The What and How of Essential Thematic Analysis

Authors

Elih Sutisna YantoFollow

Abstract

Gareth Terry and Nikki Hayfield's book, Essentials of Thematic Analysis, introduces readers to reflexive thematic analysis, a method for analyzing interview and focus group transcripts, qualitative survey responses, and other qualitative data. This method is based on the understanding that we all exist in a context from which we can see and speak. In this way, researchers produce knowledge that represents situated truths and allow them to understand others’ perspectives on a given topic. The book shows how to construct a “positioned reality of the situation” from qualitative data. According to the authors, this method is not a methodology but rather a method; that is, a theoretical framework. They emphasize adaptability and subjectivity and go beyond data summaries to understand underlying structures. This method requires frequent data exploration and re-evaluation. It can be studied by both novices and experts. The method is illustrated with notes, illustration, and examples. This book provides a straightforward, concise, and comprehensive description of the authors’ approach, including its methodological rigor, advantages, and limitations.

Keywords

focus group transcripts, qualitative survey, reflexive thematic analysis

Author Bio(s)

Elih Sutisna Yanto serves as a reviewer for the Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, which is published by EMERALD, Cogent Arts & Humanities, Cogent Education, which is published by Taylor & Francis, and The Journal of Asia TEFL. In addition, he is a board member of the Exploratory Practice Indonesian Community (EPiC) and a teacher training and education faculty member at Universitas Singaperbangsa Karawang, Indonesia. His research interests are professional development for language teachers, Systemic Functional Linguistics in language education, and qualitative research in ELT. Direct all correspondence concerning this article to elih.sutisna@fkip.unsika.ac.id.

Publication Date

11-3-2023

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2023.6744

Recommended APA Citation

Yanto, E. S. (2023). The What and How of Essential Thematic Analysis. The Qualitative Report, 28(11), 3120-3131. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2023.6744