Data management and analysis

The researcher used a combination of computer assisted data analysis software (CAQDAS) and manual methods to analyse the qualitative data. Specifically, NVivo10 software was used to facilitate the management of the large amount of textual data generated for this project and as a tool for the initial generation of codes from which potential themes could be identified across the dataset. Manual methods were then used to further explore, arrange and develop themes and complete the analysis of the qualitative data.

The interviews were analysed using a predominantly inductive thematic analysis approach (TA) using the six-phase guide for TA outlined by Braun and Clarke (Appendix 7).51

It is only recently that Braun and Clarke have ‘named and claimed’ TA as a

standalone method for qualitative data analysis.52 Prior to this, variants of TA were

48 _{Marshall and Rossman state: “There is no substitute for intimate engagement with your data.}

Researchers should think of data as something to cuddle up with, embrace and get to know better”. Catherine Marshall and Gretchen Rossman, Designing Qualitative Research (5th edn, SAGE 2011) 210.

49 _{Silverman observes the preparation of transcripts is not simply a technical detail prior to the main}

business of the analysis. David Silverman, Doing Qualitative Research (4th edn, SAGE 2013) 254.

50 _{Although it is acknowledge that requests for amendments to the data may compromise the value of}

the data.

51 _{Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke, ‘Using thematic analysis in psychology’ (2006) 3 Qual Res}

142 used to analyse qualitative data. However, as a method in its own right, TA was criticised for being poorly defined and lacking the kudos of other branded analytic approaches.53 However, the development of a clearly defined analytic procedure by which to identify common themes in data means that TA is now widely accepted as a branded method and is widely used for analysing qualitative data in social science research.54

TA is defined as a qualitative method for the systematic identification, analysis and reporting of patterns – known as ‘themes’ – within a dataset.55 It is used to provide a rich, detailed thematic description, or aspect of a research phenomenon or issue, and can also be used to interpret aspects of the said phenomenon or issue.56 Given that the concept of coding as a strategy of data reduction is relatively straightforward, TA is seen as a foundational method of qualitative analysis.57 Codes and themes can be either data-derived using a ‘bottom up’ inductive approach, closely linked to the semantic content of the data, or they may be research-driven using a deductive ‘top down’ approach, in which implicit meanings are identified.58

Whilst thematic coding is used as a step in a number of pattern-based qualitative analytic methods, Braun and Clarke distinguish TA from other approaches such as Grounded Theory and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) on the basis that TA does not fix the researcher to specific methods for data collection, theoretical positions,

epistemological or ontological positions; in this sense, it is ‘just a method’ as opposed to an approach to qualitative analysis.59 This means TA can be used in a variety of ways to answer a range of different research questions. It is this

accessibility and flexibility that influenced the choice of TA for this study.

Here, a predominantly inductive approach was taken in which codes were derived from the data. However, because a comprehensive review of existing literature that

52 _{Braun and Clarke claim to have ‘named and claimed’ thematic analysis as a standalone method}

within psychology in 2006. The use of thematic analysis is now used across a variety of disciplines. Braun and Clarke (n41) 178.

53 _{This is despite the fact that thematic analysis underpins other pattern-based analysis such as}

Grounded Theory. It is in this sense that Braun and Clarke refer to thematic analysis as a ‘foundational method’ Braun and Clarke (n43)174.

54 _ibid. 55 _ibid. 56 _{ibid 178.} 57 ibid. 58 _{ibid 207.} 59 _{ibid 178.}

143 explores the relationship between religion and judicial decision-making had been carried out prior to conducting and analysing the interviews, it is inevitable that the identification of themes will have partly been informed by the researcher’s own a priori theoretical constructs.60

IPA was briefly considered as an alternative to TA. IPA is an inductive approach that seeks to examine ‘how people make sense of their major lived experiences’,61

and therefore lends itself to experiential research in which participants are asked

questions about their understandings and perceptions of phenomena.62 Like TA, IPA is a relatively new qualitative approach which involves a process of coding and the development of themes.63 However, in contrast with the approach in TA in which coding is completed across the entire dataset to identify patterns in the data, in IPA ‘emergent themes’ are identified within each data item before patterns are developed into ‘superordinate themes’. Furthermore, IPA has a strong idiographic focus.64

This means sample sizes are usually small; in fact some IPA research may comprise no more than a single case.65

After consideration, it was decided an IPA approach was not appropriate. The emphasis in this study is not on an understanding of participants’ own ‘lived

experiences’, beliefs and values but is on their understanding and perceptions of the influence of others’ experiences, beliefs and values. Furthermore, the researcher decided that the focus should be on identifying patterns across the dataset rather than on an analysis with a strong idiographic influence.

60

Braun and Clarke observe that while researchers will often give priority to an inductive or deductive approach, in practice, a thematic analysis will be informed by an amalgam of both approaches. Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke, ‘Thematic Analysis’ in Harris Cooper (ed), APA

Handbook of Research Methods in Psychology Volume 2 Research Designs (APA 2012) 58. 61 _{Jonathan Smith, Paul Flowers and Michael Larkin, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis:} Theory, Method and Research (SAGE 2009) 1.

62 _{Braun and Clarke (n43) 181.} 63

IPA was developed by psychologist Jonathan Smith in 1990s. Larkin et al. state that the analytical process involved in IPA is unremarkable compared to other qualitative methods. Therefore, they suggest that it may be more appropriate to define IPA in terms of a perspective rather than as a distinct method. See Michael Larkin, Simon Watts and Elizabeth Clifton, ‘Giving Voice and making sense in interpretative phenomenological analysis (2006) 3 Qual Res Psychol 104.

64 _{Smith (n61) 51.} 65 _ibid.

144