain the type of trouble the group getting into which would allow the psychologist to determine if there is any kind of bad behaviour and habits linked to the use of drugs and other notices without asking the individuals regarding the same direction.

Theme three - Hatred and jealousy

Early in the interview, Ash mentions his father divorced his mother and later married after which he adopted a girl from India. This was a major concern but the psychologist did not an emphasis on this point immediately as some other important points where being discussed. He returns to this point later to further investigate Ash’s feelings and thoughts regarding this session and further asks why his father may have made the choice to raise a young girl during his middle ages (Greenson, 2016). This is also important as it demonstrates that his father is still may have space to share his love and care with an additions sibling thus indicating loneliness. It also demonstrates he is still willing to commit towards raising a child despite having raised 4 children thus there may be something missing from the previous relationship (Buckley & Buckley, 2004).

Theme table with 20 codes each

References:

Baxter, L. A. (2010). Voicing Relationships: A Dialogic Perspective. London: SAGE Publications.

Bazeley, P., & Jackson, K. (2013). Qualitative Data Analysis with NVivo. SAGE.

Boyatzis, R. E. (1998). Transforming Qualitative Information: Thematic analysis assignment and Code Development. SAGE.

Boyatzis, R. E. (1998). Transforming Qualitative Information: Thematic analysis assignment and Code Development. New Delhi: SAGE.

Buckley, M., & Buckley, B. (2004). Challenge and Continuity: Aspects of the Thematic Novel. New York: Rodopi.

Goldfinger, K., & Pomerantz, A. M. (2013). Psychological Assessment and Report Writing. SAGE Publications.

Greenson, R. R. (2016). The Technique and Practice of Psychoanalysis: Volume II: A Memorial Volume to Ralph R. Greenson, Volume 2. Karnac Books.

Guest, G., MacQueen, K. M., & Namey, E. E. (2011). Applied Thematic analysis assignment. Siingerpore: SAGE.

Gurman, A. S. (2008). Clinical Handbook of Couple Therapy, Fourth Edition. Guilford Press.

Hersh, W. (2006). Information Retrieval: A Health and Biomedical Perspective. Heidelberg: Springer Science & Business Media.

Lyons, E., & Coyle, A. (2016). Analysing Qualitative Data in Psychology. SAGE.

Nowell, L. S., Norris, J. M., & White, D. E. (2017). Thematic analysis assignment: Striving to Meet the Trustworthiness Criteria. International Journal of Qualitative Methods.

Offord, B., Kerruish, E., Garbutt, R., Wessell, A., & Pavlovic, K. (2014). Inside Australian Culture: Legacies of Enlightenment Values. Anthem Press.

Smith, C. P. (1992). Motivation and Personality: Handbook of Thematic Content Analysis. Cambridge University Press.

Sullivan, P. (2011). Qualitative Data Analysis Using a Dialogical Approach. London: SAGE.

West, R., & Lay, F. (2000). Subverting Masculinity: Hegemonic and Alternative Versions of Masculinity in Contemporary Culture. Rodopi.