Thematic Analysis of Qualitative Research Data: A Seven-Step Guide

Qualitative data analysis has been one of the challenging aspects in research methodology. Various methods have been used to conduct analysis of qualitative data. One of the most common and popular methods is thematic analysis. The method has been used by different researchers yet it has not been properly used due to a number of reasons including but not limited to insufficient or good sources of references. This is one of methodological papers that has been prepared to guide novice and experienced researchers on how to conduct thematic analysis. It identifies and describes seven steps that one can follow to successfully do thematic analysis. These steps emanate from other literature works and personal experiences of the authors in conducting thematic analysis. They include, familiarization of collected data, creating or generating initial codes, searching for themes from codes, reviewing obtained themes, identification of the most significant quotations and writing up. Among the seven steps, the sixth one (identification of the most significant quotations) has not been given significant weight in the previous literature as it has been considered as a component of the writing up stage. Given its essence and significance in thematic analysis, this article identifies it as a stand-alone step that has to be given special attention during analysis. In this regard, this paper considers thematic analysis to have seven steps unlike other guides that identified six steps.