Applying Thematic Analysis to Education: A Hybrid Approach to Interpreting Data in Practitioner Research

“Based upon a set of codes, definitions, examples, and “when to use” and “when not to used” sections, a codebook can be developed as a guide to help analyze data (Guest et al., 2006).”

“In “Using Thematic Analysis in Psychology,” Braun and Clarke (2006) delineate a straightforward, step-bystep approach to conducting TA and now is referred to as reflexive TA (Braun & Clarke, 2019).”

“…made to detail a step-by-step guide to apply TA to practice in psychology, nursing, and sport and exercise research (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Braun et al., 2019; Braun et al., 2017; Clarke & Braun, 2014; Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006; Nowell et al., 2017), there is a paucity of description…”

“In addition to detailing the steps of conducting TA as other practical examples have undertaken (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006; Nowell et al., 2017), this article has its strength in outlining multiple data collection tools and their associated analytical processes.”

“It seems confusing for researchers to distinguish and choose between TA and content analysis, considering many similarities between the approaches and the least thoughtful discussion in the literature (Vaismoradi et al., 2013).”

“There are different approaches to TA (Boyatzis, 1998; Guest et al., 2011).”

“Thematic analysis (TA) is a commonly used qualitative data analysis approach in psychology (Braun & Clarke, 2006), health care (Braun & Clarke, 2014), sport and exercise (Braun et al., 2017), and many other fields (Boyatzis, 1998).”

“Saturation is an elastic concept (Morse, 1995), and the crux of our discussion is to clarify when and how data saturation was reached in our practitioner inquiry.”

“…a step-by-step guide to apply TA to practice in psychology, nursing, and sport and exercise research (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Braun et al., 2019; Braun et al., 2017; Clarke & Braun, 2014; Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006; Nowell et al., 2017), there is a paucity of description addressing the field…”

“Informed by grounded theory, codes can come from the data itself (inductive coding) as well as particular theoretical or epistemological positions (deductive coding; DeCuir-Gunby et al., 2011).”

“Although digital analysis software packages such as NVivo scaffold data management, analysis, and write-up (Maher et al., 2018), Basit (2003) argues that the choice will be made contingent on the size of the project, availability of time and funds, and preference and expertise of the researcher.”

“However, as two coders were engaged in the generation and testing of the codebook as well as reviewing themes, a clear trail of evidence for the validity and interrater reliability has been improved (Roberts et al., 2019).”

“However, a lack of description about the process and details of analysis often leads the TA report readers to wonder how exactly qualitative information is systematically coded and how themes emerge from the data (Tuckett, 2005).”

“It was our reflexivity and prolonged engagement with data and analytic process that led to a thicker description of this particular practitioner inquiry, contributing to transferability and dependability as criteria for evaluating qualitative studies (Maher et al., 2018).”

“TA aligns with these data collection tools that seek to explore the events, meanings, and experiences from verbal interviews and textual data (journal entries) generated by those experiencing them (Joffe, 2012; Vaismoradi et al., 2013).”

“Framing refers to controls on communication in the pedagogic relationship between the teacher and students (Singh, 2002).”

“Considering students’ low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds, we assume that “treatment” associated with disengagement is supposed to be directed at a wider social context instead of individuals (Furlong, 1991).”

“It is especially important for those disadvantaged students who have been bearing the greatest brunt of educational inequalities and disempowerment over long periods of time (Munns, 2007; Willis, 1977).”

“Student engagement in learning experiences is understood to relate to their cognitive (think hard), affective (feel good), and operative (work toward being more productive learners) engagements that need to be occurring simultaneously at high levels (Munns et al., 2013).”

“It involves the identi fi cation and reporting of patterns in a data set, which are then interpreted for their inherent meaning (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Liebenberg et al., 2020; Xu & Zammit, 2020); these patterns can be found on the basis of understanding the meaning of keywords used by participants.”

“To be specific, we followed several stages (Xu and Zammit, 2020) to analyse the primary and secondary data.”

“We analyzed the data following a deductive/inductive hybrid thematic analysis approach [29, 101]: First, the transcripts were coded by five researchers using a deductive coding approach, where each researcher identified topics in the transcripts independently according to four categories in our…”

“For thematic data analysis, a hybrid approach that employed both deductive and inductive processes was taken to prepare a coding scheme (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Xu & Zammit, 2020).”

“As Xu and Zammit [24] noted, this so-called hybrid approach assists a researcher in identifying the most basic elements of the raw data and flexibly discovering both descriptive and interpretive meanings that appear interesting and relevant to the research agenda.”

“For open-ended questions, open coding was conducted using grounded theory, and themes were extracted from the data (Xu & Zammit, 2020).”

“A hybrid approach can be used to address this [12, 13], but the extra time and expertise required need to be weighed against the potential benefits.”

“Such intensive communications are important for comprehending and consolidating theoretical frameworks (Xu & Zammit, 2020).”

“As Xu and Zammit (2020) noted, this so-called hybrid approach assists researchers in identifying the basic features of raw data and flexibly discovering descriptive and interpretive meanings that appear interesting and relevant to the research agenda.”

“It is also important to mention that Peel (2020) and Xu and Zammit (2020), who focus on TA in the field of Education for practitioner research and beginner research, respectively, do not add much to the above discussion of TA.”

“…employing both a deductive and inductive process is considered suitable when a research topic with abundant empirical and theoretical data (e.g., effective teachers) is applied to an emerging field (e.g., VCAs as language teachers), as is the case with this present study (Xu & Zammit, 2020).”

“In accordance with Xu & Zammit (2020), qualitative analysis is the same as synthesis through interpretation and explanation.”

“TA is a flexible method that provides detailed descriptions of phenomena in education (Xu & Zammit, 2020).”

“In this regard, to have a comprehensive and balanced view of the data (Xu & Zammit, 2020), in the first step of analysis, pre-defined codes such as ‘attitudes’ and ‘perceived ease of use’ were used to label different parts of the data.”

“, we employed a hybrid thematic analysis to disambiguate the collected data where emerging themes become the categories for analysis (Clarke & Braun, 2014; Xu & Zammit, 2020).”

“We utilized a hybrid code-book thematic analysis to synthesize findings gathered from interviews and focus groups [17].”

“Qualitative data from the open-ended questions were analyzed using a hybrid ap-proach—a combination of inductive and deductive thematic analysis from Fereday and Muir-Cochrane [78]—guided by the adaptation stages of educational qualitative research outlined by Xu and Zammit [79].”

“Then, the two researchers organized codes in themes; reviewed and redefined themes, and organized them into a coherent and consistent story about the data [51] [71].”

“…theoretical frameworks, hypotheses, and pre-de fi ned codebooks) and inductive coding (developing themes based on the text without a priori ideas) and so conduct QTA in tandem with deductive approaches that may bene fi t from intercoder reliability (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006; Xu & Zammit, 2020).”

“…the next generation of scholars and motivating them to become ethical teacher-researchers, social justice practitioners, and transnational pre-service teachers are crucial values within CIE and in the broader fi eld of educational studies (Nordbäck et al., 2022; Xu & Stahl, 2022; Xu & Zammit, 2020).”

“A hybrid inductive-deductive approach was used, with a primarily inductive approach was used for the initial coding, with codes emerging from the text (Xu and Zammit, 2020).”

“Combining these approaches is posited to strengthen the process of theorizing (Sekhon et al., 2017; Xu and Zammit, 2020).”

“Second, hybrid approach has been used in the existing literature (e.g., Fereday et al., 2006; Naeem & Ozuem, 2022; Xu & Zammit, 2020).”

“To analyse the responses, the different steps of a thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006; Xu & Zammit, 2020) were largely followed.”

“The process of identifying themes was conducted iteratively according to Braun and Clarke's(26) approach.(27) This made it possible to identify the most common issues that were discussed through consultation.”

“The interview data were audio recorded, transcribed and thematically (both inductively and deductively) coded (Xu & Zammit, 2020).”

“To make the best use of the data collected for this study and to meet the research objectives, all data (first and second phase) were analyzed through “hybrid thematic content analysis” (Nowell et al., 2017; Xu and Zammit, 2020).”

“The thematic analysis does not adhere to a rigid or highly structured theoretical framework; rather, it operates as a theoretically flexible approach, allowing themes to emerge organically from the data and revealing recurring and significant meanings (Finlay 2021; Saldaña 2021; Xu and Zammit 2020).”

“Analysis techniques were hybrid in that both theory-and data-driven codes were created to assist in the coding of interviews (Xu & Zammit, 2020).”

“Drawing upon pedagogies of discomfort as well as an engagement framework (high affective, high cognitive and high operative learning experiences), data from the research journals and focus groups were coded thematically (Xu and Zammit 2020).”

“Data processing steps consisted of preparing and organising the data, selecting keywords and quotations, coding the data into categories, searching for themes and reporting the findings (Naeem et al. 2023; Xu & Zammit 2020).”

“The same researchers constructed, reflected, discussed, refined the codes, and iterated on the relationships and categorization of the data until achieved a rich interpretation of their meaning and organized them into a consistent story [12, 13, 48, 59].”

“This represents both a ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ approach to data analysis (Xu & Zammit, 2020).”

“This secondary data analysis (occurring in 2021) utilised both deductive and inductive thematic analysis (Xu & Zammit, 2020).”

“This code-development process used a hybrid inductive-deductive approach [49–51] while reviewing around 25% of the responses, guided both by the 2015 Dietary Guidelines for the Brazilian Population’s definition of UPFs [26] and by insights obtained from the data.”

“For the analysis, we identi fi ed codes and themes both inductively and deductively within the data set (Xu and Zammit 2020), following the six phases of thematic analysis developed by Braun and Clarke (2006).”

“Further, a mixed inductive (bottom-up) and deductive (top-down) analysis was employed [24] where the data codes were derived from the experiences of the participants.”

“Neither patients nor the public were involved in the design, conduct, reporting, or dissemination of this research.”

“…Thematic Analysis, which combines a blended inductive, data-driven approach with a deductive, empirically, and theory-driven approach to interpret raw data (Xu & Zammit, 2020) and is becoming an increasingly popular analysis within the field (Bagnall et al., 2024b; Ozturk et al., under review).”

“This theory explores how individuals draw meaning from their experiences by describing the overall essence of an experience, the lived experience [17].”

“This method is a hybrid approach that combines deductive and inductive components in a qualitative theme analysis (Proudfoot, 2023; Xu and Zammit, 2020).”

“For the synthesis, the researchers used narrative text and thematic analysis, which helps integrate various types of research (Xu and Zammit, 2020).”

“The hybrid approach combined both interview transcripts and questionnaire open-ended responses as data sources (Taylor and Ussher 2001; Xu and Zammit 2020).”

“As Watkins ’ s (2006, 2016) theorisation was used, however, inductive codes were also extracted from the raw data as they may fully capture participants ’ views and contribute to the formation of the thematic map with regard to learning experiences (Xu and Zammit 2020).”

“A hybrid thematic approach was adopted while forming the themes; as such analysis enabled the researcher to discover both descriptive and interpretive meanings that appeared interesting and relevant to the research agenda (Xu & Zammit, 2020).”

“Then, line-by-line coding of all articles was conducted by two reviewers independently [27].”

“In stage II, the transcripts were analysed with a hybrid approach comprising both inductive and deductive TA, in line with evidence (Fereday and MuirCochrane, 2006; Joffe, 2012; Xu and Zammit, 2020) indicating that hybrid TA allows to give meaning to raw data using pre-existing categories, whilst still granting a comp…”

“[47], established codes like “technology” and “identity” were applied to categorize various segments of the information For a thorough and unbiased understanding of the data [47], established codes like “technology” and “identity” were applied to categorize various segments of the information.”

“…the sixstep approach to thematic analysis proposed by Braun and Clarke (2006, p.87): Familiarizing with data, generating initial codes, searching for themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and producing the report, and its implementation in the field of education (Xu & Zammit, 2020).”

“Thematic analysis (TA), one of the most commonly used qualitative data analysis approach in Psychology (Braun & Clarke, 2006), is increasingly being used in education (Xu & Zammit, 2020).”

“Overall, thematic coding was applied to the interview data analysis, including deductive coding and inductive coding, which aimed to answer the research question of how schools, communities, and families collaborate to create intergenerational learning (W. Xu and Zammit 2020).”

“…this way, these four patterns of agency constituted as a theoretical framework to assist in the deductively coding of the African students ’ agentive experiences in China (see Xu & Zammit, 2020), with relevant data in the form of phrases, sentences and paragraphs highlighted manually in the texts.”

“We analysed the data through both inductive and deductive approaches (Xu & Zammit, 2020).”