A Guide To Abductive Thematic Analysis

Thompson, Jamie

Abstract

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. Therefore, through this paper, an 8-step prescriptive approach specific to abductive methodologies is presented which recognises the challenges faced by qualitative scholars, this method of analysis incorporates many concepts from seminal works in thematic analysis but, importantly maintains the balance of theorising with empirical data, which is the core of abductive research.

Citation

Thompson, J. (2022). A Guide To Abductive Thematic Analysis. Qualitative Report, 27(5), 1410-1421. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2022.5340

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 18, 2022
• Online Publication Date: May 19, 2022
• Publication Date: May 19, 2022
• Deposit Date: Apr 28, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: May 31, 2022
• Print ISSN: 1052-0147
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 1410-1421
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2022.5340
• Keywords: thematic analysis, abductive, themes, coding, code-book
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/2865363