The DOI matches its Crossref record; 34 of the 37 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; none of the 17 sources its claims cite is checked for support yet.
A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis
Open accessAbstract
Thematic analysis is an increasingly popular method for analysing qualitative data within the social sciences. Current guides for conducting thematic analysis promote the method’s broad flexibility across research designs, which has resulted in criticism that the method lacks the rigour and structure necessary for credible academic research. Recognizing the challenges faced by qualitative scholars, I developed and present an 8-step prescriptive approach specific to abductive methodologies incorporating many concepts from seminal works in thematic analysis, and importantly maintaining the balance of theorising with empirical data, which is the core of abductive research.
Overview
AI snapshot
Written from the paper’s full text.
TL;DR
The paper presents an 8-step prescriptive guide for conducting abductive thematic analysis, balancing empirical data with extant theory. It argues this structured approach addresses criticisms of thematic analysis as lacking rigour while remaining specific to abductive research designs.
Key findings
- Proposes an 8-step process: transcription and familiarisation, coding, codebook, development of themes, theorising, comparison of datasets, data display, and writing up.
- Abductive thematic analysis should produce latent themes, with theorising as a distinct step where existing theory guides but does not determine explanation; theory can be refined, changed, adapted, or consolidated when data do not fit.
- Recommends at least 2–3 rounds of coding and a codebook with label, definition, “when to use”/“when not to use” criteria, and an example quotation; thematic network analysis can show how themes derive from codes.
- Uses examples from the author’s research on ski resort employees and volunteer tourism, including consolidating “fun” and “exciting” codes into “enjoyable work” and combining Bourdieu’s practice theory with Blumer’s symbolic interactionism.
Methods
- Conceptual/methodological paper, not an empirical study; develops an 8-step guide initially during the author’s PhD and refined through the author’s own research and teaching.
- Integrates concepts from thematic analysis (e.g., codebook from Guest et al., 2012; thematic network analysis from Attride-Stirling, 2001) with seminal abductive research principles.
- Illustrates steps with examples from the author’s prior studies, including ski resort employees and volunteer tourism projects.
Limitations
- The paper states it is not a one-size-fits-all or flexible method for all thematic analysis; it is tailored specifically to abductive research methodologies.
- The paper notes that advocates of reflexive/inductive thematic analysis have disregarded the codebook as positivistic, and that quantification of qualitative data is often impossible and unnecessary for exploratory conceptual understanding.
- Evident from the text: the guide is based on the author’s experience and selected examples rather than systematic empirical validation or comparison with other abductive thematic analysis guides.
Model-written summary. Check it against the paper before relying on it.
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Claims the paper makes
10 Not checked yet · 6 Own interpretation
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“However, quantification is not necessary for qualitative thematic analysis.”
§ A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis > Step (6) Comparison of Datasets
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
In the paper
“Presenting quotations also improves trustworthiness, as the veracity of the raw empirical data is difficult to challenge, and is a method for demonstrating reflexivity by giving voice to the participants independent of your personal opinions or feelings (Guest et al., 2012).”
§ A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis > Step (8) Writing Up
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Guest et al., 2012
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Current guides for conducting thematic analysis promote the method's broad flexibility across research designs”
§ A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Guest et al., 2012
- Not checked yetcites Nowell et al., 2017
- Not checked yetcites Braun & Clarke, 2006
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
In the paper
“The theoretical contributions produce a degree of generalizability, as the theorisation of the raw data transcends the individualised social setting, as it has links to existing knowledge and understanding (Coffey & Atkinson, 1996).”
§ A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis > Abductive Data Analysis
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Coffey & Atkinson, 1996
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“A thematic network analysis technique can address these concerns.”
§ A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis > Step (7) Data Display
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Rests on an assumption: When abductively analysing data, often reviewers will question if an academic has over-reached and whether theoretical contributions are truly representative of the raw data.
In the paper
“Accordingly, abductive research is described as recursive and iterative because theory is generated theory, but also theoretical development is culled in areas where phenomena are adequately explained by extant literature (Timmermans & Tavory, 2012).”
§ A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis > Abductive Data Analysis
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Timmermans & Tavory, 2012
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: unclear — It is unclear whether the paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
- Probably not a substantial claim. 9
- It may state two separate claims as one. 2
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“which has resulted in criticism that the method lacks the rigour and structure necessary for credible academic research.”
§ A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Braun et al., 2019
- Not checked yetcites Braun & Clarke, 2019
- Not checked yetcites Lochmiller, 2021
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“In the case of abductive thematic analysis, latent themes should always be the outcome as theorisation is central to abductive reasoning, as shall be discussed in the following step.”
§ A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis > Step (4) Development of Themes
boosteddirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“Thematic analysis is an increasingly popular method for analysing qualitative data within the social sciences.”
§ A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Braun et al., 2019
- Not checked yetcites Campbell et al., 2021
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This is an important part of abductive thematic analysis, making it distinct from other guides to qualitative analysis.”
§ A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis > Step (5) Theorising
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.
In the paper
“Overall, the consolidation of an abductive research design with thematic analysis is an effective tool for gathering rich understanding from participant narratives, while ensuring findings have theoretical generalizability (Coffey & Atkinson, 1996).”
§ A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis > Conclusion
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Coffey & Atkinson, 1996
plaindirect- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
It may state two separate claims as one.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“However, like with Step 6, there is no requirement for data display to be quantified.”
§ A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis > Step (7) Data Display
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
None of the sources cited for this claim have been checked yet.
In the paper
“maintaining the balance of theorising with empirical data, which is the core of abductive research.”
§ A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis > Abstract
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Atkinson et al., 2003
- Not checked yetcites Hurley et al., 2021
- Not checked yetcites Kelle, 1997
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
In the paper
“Braun et al. (2019) specifically point to the similarities between their approach to thematic analysis with grounded theory, interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA), and the active role of the researcher in generating themes.”
§ A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Braun et al., 2019
plaincorrelational- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: fails — The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.
A conclusion the paper draws from its own results — it cites no other source for it, so there is none to check. The quote shows it is in the paper.
In the paper
“This method can act as a point of departure for any exploratory qualitative data analysis, when a researcher wishes to incorporate theoretical frameworks to guide the research findings.”
§ A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis > Conclusion
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: fails — It may be too vague to check against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.
In the paper
“Many researchers also cite Braun and Clarke (2006), yet within their methodology, there is no mention of researcher reflexivity central to their style of analysis.”
§ A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis A Guide to Abductive Thematic Analysis > Introduction
What the sources say
- Not checked yetcites Braun and Clarke, 2006
plain- Asserted: passes — The authors put it forward as true.
- Checkable: passes — It can be checked against evidence.
- Load-bearing: passes — The paper’s conclusions depend on it.
- Based: passes — The paper gives a reason why it holds.
Probably not a substantial claim.
The paper relies on this without support.
Guides for abductive research designs are lacking.
“Yet, guides for abductive research designs are lacking.”
The paper relies on this without support.
There is limited discussion of an abductive approach to thematic analysis in the qualitative research literature.
“Yet, there is limited discussion of an abductive approach to thematic analysis in the qualitative research literature.”
The paper relies on this without support.
Coding is a cyclical act, as the first round of coding rarely succeeds in identifying all codes.
“Coding is a cyclical act, as the first round of coding rarely succeeds in identifying all codes and, therefore, it is recommended to undertake at least 2-3 rounds of coding.”
The paper relies on this without support.
When abductively analysing data, often reviewers will question if an academic has over-reached and whether theoretical contributions are truly representative of the raw data.
“When abductively analysing data, often reviewers will question if an academic has over-reached and whether theoretical contributions are truly representative of the raw data.”
The paper relies on this without support.
Even within top-ranked journals, data displays are often constructed simply using shape and arrow tools available within MS Word.
“However, even within top-ranked journals, data displays (such as that shown in Figure 3) are often constructed simply using shape and arrow tools available within MS Word”
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
The source backs part of the claim, not all of it — or backs it for a different population, condition or comparison.
In the citing paper
“The placement students' reflections were focused on their collaborative experiences, and were analysed by academic researchers using an abductive approach (Thompson, 2022), to construct themes that are grounded in the data (inductive coding) but also informed by existing literature on SaP (deductive coding).”
From Co-creating custom GPTs: an autoethnographic study of undergraduate students as partners in generative AI innovation (2026) · cites this paper as Thompson, 2022
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
Citations
Cites
Using thematic analysis in psychology
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006) · Qualitative Research in Psychology · doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa · Cited by 194,414 · cited 15×
“At this point, some scholars have suggested researchers should make decisions upon which themes are overarching, which are primary/secondary, and which are sub-themes based on their importance to the study (Braun & Clarke, 2006).”
InfluentialQualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook
(1994) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0272-4944(05)80231-2 · Cited by 48,420 · cited 4×
“Data display is usually associated with reducing qualitative data into quantitative matrices to display data better visually (Boyatzis, 1998; Miles & Huberman, 1994).”
InfluentialLincoln, Y. S., Guba, E. G., & Pilotta, J. J. (1985) · International Journal of Intercultural Relations · doi:10.1016/0147-1767(85)90062-8 · Cited by 45,787
Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2019) · Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health · doi:10.1080/2159676x.2019.1628806 · Cited by 19,677 · cited 2×
“…this flexibility has resulted in thematic analysis being employed with a “mishmash” of different approaches and divergent philosophies (Braun et al., 2019; Braun & Clarke, 2019), which has been detrimental to the credibility of thematic research designs (Lochmiller, 2021; Nowell et al., 2017).”
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Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2012) · APA handbook of research methods in psychology, Vol 2: Research designs: Quantitative, qualitative, neuropsychological, and biological. · doi:10.1037/13620-004 · Cited by 10,299
One size fits all? What counts as quality practice in (reflexive) thematic analysis?
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2021) · Qualitative Research in Psychology · doi:10.1080/14780887.2020.1769238 · Cited by 9,727 · cited 2×
“Figure 1 is an extract from a codebook, in which participants discussed their financial concerns: have disregarded the codebook as a positivistic tool (Braun et al., 2019; Braun & Clarke, 2021).”
Guest, G., MacQueen, K., & Namey, E. (2012) · doi:10.4135/9781483384436 · Cited by 7,924 · cited 20×
“Upon completion of Steps 1 through to 7, the findings should be written up with headings denoting each theme (Guest et al., 2012).”
InfluentialThematic networks: an analytic tool for qualitative research
Attride-Stirling, J. (2001) · Qualitative Research · doi:10.1177/146879410100100307 · Cited by 5,506 · cited 4×
“I have taken and adapted key concepts such as the codebook (Guest et al., 2012) and thematic network analysis (Attride-Stirling, 2001) from authors on thematic analysis.”
InfluentialCollected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce
(1935) · Nature · doi:10.1038/135131a0 · Cited by 4,601
Research works printed but not linked: 8
- Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In I. Szeman & T. Kaposy (Eds.), Cultural theory: An anthropology (pp. 81-93).
- Gioia, D. A., Corley, K. G., & Hamilton, A. L. (2012). Seeking qualitative rigor in inductive research: Notes on the Gioia methodology. Organisational Research Methods, 16(1), 15-31.
- Jonsen, K., Fendt, J., & Point, S. (2017). Convincing qualitative research: What constitutes persuasive writing? Organizational Research Methods, 21(1), 30-67.
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- Nowell, L. S., Norris, J. M., White, D. E., & Moules, N. J. (2017). Thematic analysis: Striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16, 1-13.
- Saldaña, J. (2015). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (3 rd ed.). SAGE.
- Seidel, J., & Kelle, U. (1995). Different functions of coding in the analysis of textual data. In U. Kelle (Ed.), Computer-aided qualitative data analysis: Theory, methods and practice (pp. 52-61). SAGE.
- Timmermans, S., & Tavory, I. (2012). Theory construction in qualitative research: From grounded theory to abductive analysis. Sociological Theory, 30(3), 167-186.
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Yeung, T. A., Friehs, M. A., & Gómez-Maureira, M. A. (2025) · International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games (FDG) · doi:10.1145/3723498.3723799 · Cited by 2
Irai, P., Arrowsmith, J., & Junaid, F. A. (2025) · Labour & Industry a journal of the social and economic relations of work · doi:10.1080/10301763.2025.2513112 · Cited by 4
“…hypotheses, or inductive reasoning which develops generalisation directly from the qualitative data, abductive reasoning seeks to bridge the gap between theory and observation through exploration of ‘best-fit’ explanations of emerging patterns (Thompson, 2022; Timmermans and Tavory 2012).”
Eleazar, A. (2025) · Sociological Perspectives · doi:10.1177/07311214251333420 · Cited by 2
Gridley, K., Poole, M., Birks, Y. F., Hicks, B., Dixon, J., Wheatley, A., Robinson, L. A., & Banerjee, S. (2025) · Dementia · doi:10.1177/14713012251361189 · Cited by 2
“Data were analysed abductively (Thompson, 2022), with the fi ndings of initial (separate) analysis further developed collaboratively, broadly applying the lens of personhood (Kitwood, 1997) and, more speci fi cally, in relation to the importance of the social environment for supporting psychological…”
Fraga, R. D. R., Schädeli, D., & Ritz, A. (2025) · International Journal of Public Sector Management · doi:10.1108/ijpsm-05-2024-0166 · Cited by 2
How Do Environmental Impact and Gender Inequality Characterise Fast Fashion Supply Chains?
Boote, A. O., & Lotfi, M. (2023) · Academy of Management Proceedings · doi:10.5465/amproc.2023.12101abstract · Cited by 2
“This paper highlights to managerial bodies their distinct lack of and need for ‘intersectional sustainability practices’ (Gloor, Mestre, Post, & Ruigrok, 2022) in the SC. ‘Intersectional sustainability’ (Gloor, Mestre, Post, & Ruigrok, 2022) could be achieved by ‘narrowing the gender data gap in reports’ (Gloor, Mestr…”
InfluentialLuckhaus, J. L., Duncan, T. S., Kharko, A., Clareborn, A., Hägglund, M., Blease, C., & Riggare, S. S. (2025) · doi:10.2196/preprints.74144 · Cited by 2
Community Flood Resilience Factors; a Community's PerspectivePreprint
Laidlaw, S., Percival, S., & Kiriakoulakis, K. (2025) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.5384254 · Cited by 2
Reimagining CS Courses for High School Students
Smith, J. M., Twarek, B., & McGill, M. M. (2024) · ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) · doi:10.1145/3626253.3635554 · Cited by 1
A Systematic Review of Research on the Use of Mathematical Modelling in the South African Education
Jakobsen, A., & Mhakure, D. (2024) · International perspectives on the teaching and learning of mathematical modelling · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-53322-8_11 · Cited by 1
Challenges for unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors in Swedish compulsory institutional care
Doohan, I. S., Ghazinour, M., Eriksson, M., Padyab, M., & Sundqvist, J. (2024) · Frontiers in Human Dynamics · doi:10.3389/fhumd.2024.1411378 · Cited by 1
Improving inclusive school food practices with parent voices
Morin, J. (2024) · International Journal of Inclusive Education · doi:10.1080/13603116.2024.2413515 · Cited by 1
Chechik, H., & Bonny‐Noach, H. (2024) · Studies in Clinical Social Work Transforming Practice Education and Research · doi:10.1080/28376811.2024.2424415 · Cited by 1
Parreira, M. J. H., & Pires, I. M. M. (2025) · doi:10.3390/proceedings2025113002 · Cited by 1
Gamification in Agile Development Methodology: A Systematic Literature Review
Banua, N. M., Mohammed, F., Mukred, M., Bazel, M. A., & Sajat, M. S. (2024) · International Conference on Network Applications, Protocols and Services (NETAPPS) · doi:10.1109/netapps63333.2024.10823426 · Cited by 1
Halvorsen, T. B., Saus, M., Douglas, M., Bjørknes, R., Forsberg, J. T., Patras, J., & Rasmussen, L. P. (2025) · Child & Family Social Work · doi:10.1111/cfs.13274 · Cited by 1
A comparative bibliometric analysis of research articles on garment production
Sun, Q., Zhang, Y., Sun, Y., Chen, Y.-J., Li, X., Huang, Q.-W., Li, Q., & Wang, L. (2025) · Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management · doi:10.1108/jfmm-07-2024-0283 · Cited by 1
Mature learner: navigating undergraduate study choices and dilemmas in a liquid modern world
Hellewell, L. (2025) · Perspectives Policy and Practice in Higher Education · doi:10.1080/13603108.2025.2478139 · Cited by 1
“The abductive thematic analysis aims to identify the most logical solution for a phenomenon (Hurley, Dietrich, and Rundle-Thiele 2021; Thompson 2022).”
Sherif, B., Hocking, D. C., Jafarabadi, M. A., Rees, S. J., & Sundram, S. (2025) · BMJ Open · doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2024-096031 · Cited by 3
Creative Ageing for Community Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Rural Thailand
Teerapong, K., & Natakun, B. (2025) · The International Journal of Community and Social Development · doi:10.1177/25166026251329285 · Cited by 1
“An abductive thematic analysis of interview transcriptions (Thompson, 2022), complemented by researchers’ contextual understanding from direct observations, provides concepts grounded in participant narratives and supports the development of an ‘on-the-ground’ theory within an underexplored…”
Grewal, E., Durocher, E., Premji, S., & Gewurtz, R. E. (2025) · Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation · doi:10.1007/s10926-025-10291-6 · Cited by 2
“…broader patterns, (4) reviewing themes to ensure they aligned with both the dataset and the intersectionality framework, (5) defining and naming themes to capture their essence, and (6) producing the final analysis by integrating themes with participants' narratives and theoretical insights [25].”
Marshall, C. A., Plett, P., Allen, J., Easton, C., Goldszmidt, R. A., Javadizadeh, E., Perez, S., & Ward, B. (2025) · PLOS mental health. · doi:10.1371/journal.pmen.0000297 · Cited by 1
“This approach contrasts with inductive coding, which typically involves entering into a dataset with no prior theoretical understandings of the data, or deductive coding, where a theory is used to structure analysis of qualitative data [33].”
Montague, K. E. (2025) · Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology · doi:10.1002/asi.25013 · Cited by 1
“I used abductive analysis to identify themes and illustrative quotations (Tavory & Timmermans, 2014) and to conduct parallel and equal engagement with empirical data and extant theoretical understanding (Thompson, 2022).”
Turner, L., Hoolohan, C., & Mander, S. L. (2025) · Consumption and Society · doi:10.1332/27528499y2025d000000057 · Cited by 1
Réti, K., Hartel, T., Ocrain, A., Petrescu, D. C., Călugăr, F., Ajtai, I., & Petrescu‐Mag, R. M. (2025) · Anthropocene · doi:10.1016/j.ancene.2025.100480 · Cited by 1
Pastore, O. L., Fortier, M. S., Maffin, J., McBride, C. B., Aslam, L., Dorvil, E., & Sweet, S. N. (2025) · Disability and Rehabilitation · doi:10.1080/09638288.2025.2513588 · Cited by 2
“For the qualitative effectiveness data, we used an abductive thematic analysis [39], whereby two coauthors (O.L.P and E.D.) first deductively coded the data based on theory related to study outcomes.”
Ideas vs. interests: explaining party elites’ support for party democratic innovations
Legein, T., Rangoni, S., Talukder, D., & Haute, É. V. (2025) · Contemporary Politics · doi:10.1080/13569775.2025.2527090 · Cited by 1
Jamil, S. (2025) · LGBTQ+ Family An Interdisciplinary Journal · doi:10.1080/27703371.2025.2538813 · Cited by 1
Yang, J.-K., Casey, A., & Cale, L. (2025) · Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy · doi:10.1080/17408989.2025.2535387 · Cited by 1
Foley, J., Hassett, A., & Williams, E. P. (2025) · International Journal of Police Science & Management · doi:10.1177/14613557251365150 · Cited by 1
Technologies of and for performance: A frame analysis of recreational runners' technology use
Palsa, L., & Mertala, P. (2025) · Performance Enhancement & Health · doi:10.1016/j.peh.2025.100384 · Cited by 1
Norrito, A., & Michelini, E. (2025) · European Sport Management Quarterly · doi:10.1080/16184742.2025.2543027 · Cited by 1
“Following Fereday & Muir-Cochrane (2006) and Thompson (2022), we have constructed methodological guidelines for a systematic, yet open approach to our data analysis.”
Šenk, M., & Hynek, N. (2025) · European Security · doi:10.1080/09662839.2025.2566519 · Cited by 1
“After concluding interviews, the dataset underwent thematic analysis combining abductive and inductive methods, accommodating both predetermined and emergent themes (Braun and Clarke 2006, Thompson 2022).”
Wanigasinghe, N., & Meetiyagoda, L. (2026) · Cities · doi:10.1016/j.cities.2026.107382 · Cited by 1
Suchowerska, R., Loosemore, M., Coen, A., & Alkilani, S. Z. (2025) · International Journal of Project Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2025.102783 · Cited by 1
A Qualitative Study on Civil-Military Cooperation in a Dutch Hospital During COVID-19
Janse, J., Kalkman, J. P., Buma, A. P. C. C. H., & Timen, A. (2025) · Military Medicine · doi:10.1093/milmed/usaf509 · Cited by 1
Leadership Identity in Schools: A Qualitative Inquiry with School Administrators
Sarıkaya, A. K., & Kınık, F. Ş. F. (2025) · Ulusal Eğitim Akademisi Dergisi · doi:10.32960/uead.1749120 · Cited by 1
Kellogg, N. E., Mantell, J. E., Hess, K., Masvawure, T. B., Ubong, I.-A., Bukusi, E. A., Nguyen, N., Remien, R. H., Ngure, K., Kwena, Z., et al. (2025) · AIDS Care · doi:10.1080/09540121.2025.2560099 · Cited by 1
Navigating values in decision-making to shape the landscape of Bangkok’s urban waterways
Numsuk, W., & Dempsey, N. (2025) · Landscape Research · doi:10.1080/01426397.2025.2583463 · Cited by 1
Indigenous Cartographies in the Covid-19 Pandemic
Sartoretto, P. M., & Martins, L. L. (2025) · Media and Communication · doi:10.17645/mac.11078 · Cited by 1
Navigating procurement strategies adoption in the New Space transition: Drivers and conditions
Zancan, V., Pozzi, A., Rota, A., Deutsch, S., & Trucco, P. (2025) · Space Policy · doi:10.1016/j.spacepol.2025.101735 · Cited by 1
Özenç, Y. Y., & Başaran, R. (2025) · Eğitimde Kuram ve Uygulama · doi:10.17244/eku.1647575 · Cited by 1
Mentorok Mentorálása a Tanítsunk Magyarországért! Program „szupervíziós” Egyetemi kurzusain
Horváth, G., & Varga, A. (2025) · Képzés és Gyakorlat neveléstudományi folyóirat · doi:10.17165/tp.2025.1.35-50 · Cited by 1
Dei, G., Locatelli, G., Francescangeli, C., & Nanni, S. (2025) · Progress in Nuclear Energy · doi:10.1016/j.pnucene.2025.106171 · Cited by 1
Foresight in heritage: fostering future consciousness to proactively face change
Morel, H., Wollentz, G., Forgesson, S., Iwasaki, A., & Heritage, A. (2025) · Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development · doi:10.1108/jchmsd-12-2024-0298 · Cited by 1
Revival and resistance: re-imagining policy agency in music education
Kallio, A. A., Jones, T., Yarnold, R., & HARDY, R. (2026) · Music Education Research · doi:10.1080/14613808.2025.2611234 · Cited by 1
Career guidance practitioners’ understandings of social justice in four European Countries
Bilon, A., Casanova, M. L., Toiviainen, S. P., Thomsen, R., & Olsen, A. S. (2026) · British Journal of Guidance and Counselling · doi:10.1080/03069885.2026.2613213 · Cited by 1
“To explore how practitioners conceptualise social justice, we adopted an abductive strategy (Thompson, 2022) to identify traces of discourses that re fl ect major philosophical and political-economic understandings of social justice.”
Beyond belonging: connecting across the STEMM + B student life course
Viola, J. K., McCrone, L., & Kingsbury, M. (2026) · Studies in Higher Education · doi:10.1080/03075079.2025.2612098 · Cited by 1
“…in the data, we consolidated codes to describe the phenomena that we observed in the data and began theorizing to explain the relationship and story between the themes we observed and the entire dataset (Thompson 2022), with a particular focus on different stages of the student life course.”
InfluentialSherman, C. A., Nez, L. C., Aagaard, K. M., Livingston, D., Blacksher, E. A., Reedy, J., Hiratsuka, V. Y., Phelps, W., Blanchard, J. W., Lund, J. R., et al. (2026) · Journal of Community Genetics · doi:10.1007/s12687-026-00859-x · Cited by 1
“Regarding familiarity with genetics, the majority of delib - erants ( n = 12) reported having “a little bit” of knowledge, while a few indicated having “a lot” of knowledge ( n = 5). deductive methods (Thompson 2022 ; Timmermans and Tavory 2012 ).”
Power Relations in Tourism Public Private Partnerships of a Transitional Economy
Yrza, B., & Filimonau, V. (2026) · Tourism Planning & Development · doi:10.1080/21568316.2026.2641177 · Cited by 1
A Qualitative Exploration of Ethical Aspects of Using AI in Parkinson Disease: Patient Panel Study
Luckhaus, J. L., Duncan, T. S., Kharko, A., Clareborn, A., Hägglund, M., Blease, C., & Riggare, S. S. (2026) · JMIR AI · doi:10.2196/74144 · Cited by 1
“The interviews and FGs were analyzed abductively as 1 dataset, using a simplified version of Thompson’s 8-step abductive thematic analysis (Figure 2) [20].”
Horváth, G., & Varga, A. (2026) · Intercultural Education · doi:10.1080/14675986.2026.2652736 · Cited by 1
“The responses were examined through abductive thematic analysis (Thompson 2022), which relied on mentoring literature and the content of the responses.”
Meritocracy and diversity: tensions and contradictions
Prakasam, N., & Cooper, N. (2026) · Culture and Organization · doi:10.1080/14759551.2026.2654609 · Cited by 1
Trendy brands: what makes a brand perceived as trendy
Vieira, J., & Bicho, M. (2026) · Journal of Brand Management · doi:10.1057/s41262-026-00437-z · Cited by 1
Gender-based transnational repression and the Iranian diaspora
Colpitts-Elliott, H., & Ayhan, T. (2026) · Democratization · doi:10.1080/13510347.2026.2655214 · Cited by 1
Water, territory and power in the 2014 water crisis in the state of São Paulo
Zambiasi, T., & Ribeiro, W. C. (2026) · Territory Politics Governance · doi:10.1080/21622671.2026.2653048 · Cited by 1
‘Doing something with society’: the emergent professional identity of sociology graduates
Pach, J., Demeijer, F. A., Kusurkar, R. A., & van Ingen, E. J. (2026) · Studies in Higher Education · doi:10.1080/03075079.2026.2656752 · Cited by 1
Sinakou, E., & Δασκολιά, Μ. (2026) · Studies In Educational Evaluation · doi:10.1016/j.stueduc.2026.101609 · Cited by 1
Beyond rules and results: virtue, behaviour, and the ethics of Indian generation Z at work
Bandyopadhyay, S., Mukherjee, S., Madhu Veechika, K., & Bandyopadhyay, T. (2026) · International journal of organizational analysis · doi:10.1108/ijoa-10-2025-6051 · Cited by 1
Wang, W. G., Schweickle, M. J., Pickard, J. A., & Vella, S. A. (2026) · Journal of Applied Sport Psychology · doi:10.1080/10413200.2026.2671100 · Cited by 1
Wang, Q., Zhou, Y., Alimujiang, A., Gooden, A., & Gu, H. (2026) · Language and Education · doi:10.1080/09500782.2026.2679259 · Cited by 1
“An abductive analytical approach (Thompson 2022) guided data interpretation, combining inductive coding with theoretical interrogation of EGs.”
Decentralisation in public sector data platforms: A pathway to enhancing public value?
Thabit, S., Degkwitz, T., Fadmastuti, M., & Mora, L. (2026) · Government Information Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.giq.2026.102149 · Cited by 2
Psychedelic ethics in practice: The case of ketamine-assisted psychotherapy in Norway
Schüttler, S. S., Parker, J. N., & Münster, D. (2026) · Journal of Psychedelic Studies · doi:10.1556/2054.2026.00486 · Cited by 1
Methi, A., Moleiro, C., & Greenwood, R. M. (2026) · International Journal of Transgender Health · doi:10.1080/26895269.2026.2687000 · Cited by 1
Impact Benefit Agreements in Critical Mineral Mining: A Typology and Analysis
Carr-Wilson, S., Pattanayak, S. K., & Weinthal, E. S. (2026) · Environment and Security · doi:10.1177/27538796261463020 · Cited by 1
An Ecological Approach to Researching Educational Environments
Frelin, A., & Grannäs, J. (2026) · Springer international handbooks of education · doi:10.1007/978-981-95-2591-1_21-1 · Cited by 1
Tewelde, M., Moate, J., & Posti-Ahokas, H. (2023) · Apples - Journal of Applied Language Studies · doi:10.47862/apples.120265 · Cited by 2
Students’ Perceptions and Engagement in Technology Mediated Task Based Language Teaching (TMTBLT)
Putri, B. Y. E. D. (2023) · EDULANGUE · doi:10.20414/edulangue.v6i1.7957 · Cited by 1
“In other words, abductive research strives for the best sensible solution and practical explanation for phenomena (Thompson, 2022).”
Metadata
- Authors
- Thompson, J.
- Affiliations
- Edinburgh Napier University (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Thompson, Jamie
- ORCID
- Thompson, Jamie
- Venue
- The Qualitative Report
- Publisher
- Nova Southeastern University
- Published
- 2022-05-20
- ISSN
- 1052-0147 (ISSN-L)
- 2160-3715
- OpenAlex
- W4280585239
- Semantic Scholar
- 2765f40bd6e8e0d8bc9c1eddbd129fba2be5cbad
- Cited by
- 493
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 131 · 2025: 174 · 2024: 124 · 2023: 58 · 2022: 6
- FWCI
- 195.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-sa
- Locations
- The Qualitative Report (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Edinburgh Napier Research Repository (Edinburgh Napier University) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- NSUWorks (Nova Southeastern University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
- Research Output (Edinburgh Napier University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Qualitative Research Methods and Applications
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Qualitative Research Methods and Ethics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Sociology and Education Studies
- Keywords
- abductive research, thematic analysis, qualitative data analysis, scientific rigor, research methodology
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
A language model drew the claims from the paper on 2026-10-10, under version 3 of the claim definition (model deepseek-v4.1-flash, prompt extract-v3).
A second model labelled each claim on 2026-10-10 (model jev-1.13-20260917, definition revision gold-guideline-v0.2).
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
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