Definition

Thematic analysis

A widely used qualitative method for identifying and interpreting patterns (themes) across a dataset, canonically via Braun and Clarke’s six phases.

The six phases: familiarize yourself with the data, generate initial codes, construct candidate themes, review them against the coded extracts, define and name them, and write up. A theme is a claim about the data ("informal channels compensate for broken formal reporting"), not a topic ("communication").

Its flexibility is its trap: without documented phases and a codebook, "thematic analysis" degrades into impressionistic quote-picking. Reviewers who know the method check for the audit trail — and for actively sought disconfirming cases.