T​‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‍​HEME DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY OVERVIEW There is typically a minimum of three steps to qualitative data analysis that results in meaningful themes and most good studies have four or five levels of analysis to derive themes from raw data. At a minimum, there will be a first level of coding that has many names but serves the same purpose: to reduce large volumes of raw data to manageable codes (e.g., open coding, Initial coding, micro coding, etc.) You conducted initial/open coding in Week 6 of this course. The second level of coding is to begin to combine, or chunk, the initial codes into categories. Again the various levels of coding can have many names (e.g., axial coding, second level coding, intermediate codes, chunking, etc.), but it is the purpose of this stage of analysis that is important: to begin collapsing initial codes into more manageable related clusters for further analysis. INSTRUCTIONS In this activity, a series of second level codes, or chunks, will be presented, and you will derive themes from these chunks. Keep in mind that qualitative data analysis is a subjective process, unique to each researcher, and is also influenced by the theoretical or conceptual framework, research questions, subject matter under examination, and conditions of the study. What this means is that there can be many correct answers, but there also can be wrong answers. The key to theme development is to be able to draw a logic path from your intermediate codes to the themes, and that logic path should be fairly obvious to anyone who follows the audit trail of your study.​‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‍​For example, in a study of passionate fans of sports teams, some of the intermediate codes might be spacious tailgating, courteous spectators, frequent winning results, and fast stadium departure at the end of games leading to a theme of Awesome Fan Experience. In this activity, several intermediate codes will be listed, and you will derive 3-7 themes as you would for a complete qualitative study. The clusters will be in the left column of the table. You will group clusters into the center column and will derive themes for those clusters in the right column. Upload your table (see Table 1) as a Word document in Module 8: Week 8. See Table 2 as an example. Due Friday at 11:59pm. ?

 Table 1. Activity Table Intermediate Codes Grouped Intermediate Codes Resulting Theme Supportive Friends Life Experiences Negative Stress Events Divorce Family Members Who Cause Stress Supportive Family Members Personal Development Increasing Family Communication Job Changes Friends Who Cause Stress Positive Stress Events Family Moves Eliminating Stressful Activities Supportive Church Community Expected Events that Don’t Happen Education Level

 Table 2. Student Example Table Intermediate Codes Grouped Intermediate Codes Resulting Theme Green Red Primary Colors Blue-Violet Yellow Red Blue Blue Violet Secondary Colors Violet Orange Red-Orange Green Orange Red-Violet Tertiary Colors Yellow Yellow-Orange Red-Violet Yellow Green Yellow-Orange Blue-Green Yellow Green Blue-Violet Blue-Green Red-Ora​‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‍‌‌‌‌‌‌‍‍​nge