How to Identify Theme
Ryan, Bernard / FIELD METHODS TECHNIQUES 10.1177/1525822X02239569 TO IDENTIFY THEMES
ARTICLE
Techniques to Identify Themes
GERY W. RYAN
RAND Health
H. RUSSELL BERNARD
University of Florida
Theme identification is one of the most fundamental tasks in qualitative research. It also is one of the most mysterious. Explicit descriptions of theme discovery are rarely found in articles and reports, and when they are, they are often relegated to appendices or footnotes. Techniques are shared among small groups of social scientists, but sharing is impeded by disciplinary or epistemological boundaries. The techniques described here are drawn from across epistemological and disciplinary boundaries. They include both observational and manipulative techniques and range from quick word counts to laborious, in-depth, line-by-line scrutiny. Techniques are compared on six dimensions: (1) appropriateness for data types, (2) required labor, (3) required expertise, (4) stage of analysis, (5) number and types of themes to be generated, and (6) issues of reliability and validity. Keywords: theme identification; qualitative analysis; text analysis; open coding; qualitative research methods
Analyzing text involves several tasks: (1) discovering themes and subthemes, (2) winnowing themes to a manageable few (i.e., deciding which themes are important in any project), (3) building hierarchies of themes or code books, and (4) linking themes into theoretical models. We focus here on the first task: discovering themes and subthemes in texts—and in other qualitative data, like images or artifacts, for that matter.1 We outline a dozen techniques, drawn from across the social sciences and from different theoretical perspectives. The techniques range from simple word counts that can be done by a computer to labor-intensive, line-by-line analyses that, so far, only humans can do. Each technique has advantages and disadvantages. Some methods are more suited to rich, complex
ARTICLE
Techniques to Identify Themes
GERY W. RYAN
RAND Health
H. RUSSELL BERNARD
University of Florida
Theme identification is one of the most fundamental tasks in qualitative research. It also is one of the most mysterious. Explicit descriptions of theme discovery are rarely found in articles and reports, and when they are, they are often relegated to appendices or footnotes. Techniques are shared among small groups of social scientists, but sharing is impeded by disciplinary or epistemological boundaries. The techniques described here are drawn from across epistemological and disciplinary boundaries. They include both observational and manipulative techniques and range from quick word counts to laborious, in-depth, line-by-line scrutiny. Techniques are compared on six dimensions: (1) appropriateness for data types, (2) required labor, (3) required expertise, (4) stage of analysis, (5) number and types of themes to be generated, and (6) issues of reliability and validity. Keywords: theme identification; qualitative analysis; text analysis; open coding; qualitative research methods
Analyzing text involves several tasks: (1) discovering themes and subthemes, (2) winnowing themes to a manageable few (i.e., deciding which themes are important in any project), (3) building hierarchies of themes or code books, and (4) linking themes into theoretical models. We focus here on the first task: discovering themes and subthemes in texts—and in other qualitative data, like images or artifacts, for that matter.1 We outline a dozen techniques, drawn from across the social sciences and from different theoretical perspectives. The techniques range from simple word counts that can be done by a computer to labor-intensive, line-by-line analyses that, so far, only humans can do. Each technique has advantages and disadvantages. Some methods are more suited to rich, complex