Table 1: An example of step 1 of the analysis taken from participant one.
Step two was returned to at several points of the analysis. I managed this by a process of re-reading and note taking. This enabled space to look at the subtleties and nuances within the data.
Step three focused on developing emergent themes for the participant based on the initial comments made in step two. It required a shift from the raw data to the exploratory notes to produce some over-arching themes. Within the exploratory notes Line
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higher order themes were looked for in order to capture what the participants were describing. These were written in the left hand column of the transcript (see Appendix P: Example extract from Chloe’s Interview, Appendix Q: Example coding from Chloe’s Interview). Finding the best suited words to label the emergent themes was difficult. I tried as much as possible to use the language of the participant. When the theme was more conceptual I felt uneasy about importing words from outside the transcript.
Sometimes this was necessary and I attempted to root it in what the participant was describing and to use their frame of reference which was often psychodynamic. In order to share their interpretative framework such psychodynamic terms were used and elaborated upon.
It was difficult to condense the complex nature of the data into themes and to account for the interrelations and connections between the themes. At this stage the hermeneutic cycle that Eatough and Smith, (2008) referred to was at play, and I returned to look at the raw data in light of the emerging themes. I moved backwards and forwards from the descriptive accounts and my emerging interpretations. I was struck with how immersed I had become in the accounts, which made interpreting from a position within the data more comfortable and less imposing.
I found this stage particularly challenging for one transcript that was very descriptive and was focused more on the client’s than the therapist’s experience. I sent an extract of the transcript to a colleague for them to do the initial coding so I could check it against my attempt. Reassuringly, they yielded similar themes.
Step four shifted the focus to a collective formation of the emergent themes within an individual’s account. Smith et al. (2009) suggestions for this were followed and a list of all the emergent themes within a therapist’s data set was created, in a chronological order (see example in Appendix R: Example of emergent themes from Chloe’s diary on client 1). There was repetition at this step and so the frequency was noted for the emergent themes. Then connections across emergent themes were searched for;
making maps helped with this process. Themes that seemed similar were put in clusters and then their relationships to each other began to emerge (see Appendix R:
Example of emergent themes from Chloe’s diary on client 1). This required movement back to the raw data in order to check out the meaning of the emergent themes, and to ensure that they were being clustered in a way that was rooted in the therapist’s experience. I have logged this process in my reflective diary to record the decisions that I made.
Once the themes were in groups they were labelled. The process of condensing and summarising resulted in moving emergent themes into different categories, if they
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fitted another group better. Once this was complete, a table of superordinate themes was created (see Appendix U: Superordinate themes - Chloe), which included the superordinate themes, alongside a list of emergent themes and quotes from the data to support the theme. This ensured documentation regarding the source of the theme (Smith et al., 2009), so that they could be readily traced back through the analytic process and ensure validity.
Before the process moved onto the next participant’s data, I contacted and met up with Chloe to show her the superordinate themes that had been elicited from her data. She had shown interest in the research process and agreed at the debriefing stage to be involved in refining her themes. This was to ensure the analytic strategy was doing justice to her data and was ensuring validity. Her feedback was invaluable and helped establish the themes for her data.
I repeated step four for each participants’ data set to attempt to look at each participant’s account from a different viewpoint. This was harder to do when there were obvious common themes occurring across the therapists. I found that by writing down what I had noticed in my diary it had been parked somewhere safe, so that I could return to the individual’s understanding of their experience and re-visit the commonalities later.
By step five, there were eight tables of superordinate themes. In order to start the process of looking for patterns across cases, as suggested by Smith et al. (2009), a frequency table of the superordinate themes was made, (see Appendix V: Frequency of themes across participants). All the themes were placed in chronological order and their frequency of occurrence was documented. This helped to get a sense of commonality amongst themes, as well as highlighting the patterns that emerged.
It became clear that the therapists used a type of language to articulate their experience. Some therapists used psychodynamic terms, and others used descriptive metaphors. What emerged was that the therapists were using powerful words to describe their experience. Within this there appeared to be three higher order experiences occurring, which were formed out of clusters of similar emotional experiences, as documented below (see Table 2). An example of the process by which the themes were categorised can be seen in this table. However, it is not a comprehensive list of all the superordinate themes; there is a more extensive diagram of this that documents the classification for each superordinate theme across participants and explains the rationale for this [see Appendix X: Example of Super-ordinate themes and master themes across participants and justification (Sophia)].
82 Cluster 1-
Forceful change in feelings
Powerful and difficult feelings
Increase in feelings, feels the client feelings, strong feelings directed at other, relapse increased feelings in therapist,
frightened, attacked, angry, painful, burdened, annoyed, guilt, abused, abuser, tortured, resentment, confused, punished, responsibility, powerful maternal transference, becoming the bad object (therapist), reacting to the unspoken, frustration, encroached on, sadness, useless, disabled, full of feeling, anxiety.
Cluster 2-
Nothingness/Emptiness/disconnection
Extreme experience
Cut off, hopeless, drained, exhausted, client drained therapist, switched off, and emotionally drained, hungry, desperate.
Deathliness, Tsunami effect, Lifeless and full of life, primitive process, therapist holding hope and feeling hopeless, surviving something intense.
Cluster 3-
More positive, ‘therapeutic’
Process of therapist making sense
Sadness, interpretation, relief, reflection, positive feelings when connected to client, emotional reactions used as a therapeutic opportunity, relief when client expressed feelings, therapeutic use of emotional reactions: self-supervision, therapeutic relationship.