Investigating Our Experience in the World: A Primer on Qualitative Inquiry

Chapter 5: Thematizing and Developing Thematic Structure

Chapter 5 Thematizing and Developing Thematic Structure A Brief Overview Thematizing is the process by which the primary investigator identifies what is figural, first for one participant and then for all participants in a particular study. To do this, the researcher looks both within and across texts so as to enlarge his or her perspective from what is figural to one participant to what is figural to all participants about an experience . In this stage, the primary investigator searches for consistent experiential similarities, which repeat with variation within a text and across many texts. Experiential similarities are called themes and are construed as mutually related aspects of a more comprehensive pattern or Gestalt. The investigator’s understanding of this pattern is presented in terms of a thematic structure that incorporates inter-related themes. This structure is contextualized by describing the ground(s) serving to define and support this structure, bearing in mind that this structure is a figure/ground event. While it is always possible or convenient to focus on the structure of the pattern, it is absolutely crucial not to lose sight of the fact that there are no figures by themselves, requiring that there always be a search for the relevant ground. Themes are experiential aspects of the total pattern realized by different figure/ground processes at different levels. So, for example, when the focus is on an individual theme, other themes serve to ground it; when the focus is on that total structure, the overall context serves to ground them. In general , the overall ground is hinted at or outright explicitly stated by the participant. If not, the investigator will have to determine the ground; more will be said about this later. Figural themes and thematic structure complement one another by highlighting important commonalities of lived experience from different angles. In both, the description remains at the level of the participant experience and, in the best case, is expressed in words used by the participant. 34 Chapter 5 Since this process of thematizing, together with the emerging thematic structure, requires time to mature, a recommended best practice is to coordinate well in advance the schedules of the primary investigator and the interpretive team. This is to be done so that the primary investigator is neither rushed nor left, at the appropriate time, without the group input so necessary to validate thematic findings. As always, bracketing continues throughout this phase of the research. Thematizing The Primary Investigator Working Alone Prior to thematizing, the primary investigator, alone, carefully rereads all interview transcripts or texts. During this reading, important experiential elements that repeat with some variation across accounts should be noted by the primary investigator. Such experiential commonalities-with-difference might properly be called preliminary themes. A preliminary theme may be noted, for example, in participant expressions of intense emotions. One participant may describe ‘being quite happy’ with the situation while another may report feeling ‘euphoric ’ about it. Being quite happy and feeling euphoric represent variations toward a theme that could, at this point, be one of intense emotions —as a positive way of being-in-the-world. This example is meant to capture the fact that themes are comprised of consistent rather than identical meanings. This approach to the text is best described as radically empirical since the primary researcher documents explicit support for each preliminary theme by selecting supporting quotations from the interview transcripts or texts. What the participant says is enclosed in quotation marks and is referenced by the participant’s pseudonym, transcript page, and line number. Theme titles are chosen to reflect experiential commonalities coded in participant descriptions. If possible, such titles should be described by terms actually used by participants. Naming themes according to words and phrases actually used by the participant reduces the likelihood that the researcher’s (unbracketed) presuppositions may be forcing the similarities among participant descriptions. This preference for retaining participant language during this and other stages of the research will help to convey a sense of direct first-person Thematizing and Developing Thematic Structure 35 engagement with the phenomenon. The attempt to produce presence is a defining characteristic of phenomenological research reports and is meant to promote their accessibility to a wide range of readers. Thematic interpretation continues as counterexamples, additional themes, and subthemes are considered, leading to potential new understandings that could yield re-thematization or support existing thematizations . This process produces a list of preliminary themes with...