Phenomenology, GT, TA and narrative analysis

[Claudia Hoffmann]

I am doing research on impact of movies on people’s perceptions. Does anyone know the difference between thematic analysis, phenomenology, narrative analysis, and grounded theory?

[Sylvia Motley]

Hey, take a look at this book on research methods:

It’s quite detailed and easy to understand.

[Charlotte Erickson]

Choosing a method depends upon what kind of a question you are asking. All these concepts are applied on different types of research. For understanding them, you have to read a lot of books. The most famous book on research methods is by Creswell, “Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions”. You can refer this.

[Lilly Howitt]

I think thematic content analysis will be a preferable option for you to apply multiple theories across variety of epistemology. As your research seems elaborative, it will help you to substantiate a large set of data and interpret the themes based on it. The perceptions of people can be easily categorized into themes.

[Claudia Hoffmann]

What I understand is that a thematic analysis is used for generating patterns from the qualitative data for answering a particular research question. Phenomenology deals with detecting a specific phenomenon on the basis of perceptions. Narrative analysis tries to understand phenomenon through human experiences. In short, all of these are like a cluster of interrelated things. I mean, aren’t they just saying the same thing in a different way? Thematic analysis focuses on identifying patterns from data, which is quite similar to phenomenology that identifies phenomenon from data. Both phenomenology and narrative analysis investigates the perceptions/experiences of people to identify a phenomenon. I find myself even more confused as I write this.

[Ivan Tincher]

I can understand how that seems to be confusing, as they are somewhat related but yet different. A method is only well understood when you apply it in real scenario. I am aware with the thematic analysis but rest I have just studied in theory, so my concepts aren’t that sharp either. As far as I know, phenomenology is considered as a methodology itself, while thematic analysis is just a method. Go on the link below, where you’ll find different questions and answers about research approaches and methodology on whole:

https://www.psych.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/our-research/research-groups/thematic-analysis/frequently-asked-questions-8.html

See if something makes sense to you

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