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84 V Braun and V Clarke

However, it is important to note, as we Semantic or latent themes
discussed earlier, that researchers cannot Another decision revolves around the ‘le-
free themselves of their theoretical and vel’ at which themes are to be identified: at
epistemological commitments, and data a semantic or explicit level, or at a latent or
are not coded in an epistemological va- interpretative level (Boyatzis, 1998). 6 A
cuum. thematic analysis typically focuses exclu-
In contrast, a ‘theoretical’ thematic analy- sively or primarily on one level. With a
sis would tend to be driven by the research- semantic approach, the themes are identi-
er’s theoretical or analytic interest in the fied within the explicit or surface meanings
area, and is thus more explicitly analyst- of the data, and the analyst is not looking for
driven. This form of thematic analysis tends anything beyond what a participant has
to provide less a rich description of the data said or what has been written. Ideally, the
overall, and more a detailed analysis of analytic process involves a progression from
some aspect of the data. Additionally, the description, where the data have simply
choice between inductive and theoretical been organized to show patterns in seman-
maps onto how and why you are coding the tic content, and summarized, to interpreta-
data. You can either code for a quite specific tion, where there is an attempt to theorize
research question (which maps onto the the significance of the patterns and their
more theoretical approach) or the specific broader meanings and implications (Patton,
research question can evolve through the 1990), often in relation to previous literature
coding process (which maps onto the in- (for an excellent example of this, see Frith
ductive approach). and Gleeson, 2004).
For example, if a researcher was inter- In contrast, a thematic analysis at the
ested in talk about heterosex, and had latent level goes beyond the semantic con-
collected interview data, with an inductive tent of the data, and starts to identify or
approach they would read and re-read the examine the underlying ideas, assumptions,
data for any themes related to heterosex, and conceptualizations / and ideologies /
and code diversely, without paying atten- that are theorized as shaping or informing
tion to the themes that previous research on the semantic content of the data. If we
the topic might have identified. For exam- imagine our data three-dimensionally as
ple, the researcher would not look to the an uneven blob of jelly, the semantic
influential research of Hollway (1989), approach would seek to describe the surface
identifying discourses of heterosex, and of the jelly, its form and meaning, while the
code just for male sexual drive, have/hold latent approach would seek to identify the
or permissive discourse themes. In contrast, features that gave it that particular form and
with a theoretical approach, the researcher meaning. Thus, for latent thematic analysis,
may well be interested in the way permis- the development of the themes themselves
siveness plays out across the data, and involves interpretative work, and the ana-
focus on that particular feature in coding lysis that is produced is not just descrip-
the data. This would then result in a tion, but is already theorized.
number of themes around permissiveness, Analysis within this latter tradition tends
which may include, speak to, or expand on to come from a constructionist paradigm
something approximating Hollway’s origi- (eg, Burr, 1995), and in this form, thematic
nal theme. analysis overlaps with some forms of ‘DA’