Thematic Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Thematic Analysis - Essay Example It is the objective of this paper to present a thematic analysis concerning the working experiences of two (2) distinct hairstylists in the UK. Each hairstylist represents one kind of salon classified according to size: from a small independent salon versus that from a large chain salon. According to Fereday, a thematic analysis is a â€Å"search for themes that emerge as being important to the description of the phenomenon† – in this case, any underlying difference or similarities in the hairstyling business. This is determined from interviews conducted as part of an ESRC project about learning in the workplace during the years 2004 – 2007. As part of the thematic analysis process, coding is required. Fereday, in their article, defined coding as â€Å"a process in thematic analysis which involves recognizing (seeing) an important moment and encoding it (seeing it as something) prior to a process of interpretation†. Accordingly, he mentioned that the primary objective of coding (or tagging) is for â€Å"data retrieval. It is used to classify text according to theme, so that later on, when doing analysis, it is easy to retrieve all passages that relate to a given topic. Finally, to enable one to reach conclusive arguments from the codes and themes presented, analytical memos are necessary. According to Usability Glossary, analytical memos are â€Å"brief notes used during the coding and construction of data that summarizes a possible interpretation or analysis of the data. Accordingly, memos assist in remembering particular analysis and enable one to focus future data collection and coding to explore ideas in the memos.† It is imperative to note that the primary objective of going through with the interview or data collection was to represent the subjective viewpoints of hairstylists who shared their work experiences in their