How to Report Thematic Analysis Findings in MAXQDA (Step-by-Step Guide)

https://youtu.be/wO-4hVag9g8

 In my last two articles, we began with learning how to code in MAXQDA.

Then we proceeded to learn how to combine codes based on shared meaning to form themes.

In this article, I will be showing you how to bring all this information to together and to compile your findings after conducting thematic analysis using MAXQDA .

Now the first thing that we need to remember when we are analysing data is following the Braun and Clarke framework of doing thematic analysis.

Basically, we are going through all the steps, which include:

•  Familiarizing with the data
•  Generating codes
•  Developing themes
• Reviewing themes
• Defining and naming themes

And now we are writing the report, which is the final step.

How do we report the findings after we conduct thematic analysis in MAXQDA? 

The first thing that I will do is to open our previous MAXQDA project.

Remember we came up with codes, then developed themes, and also added descriptions.

The first thing that I will do is go to reports.

 Export code system.

 Then do a Word document.

A word document is like a code book.

 Let us include memos.

So this is a code book from MAXQDA.

Why is the codebook important to begin with?

Because every table that we are going to put up in our findings report will come from here.

 You notice that in MAXQDA when you export your code book, you will have this numbers.

This are not the totals.

 When we look at the project, you can see the numbers there.

The first thing to do is to replace in those numbers, which are the number of codes.

 And before we start exporting, I could edit my theme so that they are in order.

The only way we do that is to go to codes then sort A to Z.

Basically that’s how we sort our themes.

This code system is important because it has themes, descriptions, and everything that came from the themes.

 Now with this, we can proceed to seeing an example of a report, and I can explain how we report the findings after we conduct thematic analysis.

So this is an example of a findings report I’ve written before.

 The first part of the findings report is the data analysis process.

So here we clearly state the steps we took to conduct our thematic analysis.

For example, here I am describing how I followed the Braun and Clarke six-steps, including familiarizing the data generating initial codes.

 All this are descriptions with the right citations in APA 7 format.

Then I provide a sample of initial codes.

 Remember we had an initial codes file, so I just go to that MAXQDA file, and grab some codes.

If you look at MAXQDA , you’ll notice that we have some numbers.

They are called the frequencies.

In MAXQDA the frequencies are the number of quotes that we have in a given section.

So these tables are drawn using those numbers, then we keep explaining how we got preliminary themes, what are the preliminary themes.

 Then we have themes and their description.

That is basically the first part.

Then I have a table here that I drew creatively where I went ahead to show my coding structure.

  It have themes, codes, and quotes.

Where do we get the quotes from in MAXQDA?

For example, let’s say we want to get the quote of this code encouraging innovation.

I just double click on that and then click on the transcript.

 And this is the quote.

 Another way we can get the quote is getting retrieved segments.

 We can activate everything.

Once we activate everything, we can get all the quotes from the different sections.

And we can export that in an Excel file.

We can export all the quotes at once so that we are able to use them in our report.

You can see, for example, this quote came from a code called Previous teaching Experience, under participant A.

 Participant A still provided a code called modeling behavior under the two effective leadership strategies or techniques.

So we can use that in our report.

 Now let’s get back to explainings.

Then now we present the results.

 When you are presenting the results, you are basically providing a narrative of your findings.

 So you can see the themes are the main headings.

This is the description of the themes.

Remember that every theme must have a description.

So here we can say that the interviewed participants, highlighted that they utilized different strategies to adapt their leadership styles to fit in new teaching environments including new expectations, policies, and teaching methodologies.

So ideally, this is the narrative.

Then I have another visual here..

I drew this in Word.

Then I provide a narrative of the codes, then I provide the quotes.

Again, we can get the quotes directly from MAXQDA, or we can get them from the retrieved segment Excel file.

That’s basically how the findings report is.

I have different visuals.

 I have a word cloud.

By the way, if you want to make a word cloud in MAXQDA, just come and click on one of your themes.

Then I can go to visual tools.

click on word cloud, then in insert activated elements and click okay.

 And that’s how you get a word cloud here.

This is the word cloud.

We can right click add to stop word lists.

This is how we remove anything we don’t like in our word cloud.

  Then we can go to Rearrange and all those letters and numbers that I added to stop words list would just disappear.

Basically that is how we can get different form of visuals and then continue with our narrative.

The tips of reporting findings after conducting thematic analysis in MAXQDA are:

•  You have to take your time to describe the data analysis process that you took.
• You have to ensure that you come up with visuals such as tables to show your coding structure, and you have to provide clear descriptions, or  narratives to support your themes.
• Then we get the quotes following them.

 So basically, these are the main steps that we take to report findings.

You can see that in my report, I also have references.

 These are for supporting the data analysis process section, which is the first section that I did here.

Inorder to support, we have to cite scholarly sources to support our analysis approach.

 So this is how we report findings after conducting thematic analysis in MAXQDA.