Thematic analysis
IB Psychology· Research methodology· 11 min read
1. 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.
2. 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).
3. 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.
4. Scope
5. Common Pitfalls
Wrong move:
Thematic analysis is just picking good quotes, or counting how often words appear.
Why:
A frequently penalised misconception in IB Psychology exams.
Correct move:
It is a staged, systematic process (familiarisation, coding, grouping, reviewing, naming themes). Cherry-picking quotes or tallying words is neither systematic nor genuinely thematic.
Going deeper
- Reflexivityreflexivity guards the interpretation in thematic analysis (RM_8).
- Ensuring credibilitythematic analysis is one credibility-bearing qualitative method (RM_10).