What is a theme? Teaching thematic analysis in qualitative communication research methods

Course: Qualitative Research Methods Objectives: To provide students with an experiential understanding of the six steps to conducting a thematic analysis: (1) gaining familiarity with the data, (2) creating coding categories or subcategories, (3) generating themes, (4) reviewing themes, (5) labeling themes, and (6) identifying exemplars. To help students understand the value of verification procedures: (1) peer debriefing, (2) referential adequacy, and (3) the audit trail.