Braun and Clark (2006) argue that thematic analysis should be viewed as a qualitative method in its own right. In some ways thematic analysis can be seen to be similar to IPA, in that initially as a researcher you are advised to immerse yourself within the data. Thematic analysis can be viewed as a systematic way of analysing and reporting of patterns (themes within a range of data). Thematic analysis seeks to capture something important from the data that relates to the original research questions. One advantage of thematic analysis is that it can be used with a large sample of participants and across a wide variety of data e.g. surveys, interviews and focus groups. However, like IPA, thematic analysis can be used with a small number of participants, so I could have used thematic analysis in analysing the data from the interviews and the key children’s adults’ reflective accounts. However, I chose not to use thematic analysis as Braun and Clark (2006) assert thematic analysis is not dependent on a specific theoretical framework and a clearly specified series of ‘lacks procedures’ (Bryman, 2008, p.555). Without a rigorous, transparent framework and methodology of generating and analysing the data I do not feel this is an appropriate method for me to use in my research. In comparison, IPA relies on a series of steps and a highly rigorous systematic analytic procedure which must be closely adhered to. In following this method I feel in some ways this reduces researcher subjectivity that be apparent within thematic analysis, which is a ‘may’ largely simpler inductive approach, relying on the interpretation of the researcher. Also with thematic analysis in looking at generated themes, one could ignore the individual voices or experiences which could get lost in amalgamated themes. In using thematic analysis, the researcher has to be clear whether they are identifying themes that are in their view representative of the from the data. ‘reality’ In my research I wanted to investigate my chosen phenomenon - school experience and the relationship between two children and their key adults,
Braun and Clark (2006) argue that thematic analysis should be viewed as a qualitative method in its own right. In some ways thematic analysis can be seen to be similar to IPA, in that initially as a researcher you are advised to immerse yourself within the data. Thematic analysis can be viewed as a systematic way of analysing and reporting of patterns (themes within a range of data). Thematic analysis seeks to capture something important from the data that relates to the original research questions. One advantage of thematic analysis is that it can be used with a large sample of participants and across a wide variety of data e.g. surveys, interviews and focus groups. However, like IPA, thematic analysis can be used with a small number of participants, so I could have used thematic analysis in analysing the data from the children’s interviews and the key adults’ reflective accounts. However, I chose not to use thematic analysis as Braun and Clark (2006) assert thematic analysis is not dependent on a specific theoretical framework and ‘lacks a clearly specified series of procedures’ (Bryman, 2008, p.555). Without a rigorous, transparent framework and methodology of generating and analysing the data I do not feel this is an appropriate method for me to use in my research. In comparison, IPA relies on a series of steps and a highly rigorous systematic analytic procedure which must be closely adhered to. In following this method I feel in some ways this reduces researcher subjectivity that ‘may’ be apparent within thematic analysis, which is a largely simpler inductive approach, relying on the interpretation of the researcher. Also with thematic analysis in looking at generated themes, one could ignore the individual voices or experiences which could get lost in amalgamated themes. In using thematic analysis, the researcher has to be clear whether they are identifying themes that are in their view representative of the ‘reality’ from the data. In my research I wanted to investigate my chosen phenomenon - school experience and the relationship between two children and their key adults,