Proposed scoring scheme for qualitive thematic analysis

Drawing on the work of psychotherapy researchers Robert Elliott, Clara Hill and colleagues, the following scheme has been proposed for the write up of qualitative thematic analysis when describing the ‘weighting’ of codes or categories (i.e. the number of interviews that the code/category appeared in). The intention is to use ‘plain English’ terms to describe the frequency of occurrence. For example the term ‘around half’ is used to describe 50% plus or minus one interview, and ‘nearly all’ is used to describe 100% minus one or two interviews. The table below sets out the proposed scoring scheme for studies with various numbers of participants, from 6 to 20. It is not envisaged that this scheme is applicable to studies of less than six participants, however the scheme could well be extended beyond 20. The scoring tends to be ‘understated’, such that ‘Around half’ equates to a half and slightly more rather than a half and slightly less. Additionally, the ‘Nearly all’ is restricted to All-1 until there are more than 11 participants in a study

Children's understandings of obesity, a thematic analysis

Childhood obesity is a major concern in today’s society. Research suggests the inclusion of the views and understandings of a target group facilitates strategies that have better efficacy. The objective of this study was to explore the concepts and themes that make up children’s understandings of the causes and consequences of obesity. Participants were selected from Reception (4-5 years old) and Year 6 (10-11 years old), and attended a school in an area of Sunderland, in North East England. Participants were separated according to age and gender, resulting in four focus groups, run across two sessions. A thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) identified overarching themes evident across all groups, suggesting the key concepts that contribute to children’s understandings of obesity are ‘‘Knowledge through Education,’’ ‘‘Role Models,’’ ‘‘Fat is Bad,’’ and ‘‘Mixed Messages.’’ The implications of these findings and considerations of the methodology are discussed in full

E-liquid-related posts to Twitter in 2018: Thematic analysis.

IntroductionE-liquid is the solution aerosolized by e-cigarette devices to produce vapor. Continuously evolving e-liquids, and corresponding devices, can affect user experiences associated with these products. Twitter conversations about e-liquids can capture salient behavioral, social, and communicative cues associated with e-liquids. We analyzed Twitter data to characterize key topics of conversation about e-liquids to inform surveillance, and regulatory efforts.MethodsTwitter posts containing e-liquid-related terms ("e-liquid(s)," "e-juice(s)") were obtained from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018. Text classifiers were used to identify topics of the posts (n = 15,927).ResultsThe most prevalent topic was Promotional at 29.35% followed by Flavors at 24.22%, and Person Tagging at 21.47%. Juice Composition was next most prevalent at 17.61% followed by Cannabis at 16.83%, and Nicotine Health Risks at 6.39%. Quit Smoking was rare at 0.57%.ConclusionThese results suggest that flavors, cannabis, health risks of nicotine, and composition warrant consideration as targets in future surveillance, public policy, and interventions addressing the use of e-liquids. Twitter provides ample opportunity to influence the normalization, and uptake, of e-cigarette-related products among non-smokers and youth, unless regulatory restrictions, and counter messaging campaigns are developed to reduce this risk

The Experience of Unemployment in Ireland: A Thematic Analysis

This paper reports on the results of 13 semi-structured focus groups carried out with unemployed respondents across Ireland in 2010. The purpose of the research is to examine the subjective experience of unemployment across a wide range of dimensions. 15 overarching themes emerged from a detailed thematic analysis of the texts of the interviews. The themes highlight a wide range of aversive psychological states associated with unemployment. The themes examine: perceptions of the economic boom; reactions to the recession; attitudes toward media coverage; gender differences in experiences of unemployment; financial worries relating to unemployment; perceptions of the position of young people; uncertainty about the future; lack of structure and routine associated with unemployment; health issues associated with unemployment; identity challenges; the social context of unemployment; issues surrounding reentering employment; attitudes toward social protection payments; social comparison effect and perceptions of training services. This paper concludes with a brief discussion of the psychological impact of unemployment.

A Beginner\u27s Guide to Applied Educational Research using Thematic Analysis

Interest in applied educational research methodology is growing as educators and researchers strive to seek empirical evidence about what is effective teaching within distinctive contexts. However, for beginner researchers who are interested in conducting case studies within educational settings and are looking for an appropriate starting point, there is limited literature that shapes comprehensively the theory and application of a rigorous research design. This article outlines the theoretical foundation, philosophical assumptions and application of a research design suitable for implementation in educational settings. For researchers and educators pursuing a case study approach within a specific context, an inquiry framework provides the roadmap to navigate the journey. The main components of this systematic inquiry framework include the interconnected practices for: identifying the issue; collecting the data; preparing and engaging with the data; analysing thematically the data; interpreting the data analysis; and composing the research findings and generalisations. Throughout the discussion, examples are drawn from a case study to illustrate how the innovative design and the sixstage qualitative data collection and thematic analysis were implemented to investigate the prevalent roles that teachers play in generating environments for self-regulated learning. Finally, research design considerations are discussed to reflect high standards of ethical practice for reporting research findings and interpretations that can be trusted and contribute practically, theoretically and methodologically to educational research

Compassion, Dominance/Submission, and Curled Lips: A Thematic Analysis of Dacryphilic Experience

Paraphilias are often discussed in the psychological literature as pathological problems, yet relatively little research exists that looks into non-pathological paraphilias (i.e., non-normative sexual interests). Empirical evidence suggests that many individuals incorporate a range of non-normative sexual interests into their sexual lifestyles. Dacryphilia is a non-normative sexual interest that involves enjoyment or arousal from tears and crying, and to date has never been researched empirically. The present study set out to discover the different interests within dacryphilia and explore the range of dacryphilic experience. A set of online interviews was carried out with individuals with dacryphilic preferences and interests (six females and two males) from four countries. The data were analysed for semantic and latent themes using thematic analysis. The respondents' statements focused attention on three distinct areas that may be relevant to the experience of dacryphilia: (i) compassion; (ii) dominance/submission; and (iii) curled-lips. The data provided detailed descriptions of features within all three interests, which are discussed in relation to previous quantitative and qualitative research within emotional crying and tears, and the general area of non-normative sexual interests. The study suggests new directions for potential research both within dacryphilia and with regard to other non-normative sexual interests

Slashing the slayer: a thematic analysis of homo-erotic Buffy fan fiction

This essay reports the research that I have carried out on Internet slash fiction based on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series. I became interested in this area when I stumbled across slash fiction on the web myself and found that I enjoyed it. As someone who studies sexuality I was intrigued by this new (to me) form of erotic fiction and began to read the academic literature in the area. As I became familiar with the main theories, I wondered how they would relate to slash fiction written about Buffy, since this series differs from many of the programmes that have been slashed in the past. There are strong female and gay characters in Buffy, emotional and relationship-based themes are directly addressed, and the interaction between vampires and humans adds an additional dimension to the plot. In my study, I analysed both slash stories and my e-mail correspondence with the authors of Buffy slash. I come at the topic as both a slash reader and a psychologist, and I hope that I achieve a good balance between the position of mutual knowledge (as a fan) and critical distance (as a researcher) as recommended by Tulloch and Jenkins (1995). In the past, slash authors have been stigmatised by other fans and by convention organizers (Jenkins, 1992), and several of my participants felt that they had been misrepresented in previous research. I hope to be accountable in my research (Bannister et al., 1995) and to give a respectful and realistic portrayal of Buffy slash and its writers

Alvar Aalto: A Thematic Analysis

Alvar Aalto died on May 11, 1976, leaving behind a large and varied oeuvre