Reflexive Thematic Analysis in MAXQDA: A Step-by-Step Guide for PhD Students

Last Updated on 20 hours ago by Grace Nyambura

Reflexive thematic analysis in MAXQDA is a structured process for moving from raw interview transcripts to clearly defined themes — using the six-step framework developed by Braun and Clarke. In this guide, I walk you through every step inside MAXQDA 24, from importing your data to exporting a coded theme system ready for your findings report.

Reflexive thematic analysis is a qualitative research method that follows six steps: familiarizing with the data, generating initial codes, generating themes, reviewing themes, defining and naming themes, and producing the report.

What makes it reflexive is that the researcher must remain actively aware of their own background, experiences, biases, and assumptions throughout the entire process. Braun and Clarke argue in their 2022 book Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide that this reflexivity is not a weakness — it is what gives the analysis its credibility and depth.

For example, a researcher who has personally experienced financial hardship may interpret interview responses about poverty quite differently from one who has not. Reflexive thematic analysis asks you to acknowledge and document those influences rather than pretend they do not exist.

MAXQDA is one of the most widely used computer-aided qualitative data analysis tools in academic research. It lets you import transcripts, create and colour-code codes, group codes into themes, write memos, and export structured reports — all in one place.

This guide uses MAXQDA 24. The example study involves student views on teaching strategies at a college, analyzed across two to three interview transcripts. For a broader overview of working with qualitative interview data in MAXQDA, see my complete MAXQDA tutorial.

Before you open MAXQDA, you need to understand reflexive journals — personal records where you document your thoughts, feelings, emerging assumptions, and biases as you code and interpret your data.

According to Scribbr’s guide on reflexivity in qualitative research, maintaining reflexivity helps researchers produce more transparent and trustworthy findings. For the Braun and Clarke approach, reflexive journals are not optional — they are a core methodological requirement.

These journals are not just private notes. You will reference them in your thesis or dissertation in the section titled “Role of the Researcher.”

Braun and Clarke provide sample journal entries in their 2022 book. A typical entry shows a researcher reflecting on their first focus group — noting that participants’ experiences mirrored their own, and that this similarity made them reluctant to probe deeper. They identify this as a bias to address in the next session.

A second entry captures a researcher gaining coding confidence while flagging their interpretive reactions to an emerging pattern in the data. Keep entries honest, dated, and specific to what you are observing.

According to SAGE Research Methods’ overview of reflexivity, reflexive practice is a hallmark of rigorous qualitative inquiry — and documenting it through journals is the most direct way to demonstrate it in your thesis.

Familiarizing yourself with the data means reading all your transcripts carefully — sentence by sentence, word by word — before you begin any coding. In a real study, this begins during data collection itself: you conduct the interviews, transcribe, proofread, and edit. Then you read the cleaned transcripts as if reading a story, noting the key ideas that stand out.

For our student experience study, we have three transcripts. Read each one fully before moving to Step 2. The goal is to build intuition for what the data contains and notice early patterns — not to code yet.

A code is a label or interpretive statement applied to any piece of information that is important to your research questions or objectives. The code is not a copy of the quote — it is a concise interpretation of its meaning.

For example, the statement “He’s always been there for me even when my parents were not” might be coded as stability — one word capturing what the participant is really expressing. This approach comes directly from Johnny Saldana’s The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers, which pairs well with the Braun and Clarke text.

Follow these steps to generate initial codes in MAXQDA:

1. Open MAXQDA and create a new project. Name it something like “RTA Initial Coding.”
2. Import your transcripts: go to Import > Transcripts without timestamps, select your files, and click Open.
3. Double-click a transcript to open it in the document browser.
4. Read through and highlight any passage important to your research questions.
5. Right-click the highlighted text and select Code with New Code.
6. Type a concise code name and assign a colour (I colour-code by question — red for Q1, green for Q2, blue for Q3 — so I can track where each code originated).
7. Repeat until all relevant passages across all transcripts are coded.

Sample initial codes from the student experience transcript:

• Classrooms repainted — “The college is nice, they make a new paint job at the beginning of the year” (red)
• Roof repairs — “They redo the roof also because it was bad in winter” (red)
• Dirty toilets — “Toilet is always dirty” (red)
• Insufficient learning aids — “Why must I buy textbooks? At other institutions they get them for free” (red)
• Inadequate explanations from lecturers — “The lecturers don’t explain very nicely” (green)
• Punctuality challenges among lecturers — “Most times lecturers arrive late to class” (green)

At this stage, do not overthink your codes. Tag what feels important and move on — you will revise in the reviewing step. For a comparison of how this process works in NVivo, see my guide on qualitative coding in NVivo.

Once you have finished coding all transcripts, save a copy of the project (right-click the file > Copy, then rename to “RTA Preliminary Themes”). This preserves your original coding file untouched.

In the copy, scan your code list for shared patterns of meaning — groups of codes that describe the same underlying idea. Then:

1. Click the + icon in the MAXQDA code panel to create a new top-level code. Name it your emerging theme — for example, Student Experiences at the Institution. In code properties, label it Theme 1.
2. Drag and drop all related initial codes under that theme node.
3. Right-click the theme > Memo. Write one sentence describing what the theme captures. This memo becomes your theme definition in Step 5.
4. Repeat for all emerging themes.

Save another copy of the project and rename it “RTA Final Themes.” Open each theme, re-read the codes and their associated quotes, and ask: do all these codes belong together? Are any overlapping? Can the theme be subdivided for more nuance?

In our example, Theme 1 contained both positive and negative student experiences. During review, I created two sub-themes:

• Sub-theme 1 — Positive Experiences: classrooms repainted, roof repairs
• Sub-theme 2 — Negative Experiences: dirty toilets, dirty classrooms, poor management communication, insufficient learning aids

To merge two overlapping codes: right-click a coded segment > Copy coded segment, paste it under the target code, then delete the empty duplicate. This is how you tighten your code structure into clean, non-overlapping themes.

Right-click each theme and sub-theme > Memo, and write a clear, specific description. These are your formal theme definitions — the language you will use when writing your findings chapter.

Example definitions from our student study:

• Theme 1: “This theme represents the range of student experiences at the institution, encompassing both positive facility improvements and persistent negative challenges.”
• Sub-theme 1: “Captures improvements to the physical learning environment that students view favourably.”
• Theme 2: “Represents students’ diverse experiences with lecturer teaching strategies — focusing on inadequate explanations, poor scheduling, and lack of feedback.”
• Theme 4: “Covers structural and personal challenges preventing students from achieving their academic goals.”

Once all memos are written, right-click the code system > Sort A to Z to organize themes alphabetically.

Go to Reports > Export Code System. MAXQDA generates a table of your themes, sub-themes, codes, and frequencies. Note that MAXQDA does not automatically aggregate frequencies at the theme level — add those numbers manually.

To export your coded segments, activate all themes and transcripts, then go to Retrieved Segments > Export > Excel File. This spreadsheet gives you each theme, code, and participant quote — the raw material for your findings chapter.

For a complete walkthrough of writing up your findings, see my guide on reporting thematic analysis findings in MAXQDA.

Reflexive thematic analysis places the researcher’s subjectivity at the centre of the process. Rather than removing bias, the researcher documents and reflects on it through reflexive journals. General thematic analysis frameworks often treat the researcher as a neutral observer.

Do I need reflexive journals for every study using thematic analysis?

If you are using the Braun and Clarke reflexive thematic analysis framework, yes — reflexive journals are a core component, not optional. They must be acknowledged in the Role of the Researcher section of your thesis.

Can I use MAXQDA even if my university recommends NVivo?

Yes. The analytical process is identical regardless of the software. MAXQDA, NVivo, and ATLAS.ti all support the coding and theme-building steps Braun and Clarke describe. Check with your supervisor, but the six steps are fully software-neutral.

How many themes should I aim for?

There is no fixed number. Braun and Clarke recommend enough themes to capture the breadth of the data without each becoming too broad. For a typical dissertation with 8-12 interviews, 4-6 themes is a common and manageable range.

Key Takeaways

• Reflexive thematic analysis follows six steps: familiarize, code, generate themes, review, define, and report.
• The reflexive element means keeping journals of your thoughts and biases throughout — cited in the Role of the Researcher section of your thesis.
• In MAXQDA, colour-code by interview question, save separate project copies at each stage, and use memos to write formal theme definitions.
• Export both the code system and the coded segments from MAXQDA to use as the foundation for your findings chapter.
• For the official MAXQDA documentation and tutorials, visit maxqda.com.

Need Help with Your Qualitative Data Analysis?

If your transcripts are sitting untouched and your deadline is approaching, my team can step in. The done-for-you thematic analysis service covers full MAXQDA coding, theme development, and write-up support — delivered to you. More than 600 PhD students have used this service to finish their dissertations. Book a consultation today.