Which type of thematic analysis is right for your study?

Answer five questions about your study and get a clear recommendation with the reasoning behind it.

Question 1

What is your study aiming to achieve?

Start here — your study's analytic aim is one of the most important factors in choosing an approach.

Question 2

What is a "theme" in your study?

This is where many researchers get confused — be honest about what you expect themes to be.

Question 3

How are you positioned as a researcher?

These are not different levels of skill. They are different analytic roles — each is appropriate in the right context.

Question 4

What matters most for demonstrating quality in your analysis?

Using the wrong quality criteria for your approach weakens your research. Inter-rater reliability, for example, is appropriate in Coding Reliability TA — but not in Reflexive TA.

Question 5

What does your research context look like?

Your research context helps shape which approach is the best fit for your study.

How your answers align with each approach

Coding Reliability

Codebook TA

Reflexive TA

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Answer the five questions and your recommended approach will appear here — with a full explanation of why it fits your study.

Your results, visualised

Two ways to see where your study fits

Answer all five questions above to see your results plotted below.

Chart 1

Where your study sits on the spectrum

The three approaches sit along a spectrum from structured/categorical to interpretive/reflexive. This shows where your answers place your study.

Answer all five questions to see your position

Chart 2

How strongly your answers match each approach

Each bar shows how strongly your five answers point toward that approach. The longest bar is your recommended approach.

Answer all five questions to see your scores

Congruence check

Does your approach match your design choices?

Methodological congruence means that your research question, analytic approach, quality criteria, and write-up language all point in the same direction. Use this table to check for mismatches.

Feature	Coding Reliability TA	Codebook / Coding Frame TA	Reflexive TA
Primary analytic aim	To identify themes	To create themes	To actively generate themes
Inter-rater reliability	Required	Not standard	Inappropriate
Fixed codebook	Required	Evolving	Inappropriate
Multiple coders	Usually	Often	Inappropriate
Reflexivity statements	Not central	Encouraged	Essential
Themes described as	Topic summaries	Patterned responses	Constructed meanings