Expanding Approaches to Thematic Analysis: Creative Engagements with Qualitative Data springboards readers into a world where generating themes from qualitative data is a creative, experimental, and wondrous process!

While no one ever said it had to be, thematic analysis is invariably described as a step-by-step process that involves coding. Yet qualitative data analysis is more than a technical procedure – it invokes imagination and inspiration – intuitional engagements that are as vital to the data analysis process as they are difficult to describe. This edited book begins with two premises: 1) There is more than one way to theme data and 2) Qualitative researchers do not have to code to get to themes. Each chapter introduces readers to a different approach to thematic analysis, explores that approach’s theoretical and disciplinary roots, and illustrates how that approach can be used to generate themes. Approaches include: annotating, memoing, storying, writing, composing poems, art-making, meditating, and more, expanding conceptualizations of what themes and thematic analysis can be. The book also includes ‘methodologies in action;’ helpful examples of creative theming from doctoral students and early career scholars.

This book is as much a provocation for engaging thematic analysis beyond/without/in addition to coding as it is a resource for anyone interested in the rationale, justification, and examples for doing so. As such, it is a source of inspiration for any qualitative student, researcher, and scholar who wishes to expand their repertoire of approaches to thematic analysis.