Explain how friendships are maintained over time or distance?
The interviews with Alexander was conducted in Spring 2008 at Liverpool John Moores University by Tanya Corker and Alasdair Gordon-Finlayson. It took place in a small room at Liverpool John Moores University. Ethical approval was provided by York St John University (where the project was co-ordinated) and Liverpool John Moores University (where the interview was organised). You should consult the Dataset User Guide for further information about the ethical considerations and consent procedures that were in place for the original interviews.
Thematic Analysis should be done as follows:
1. Think about your chosen research question (How are friendships maintained over time or distance?) as you identify 1st order/descriptive codes, group them together and identify 2nd order/interpretive codes.
2. Identify 2-5 themes which encompass or overarch some of the interpretive groupings you created in phase 2. Gather all the data together relevant to each potential theme.
3. Check that these themes can be used to answer the research question: How are friendships maintained over time or distance?
4. Present your analysis visually. Look at the example illustrations given in the Worked Example of Thematic Analysis Phases 3, 4 and 5 document.
You will need to include the annotated transcript, your list of 1st order and 2nd order codes that you created following phases 1 and 2, and your illustrated diagram of your analysis that clearly shows the themes developed, and how the codes relate to them.
Please make sure you go through all the steps of Thematic Analysis:
1. Familiarizing yourself with your data: Transcribing data (if necessary), reading and re-reading the data, noting down initial ideas.
2. Generating initial codes: Coding interesting features of the data in a systematic fashion across the entire data set, collating data relevant to each code.
3. Searching for themes: Collating codes into potential themes, gathering all data relevant to each potential theme.
4. Reviewing themes: Checking if the themes work in relation to the coded extracts and the entire data set, generating a thematic map of the analysis.
5. Defining and naming themes: Ongoing analysis to refine the specifics of each theme, and the overall story the analysis tells, generating clear definitions and names for each theme.
6. Producing the report: The final opportunity for analysis. Selection of vivid, compelling extract examples, final analysis of selected extracts, relating back of the analysis to the research question and literature, producing a scholarly report of the analysis.
Thank you in advance!
The attached documents are:
Transcript of the interview
Worked Examples of Thematic Analysis Stages 1 and 2
Worked Examples of Thematic Analysis Stages 3, 4 and 5
TA Checklist
Data set user guide