# Thematic analysis

> IB Psychology · IB Psychology 2027 First Assessment
> Source: https://www.owlsprep.com/study/ib-psychology-rm-thematic-analysis/

Understand the stages of thematic analysis to uncover patterns in textual data that are then grouped into themes that are relevant to the aim of research engaging in thematic analysis.

## Learning objectives

- Understand the stages of thematic analysis to uncover patterns in textual data that are then grouped into themes that are relevant to the aim of research engaging in thematic analysis.

## Core concept

Thematic analysis is a systematic way to find meaning in textual data such as interview transcripts. The researcher reads and re-reads the data, codes segments, groups related codes into candidate themes, then reviews and names the themes so they genuinely capture patterns relevant to the research aim. The output is a set of well-evidenced themes illustrated with quotations — a rigorous route from raw words to interpretation, rather than an impressionistic summary.

## Key studies

IB Psychology answers must be supported by named studies. Learn these to cite as evidence:

**Brevers & Turel (2019)** — A qualitative study of university students identified eight self-control strategies for social-media use, grouped into proactive and reactive categories. — *A worked example of thematic analysis — raw interview data coded and grouped into named, aim-relevant themes (here, categories of strategy).*

## Evaluation (AO3)

**Strength — depth and flexibility** — Captures rich, participant-grounded meaning that closed questions miss, and works across many kinds of textual data.

**Limitation — researcher-dependent** — Coding and theme choices involve interpretation, so different analysts can reach different themes — which is why reflexivity and clear procedures matter for credibility.

## Scope

> **note**
>
> Thematic analysis as the qualitative analysis route; its place among quantitative routes is framed in RM_1, and its rigour links to credibility (RM_10).

## Common pitfalls

- **Wrong:** Thematic analysis is just picking good quotes, or counting how often words appear.
  - Why it fails: A frequently penalised misconception in IB Psychology exams.
  - Correct: It is a staged, systematic process (familiarisation, coding, grouping, reviewing, naming themes). Cherry-picking quotes or tallying words is neither systematic nor genuinely thematic.

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