Supporting thinking on sample sizes for thematic analyses: a quantitative tool

Thematic analysis is frequently used to analyse qualitative data in psychology, healthcare, social research and beyond. An important stage in planning a study is determining how large a sample size may be required, however current guidelines for thematic analysis are varied, ranging from around 2 to over 400 and it is unclear how to choose a value from the space in between. Some guidance can also not be applied prospectively. This paper introduces a tool to help users think about what would be a useful sample size for their particular context when investigating patterns across participants. The calculation depends on (a) the expected population theme prevalence of the least prevalent theme, derived either from prior knowledge or based on the prevalence of the rarest themes considered worth uncovering, e.g. 1 in 10, 1 in 100; (b) the number of desired instances of the theme; and (c) the power of the study. An adequately powered study will have a high likelihood of finding sufficient themes of the desired prevalence. This calculation can then be used alongside other considerations. We illustrate how to use the method to calculate sample size before starting a study and achieved power given a sample size, providing tables of answers and code for use in the free software, R. Sample sizes are comparable to those found in the literature, for example to have 80% power to detect two instances of a theme with 10% prevalence, 29 participants are required. Increasing power, increasing the number of instances or decreasing prevalence increases the sample size needed. We do not propose this as a ritualistic requirement for study design, but rather as a pragmatic supporting tool to help plan studies using thematic analysis.     

Topic models meet discourse analysis: a quantitative tool for a qualitative approach

Quantitative text analysis tools have become increasingly popular methods for the operationalization of various types of discourse analysis. However, their application usually remains fairly simple and superficial, and fails to exploit the resources which the digital era holds for discourse analysis to their full extent. This paper discusses the discourse-analytic potential of a more complex and advanced text analysis tool, which is already frequently employed in other approaches to textual analysis, notably topic modelling. We argue that topic modelling promises advances in areas where discourse analysis has traditionally struggled, such as scaling, repetition, and systematization, which go beyond the contributions of simpler frequency and collocation counts. At the same time, it does not violate the epistemological premises and methodological ethos of even the more radical theories of discourse, we will demonstrate. Finally, we present two small case studies to show how topic modelling – when used with appropriate parameters – can straightforwardly enhance our ability to systematically investigate and interpret discourses in large collections of text. Abbreviations: CDA: Critical Discourse Analysis; LDA: Latent Dirichlet Allocation     

Narratives of fathering young children in Britain: linking quantitative and qualitative analyses

The paper examines how in Britain the time fathers and couples spend in employment shifts in the first years of children’s lives, the conditions under which this happens and how fathers feel about and experience time with their families and time in paid work. In order to achieve these aims new longitudinal analysis of the UK Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) is carried out together with secondary analysis of narrative case studies drawn from a qualitative study of Fatherhood across the Generations. By linking these datasets the paper examines the potential for corroboration and complementarity between different types of data. Further, it seeks to show how qualitative cases corroborate, elaborate and expand on the main employment trajectories in the MCS population of fathers and how these extend understandings of fathers’ experience of time within families.     

Gang Leader for a Day: A Response to the Critics

This essay provides a response to Clampet-Lundquist, Charles, and Young's comments on my book Gang Leader for a Day :     

African Drumming: a perfect tool for a more open and inclusive approach to intercultural education and development

Children are born with rhythm, no matter what their cultural ancestry. Rhythm is the lifeline uniting every child in the macro‐society of the human world. In this article I describe the vast potential of using rhythm, especially that associated with African drumming, when working with young people, both within and outside educational settings.     

Understanding Parental Grief as a Response to Mental Illness: Implications for Practice

ABSTRACT

Parents who are raising children with mental illness struggle with feelings of grief and loss. Kubler-Ross' (1969 Kubler-Ross , E. ( 1969 ). On death and dying . New York : Scribner . [Google Scholar]) stages of grieving (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance) are examined as experienced by parents raising children with chronic mental illness. Practice implications for social workers who are working with children and their parents are discussed. Acknowledging and understanding parental grief, while providing emotional support, leads to a more effective working partnership. This collaboration of parents and social worker can result in more effective treatment for the child with mental illness. Examples from one of the co-author's personal experiences are included.     

Interim Response to a Mail Questionnaire: Impacts on Variable Relationships*

Nagging doubts continue on the utility of the mail questionnaire, although advances in this technique provide response rates of 70 percent or higher. Return bias, a factor in attacks on the mail questionnaire, has been depicted as a necessary evil of such magnitude that the technique should be abandoned. But few studies using mail questionnaires have examined the impact of interim response on variable relationships. To test for return bias, data are reported from 931 residents of five small Iowa communities. Four mail requests elicited a 78.2 percent completion rate; interviews were attempted with terminal mail nonrespondents, yielding a final response rate of 92.8 percent. In a statistical sense, only minor differences are evident on correlation coefficients and unstandardized regression coefficients for the first and second response waves compared with data accumulated for all respondents. But when substantive conclusions are examined, the impact of interim response does not subside until the first three response waves are accumulated. Thus, attention must be given to the potential influence of return bias in mail-questionnaire studies, but calls for discontinuing use of the technique are unwarranted.     

Microarrays as a tool to investigate the biology of aging: a retrospective and a look to the future

The use of microarrays as a tool to investigate fundamental biological questions has become ubiquitous over the past several years. Microarrays are becoming as common as the polymerase chain reaction or any of the other tools in the molecular biologist's armory. Unlike experiments involving other tools, however, the design and analysis of microarray experiments present some unique problems to molecular biologists, problems with which statisticians have long been familiar. In this overview of microarrays and aging-related research, we will review selected highlights of microarray studies that have been carried out to study aging to date, as well as discuss some of the potential problems that routinely arise during these types of experiments, especially in the context of aging.     

A nursing tool for adherence and recovery in psychosis: a pilot study

Clients with psychotic disorders are at great risk for relapse and rehospitalization. This risk is magnified by poor adherence to medications, as well as refusal to accept optimal treatment planning, including more beneficial atypical medications. Adherence can be even more compromised because of clients' poor insight into these illnesses and their inability to recognize the potential for recovery that exists when taking medications as prescribed. This poor insight makes effective collaboration in treatment more difficult and is an exceptionally troubling impediment to successful treatment. Currently, there are few effective strategies to improve insight into psychosis. We have developed the Levels of Recovery from Psychotic Disorders Scale (LORS) as a teaching tool. It is designed to identify strengths and weaknesses in insight in order to provide the basis for an intervention to enhance and promote change. This article reviews the relevant literature on adherence and insight in this population of clients with psychotic disorders. It also reviews a pilot study comparing the LORS to the BASIS-32. The findings provide the basis for future studies using the LORS to enhance insight, adherence, and recovery.     

Spiritual ecomaps: a new diagrammatic tool for assessing marital and family spirituality

This paper develops a new diagrammatic spiritual assessment tool, the spiritual ecomap, for use with individuals, couples, and families. While a genogram portrays a family's history over time, a spiritual ecomap provides a valuable supplement by depicting a family's current relationships to critical ecological systems in space. The spiritual ecomap is based upon an anthropological framework conceptualized in the spiritual formation tradition and can be used with families from diverse spiritual traditions. I use a case study to familiarize the reader with the instrument, and offer suggestions for its application.     

School bullying and the ongoing social dynamics: A thematic analysis of young peoples' perspectives on a specific bullying case

Based on analyses of six individual interviews with young people from a sixth-grade school class, this study explores how young people talk about bullying and a particular bullying case in their class from various positions. Utilising thematic analysis, three themes were conceptualised as crucial in bullying: social status, powerful positions and fragile social positions. Symbolic interactionism, emphasising perspectives as constructed in interaction, were used to understand these social dynamics and bullying as a group phenomenon. The findings demonstrate the social landscape in which young people navigate, where social positions are in process but affected by their group norms.     

The truth and lie story: developing a tool for assessing child witnesses' ability to differentiate between truth and lies

Within the court arena, the credibility and competency of child witnesses often comes under scrutiny and the decision whether a child is considered to be credible or not strongly in?uences whether their evidence will be heard by the court. A child's ability to demonstrate that they understand the difference between truth and lies and the importance of telling the truth is synonymous with competency. Research suggests that many professionals undertaking the task of establishing competency ?nd it very dif?cult, especially with younger children (Aldridge and Wood, 1997, cited in Aldridge and Wood, 1998). This paper describes the process involved in developing an innovative tool for helping professionals assess whether a child understands the difference between truth and lies. The development of the tool arose from the concerns of of?cers from Northumbria Police Force (in the UK) relating to interviews following the protocol of the government's Memorandum of Good Practice (Home Of?ce and Department of Health, 1992) on interviewing child witnesses, and the need to establish whether child witnesses can differentiate between truth and lies. As an example of good practice, The Truth and Lie Story described here has now been included in the Home Of?ce (2002) guidance Achieving Best Evidence in Criminal Proceedings, which is a revision of the 1992 Memorandum of Good Practice. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.