A run can be defined as a set of consecutive events or observations, in this case interviews. During the past two decades, scholars have conducted empirical research and developed mathematical/statistical models designed to estimate the likely number of qualitative interviews needed to reach saturation for a given study. For Dataset 3, two coders conducted this type of inter-coder reliability assessment on 20% of the interviews (a standard, more efficient approach than double-coding all interviews [2]). Quantitative research is a data-driven approach to understanding phenomena, typically through the collection of numerical data. Check out the dedicated article the Speak Ai team put together on What Is A Acoustic Model In Speech Recognition to learn more. Using probability sampling methods. Muhammad Jan. University of . No, Is the Subject Area "Research design" applicable to this article? https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232076.t001. Each code describes the idea or feeling expressed in that part of the text. Since we had available the total number of codes identified in each dataset, we carried out one additional calculation as a way to provide another metric to understand how the median number of interviews to reach a new information threshold related to retrospectively-assessed degrees of saturation with the entire dataset. The number of new themes evident across 812 interviews corresponded with a median degree of saturation of 62% to 71%. The same can be said for how a researcher chooses to report and interpret statistical findings. A semantic approach involves analyzing the explicit content of the data. What qualitative and quantitative data have in common with one and another? Across academic disciplines, and for about the past five decades, the answer to this question has usually revolved around reaching saturation [1, 59]. Second, thematic analysis can be used to identify patterns in the data that could not be identified through other methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. [22]). As all researchers know, reality often presents surprises. We can also draw other lessons to inform application of this process: There are, of course, still limitations to this approach. However, thematic analysis is a flexible method that can be adapted to many different kinds of research. The interviews following Interview 12, though yielding four additional themes, remained at or below the 5% new information threshold. No, Is the Subject Area "Cross-cultural studies" applicable to this article? How to Do Thematic Analysis | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples / How to Do Substantially more women from the Kenya sample were married and living with their partners (63% versus 3%) and were less likely to have completed at least some secondary education. Rewrite and paraphrase texts instantly with our AI-powered paraphrasing tool. Summarizing a quantitative study is relatively clear: you scored 25% better than the competition, let's say. Can I use Thematic Analysis for Mixed-Method approach? We know that if we use all of the data collection events as our base size, we can reach saturation by default as there are no more data to consider. The results for Dataset 2 were nearly identical to Dataset 1 (Table 3). The concept of saturation was first introduced into the field of qualitative research as theoretical saturation by Glaser and Strauss in their 1967 book The Discovery of Grounded Theory [10]. Though a study may be powered to certain parameters (quantitative) or have a sample size based on empirical guidance (qualitative), after data collection is completed the resulting data may not conform to either. The results from the bootstrapping analyses are presented by dataset, in Tables 2, 3 and 4. There are several benefits to using thematic analysis in quantitative research. Revised on November 24, 2022. should I use TA? It involves breaking down the data into smaller components and analyzing the components to find commonalities and differences. Using the 5% new information threshold, our findings indicate that typically 67 interviews will capture the majority of themes in a homogenous sample (6 interviews to reach 80% saturation). It is a method for describing data, but it also involves interpretation in the processes of selecting codes and constructing themes. Thematic analysis goes beyond simply counting phrases or words in a text (as in content analysis) and explores explicit and . The interview guide contained 13 main questions, each with scripted sub-questions. The interview was a follow-up qualitative inquiry into womens responses on a quantitative survey. What a quantitative researcher accepts, for example, as a large enough effect size or a small enough p-value is a subjective determination and based on convention in a particular field of study. Thematic analysis is frequently used to analyse qualitative data in psychology, healthcare, social research and beyond. Thematic analysis is a good approach to research where youre trying to find out something about peoples views, opinions, knowledge, experiences or values from a set of qualitative data for example, interview transcripts, social media profiles, or survey responses. Participants from the two sites were similar demographically with the exceptions of education and marital status. Research methods is a broad term. They provide empirically-based guidance for approximating how many qualitative interviews might be needed for a given study and serve a role analogous to power calculations in quantitative research design (albeit in some case without the math and degree of precision). Naming themes involves coming up with a succinct and easily understandable name for each theme. In this paper we present a method to assess and report on saturation that enables qualitative researchers to speak about--and provide some evidence for--saturation that goes beyond simple declaration. Thus, comparison is an inherent part of the analysis. Thematic analysis is a good approach to research where you're trying to find out something about people's views, opinions, knowledge, experiences or values from a set of qualitative data - for example, interview transcripts, social media profiles, or survey responses. The honest answer to this is that we dont know, and we can never know unless we conduct those five extra interviews, and then five more after that and so on. Saldaa, J. Quantitative research measures numerical results to help predict possible outcomes. Divide the number of new themes in this run (seven) by the number of unique themes in the base set (37). He found the probability of identifying a concept (theme) among a sample of six individuals is greater than 99% if that concept is shared among 55% of the larger study population. Finally, well write up our analysis of the data. Quantitative data is data that can be counted or measured in numerical values. Quantitative content analysis is a research method in which features of textual, visual, or aural material are systematically categorized and recorded so that they can be analyzed. For more information about PLOS Subject Areas, click Here, we return to the data set and compare our themes against it. Benefits of Using Thematic Analysis in Quantitative Research. Given how different approaches arein terms of units of analysis and strictness of saturation thresholdsit is difficult to understand how much confidence to have in a conclusion about whether saturation was reached or not. We selected three existing qualitative datasets to which we applied the bootstrapping method. Generate accurate APA, MLA, and Chicago citations for free with Scribbr's Citation Generator. The first is How do we know that were not missing important information by capping our sample at n when saturation is indicated? Put another way, if we had conducted, say, five more interviews would we have gotten additional and important data? Next up, we need to code the data. Fig 1 shows the process, and how base size and run length relate to one another. No, Is the Subject Area "Statistical data" applicable to this article? 2022 - 2023 Times Mojo - All Rights Reserved First, it can help researchers to identify relationships between the data and other variables. The two main types of quantitative data are discrete data and continuous data. Can thematic analysis be used in literature review? Thematic analysis is a method of analyzing qualitative data. It was developed with applied inductive thematic analyses in mindthose for which the research is designed to answer a relatively narrow question about a specific real-world issue or problemand the datasets used in the bootstrapping analyses were generated and analyzed within this framework. This is important from an efficiency perspective. For our analyses we provide both options for run lengths in our calculationstwo events and three eventsto afford researchers more flexibility. Can I use TA? This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232076.t009, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232076.t010, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232076.t011. We test and validate our method using a bootstrapping technique on three distinctly different qualitative datasets. The bootstrap method is a resampling technique that uses the variability within a sample to estimate the sampling distribution of metrics (in this case saturation metrics) empirically [35]. Over the past 20 years, scholars using both empirical research and mathematical/statistical models have made significant contributions to the question: How many qualitative interviews are enough? Now that you have a final list of themes, its time to name and define each of them. Protocol for a systematic review and thematic synthesis of patient Yes The longer the run length, the greater number of interviews required to reach saturation. [23] for discussion on this as it relates to saturation). In our example, we decided that the code uncertainty made sense as a theme, with some other codes incorporated into it. You can use quantitative analysis to interpret data that was collected either: During an experiment. Quantitative research is the process of collecting and analyzing numerical data. Can I use thematic analysis in case study? Interested in What Is A Acoustic Model In Speech Recognition? That said, if . The number of new themes evident across 1216 interviews corresponded with a median degree of saturation of 69% to 76%. Can research be done using both qualitative and quantitative data Why or why not? Validation, Once youve decided to use thematic analysis, there are different approaches to consider. This renders a quotient of 11%, still not below our 5% threshold. When to use thematic analysis. Qualitative research, on the other hand, relies on the collection of non-numerical data, such as words and phrases, to gain insights. The above studies are foundational in the field of qualitative sample size estimation. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232076.g001. Can we conduct thematic analysis of secondary data? For more information about PLOS Subject Areas, click Central to content analysis is the process of coding, which . For example, if the data is qualitative in nature, such as survey responses, thematic analysis can be used to identify patterns in the data. For example, Onwuegbuzie and Johnson (2021) note "data analysis in mixed methods research [can be]the most difficult step of the mixed methods research process" (p. 1) and there is a "lack of methodological guidance in the extant literature on these topics" (p. 16). When conducting an inductive thematic analysis, researchers must decide on an appropriate codebook organizational scheme (see Hennink et al. Qualitative data is descriptive data that is not expressed numerically. The number of new themes in this first run is seven. We describe how this method circumvents many of the limitations associated with other ways of conceptualizing, assessing and reporting on saturation within an in-depth interview context. Is the Subject Area "Qualitative studies" applicable to this article? Check out the dedicated article the Speak Ai team put together on What Is A Normal Speech Recognition Threshold to learn more. This can be particularly useful when the data is complex or when the researcher is looking to uncover relationships between the data and other variables. This means that relative to the total number of unique codes identified in the first four, five, or six interviews, the amount of new information contributed by interviews 8, 9, and 10 was less than or equal to 5% of the total. Their tool estimates, for example, that to have 80% power to detect two instances of a theme with a 10% prevalence in a population, 29 participants would be required. This method also enables researchers to select different levels of the constituent elements in the processi.e., Base Size, Run Length and New Information Thresholdbased on how confident they wish to be that their interpretations and conclusions are based on a dataset that reached thematic saturation. The number of themes evident across 1114 interviews corresponded with a median degree of saturation of 87% to 89%. Writing original draft, It can be done quickly and with no statistical expertise. Thematic analysis: A practical guide - Melissa Forbes, 2022 - SAGE Journals If you can identify the central organising concept of a theme, you can capture the core of what your theme is about. Selecting and interpreting levels of rigor, precision, and confidence is a subjective enterprise. Given that both qualitative and quantitative market research provide vital ingredients of the understanding you are looking for (the Why and the What), combining them should deliver significant benefits, enabling you to compare and contrast results and gain much deeper insights. Finally, our conclusion explains the main takeaways and shows how the analysis has answered our research question. Professional editors proofread and edit your paper by focusing on: The first step is to get to know our data. Saturation was indicated at 6 interviews at a run length of 2 (6+2) and 78 interviews at run length 3 (7+3 or 8+3). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (3rd ed.). We start by looking at the first four interviews conducted and summing the number of unique themes identified within this group. When collecting and analyzing data, quantitative research deals with numbers and statistics, while qualitative research deals with words and meanings. Advertisement We argue that thematic analysis is a qualitative research method that can be widely used across a range of epistemologies and research questions. As Morse pointed out more than 20 years ago, saturation is an important component of rigor. The new information threshold selected affects the point at which saturation is indicated, as one would expect. Conceptualization, Inductive/Deductive Hybrid Thematic Analysis in Mixed Methods Research Themes get identified by physically sorting the examples into piles of similar meaning. If we consider the hypothetical data set used here (see Fig 3) and kept the run length of 2, the 0% new information threshold would have been reached at interview 10+2. The median number of interviews required were 11+2 and 14+3. Dataset 3. It is similar to a literature review, which is a critical survey and assessment of the existing research on your particular topic. How to Do Thematic Analysis | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples. Theres the distinction between inductive and deductive approaches: Ask yourself: Does my theoretical framework give me a strong idea of what kind of themes I expect to find in the data (deductive), or am I planning to develop my own framework based on what I find (inductive)? Pay close attention to the data to ensure that youre not picking up on things that are not there or obscuring things that are. Formal analysis, We propose that furnishing researchers with optionsrather than a prescriptive thresholdis a more realistic, transparent and accurate practice. Saturation will inevitably occur in a retrospectively-assessed, fully-analyzed, fixed-size dataset. Can comparison be made using thematic analysis in Qualitative For the purposes of our assessment, saturation refers to the point during data analysis at which incoming data points (interviews) produce little or no new useful information relative to the study objectives. Quantitative and qualitative data are both used for research and statistical analysis. Navigating the world of qualitative thematic analysis can be challenging. The inductive thematic analysis included 11 of the 13 questions and generated 93 unique codes. Supporting thinking on sample sizes for thematic analyses: a https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232076, Editor: Andrew Soundy, University of Birmingham, UNITED KINGDOM, Received: January 4, 2020; Accepted: April 3, 2020; Published: May 5, 2020. Similarly, the method allows for different optionsand greater clarity and transparencyin describing and reporting on saturation. Data from all three studies were digitally recorded and transcribed using a transcription protocol [32]; transcripts were translated to English for Dataset 3. This study included 40 individual interviews with African American men in the Southeast US about their health seeking behaviors [29]. Based on these thresholds from 10,000 resamples, for each dataset we computed the median and the 5th and 95th percentiles for number of interviews required to reach each new information threshold across different base sizes and run lengths. Qualitative research is multimethod in focus, involving an interpretive, naturalistic approach to its . These new information thresholds can be used as benchmarks similar to how a p-value of <0.05 or <0.01 is used to determine whether enough evidence exists to reject a null hypothesis in statistical analysis. Thematic coding, also called thematic analysis, is a type of qualitative data analysis that finds themes in text by analyzing the meaning of words and sentence structure. Widely employed in the field of communication, it also has utility in a range of other fields. For this example, we have selected a new information threshold of 5% to indicate that we have reached adequate saturation. Can you use thematic analysis in systematic review? Their definition was specifically intended for the practice of building and testing theoretical models using qualitative data and refers to the point at which the theoretical model being developed stabilizes. It's a site that collects all the most frequently asked questions and answers, so you don't have to spend hours on searching anywhere else. It is not a research method in itself but rather an analytic approach and synthesizing strategy used as part of the meaning-making process of many methods, including case study research. Base size appears to have almost no effect on the outcome. This can be especially useful when the researcher is looking for relationships between the data and other variables. For each qualitative dataset, we generated 10,000 resamples from the original sample. (2009). . It can be used to find patterns and averages, make predictions, test causal relationships, and generalize results to wider populations. Interested in ChatGPT For Academic Textbooks? The unit of analysis for base size is the data collection event; the items of analysis are unique codes representing themes. Again, what we decide will vary according to what were trying to find out. Are codes in thematic analysis quantitative or qualitative? Likewise, while an odds ratio of 1.2 may be statistically significant, whether or not its meaningful in a real-world sense is entirely open to interpretation. Researchers often use data-analysis software for analyzing large amounts of qualitative data. What Is Quantitative Research? | Definition, Uses & Methods - Scribbr https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0232076.g002. from https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/thematic-analysis/, How to Do Thematic Analysis | Step-by-Step Guide & Examples, whos to say they dont have their own reasons for pushing this narrative, Different approaches to thematic analysis.
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