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. 2016 Sep 13;16(1):267. doi: 10.1186/s12884-016-1057-y

Table 4.

The four steps of the analysis process in systematic text condensation according to Malterud [25]

Steps in data analysis An example from the data
1 Read transcripts to get a total impression of the data The impression: Women related to their previous experiences and knowledge when they talked about new knowledge and ideas gained from using the DA.
→ Identify preliminary themes Preliminary theme: The effect of pre-understanding
2 Identify and sort relevant text units i.e. meaning units Text unit: ‘When we continued reading, we thought there’s not really that much you can find out about, except well, it was Down’s syndrome (…) And I don’t think that Down’s syndrome is so bad if my child should have that’.
→ Meaning units are sorted to create code groups Code group: Significance of earlier experiences and knowledge
3 Condense the meaning in each code group as if it is a story told by one person Abstraction: I understood that the test would not give us any information apart from possible DS and I don’t think that’s such a serious condition.
→ The meaning of code is clarified through abstraction Meaning: New knowledge about the test and women’s preconceptions affected their views.
4 Summarise the essence of each code group to a synthesis Essence: New knowledge gained from the DA was comprehended in light of earlier understanding regarding DS.
→ Validate the results by re-reading transcripts Re-reading transcripts: confirmed that the code group matched statements in the interviews and that the theme recurred in most of the other interviews.