Table 3.

Phases of thematic analysis.

Phase of Thematic Analysis	Detailed Account of Process
Phase 1: Familiarizing with the data	Read and re-read the data, get immersed and familiar with its content
Phase 2: Coding	Begin line-by-line coding the entire dataset, generate codes to capture important features of the data that potentially answer the research questions, develop the initial codebook, collate all the codes and relevant data extracts for later stages of analysis, discuss, and resolve discrepancies in coding
Phase 3: Generating initial themes	Combine and merge similar codes, sort out the high-frequency codes and conceptualize into tentative themes by identifying significant broader patterns of meaning, collate relevant data to each candidate theme, develop hierarchies of concepts, take notes for the generation of latent themes
Phase 4: Reviewing themes	Check the tentative themes against the dataset, refine the themes to ensure each reflects the pattern of shared meaning underpinned by a central concept/idea
Phase 5: Defining and naming themes	Iron out the scope and focus of each theme, resolve the discrepancies in theme generation, decide on an informative name for each theme
Phase 6: Writing up	Describe the process of coding and analysis, report on methodological and analytical choices, write up findings supported by illustrative quotes