In dissertation hell

[Pinkfairyarmadillos]

I'm not sure what I'm hoping to gain from this post, but perhaps if I update it might be helpful for future students wondering if anyone has been through the same.

I am utterly tearing my hair out with my qualitative data analysis (reflexive thematic analysis) for my MSc research dissertation. I've read a lot about it, but it's my first time doing qualitative research. I've spent hours and hours and weeks and months thinking about the data and have come out of this with a story about the data, with what I thought were appropriate themes. But for reasons too specific to really explain, sometimes I'm not sure. I can't tell whether I can't see the wood from the trees at this point or if my themes just aren't defined enough. It's led to total paralysis as I try to move things around, although I am just writing a results chapter draft with what I have with a view to revising it. I guess this is part of the process as outlined by B&C! I've rewatched their lectures, read their book, read examples and am starting to think I'm just not clever enough.

I understand this is expected to a point with reflexive thematic analysis, being recursive and reflexive. But I am trying so so hard with this and finding it so incredibly difficult, and hell is the only way to describe it. This will be the fourth year (retraining) I've spent Easter trying to be present for kids but worrying about an assignment. The MSc has been life-changing, and I'm so incredibly grateful for the opportunity, but my family have made such big sacrifices for it. Without being outing, failure is a real possibility for this course which is vocational (although perhaps less so with the dissertation as we have the opportunity for supervisor feedback - but tbh if I'm on totally the wrong lines when I submit this chapter draft there's very little time to correct it because the following discussion chapter will obviously centre around the results and I need to also get that done and in in good time for feedback).

Has anyone been here and come out the other side?

Can't help with the subject specifics, as I'm on the Humanities side, but it is quite common to have this sort of 'everything I've written is rubbish' and 'can't see the wood for the trees' wobble. You need to push on through it.

What guidance have you had from your supervisor up to this point? Have you discussed your themes with him/her?

When I was doing my MA, the HoD said the dissertation wasn't supposed to be ground breaking research. It was an exercise intended to demonstrate that we could handle sources, use a range of research techniques, structure a piece of written work. Basically, we shouldn't overthink it.

I felt similarly when I was doing the dissertation part of my own MSc, although I didn’t have kids and a partner. It was such a slog in places abd I was battling daily with academic insecurity (I didn’t do well with my first degree). The discussion chapter was the most academically challenging piece of writing I’ve ever done and looking back I’m glad I chose to spend a huge amount of time in it, even taking annual leave to accommodate.

Perhaps reading more about TA may motivate or refresh you a little, from writers other than B&C? Every month I used to do a quick search on Google scholar to see if any new papers had been published about my qualitative research approach.

If you’re not formatting and proof reading every so often start doing this, don’t leave it until the last minute.

When’s your submission date?

I remember feeling like this with mine. I had no idea if my story made any sense. You will get through it. Can you review with your supervisor or a colleague?

Start with your objectives and research questions. Pretty much everything you write should be grounded in those.

Hi OP I am an academic and have often felt like this!

Different strokes for different folks, but one thing that helps me is what I call re-planning.

Go to a café or other quiet space you do not usually associate with work. Bring a blank pad of paper and no notes.

Then, talk yourself through the bare bones of the argument or 'story' in the simplest, most headline terms.

Like: historically, thought about underwater basketweaving fell into two camps, X and Y. However both of these failed to take account of Z. My research investigated Z by doing.... this method allowed me to uncover A, and B, but also suggested C. This helps us now see that....

That is super generic of course!

Then, based on that, put down a few sentences of your overall hypothesis or research statement and bullet pts associated with your "chunky", big points. (Those are likely to become subheadings or similar in the final draft.)

Doing that always helps me pan out and gives a sense of purpose to the whole thing -- the "lodestar" you are driving at throughout. From your post, it feels not like you don't have anything to say but like you need to regain confidence in the overall significance of what you are saying and how it fits together.

Good luck!

Thank you everyone. It's due early June. But really I want the results draft done by mid April for time for the discussion.

I think the problem is I do see three clear components to the story (with different facets to each component), which lend themselves to the structure of the chapter. But I'm not sure they are THEMES. I don't think they are veering into topic summaries, but then again there is a diversity of data within each area with contradictions within subthemes so I don't always know if they are themey or not (I know tension is ok, but it's hard to explain why I'm not sure if works here). But they are mostly interpretive rather than purely descriptive.

My main sticking point is I just can't name one theme which is telling me it's not defined enough - I can't find a phrase that really gets across its meaning (but I know what it mean, so I'm wondering if I'm actually going mad imagining concepts that don't exist!)

I think a bare bones blank page approach might work. I won't see my supervisor again until after I need to submit the draft results chapter. Our previous supervision discussed a previous chapter mostly and it was hard to describe the early thematic map properly. I think the overarching theme does work. I did ask if I can speak to my personal tutor sooner, but they may well not be available or say this so the domain of the supervisor.

I try to remind myself it doesn't need to be groundbreaking and it just needs to be good enough, but if the themes don't work I don't see how it could be (but if I wrote them all out I do think it makes a coherent story so maybe I'm overthinking what makes a theme)

I've been here before with assessments and found my way somehow but this one is obviously huge and I'm feeling panicked

I’ve been here OP. Finished my MSc in 2023 and wrestled with thematic analysis for my dissertation qual research. I went back to basics and colour coded key points. I then re-read what I had and took the themes from the recurring obvious colours. It just made it easier to see because they jumped out on the page.
Good luck, you can do this!

B&C's reflexive thematic analysis is hard! I used it for my PhD and remember feeling exactly as you do.

Are you combining your results/discussion?

I found that often removing stuff from a theme would made it more coherent, remember you don't need to use all the data you generated.

If you haven't already found it, the Manchester Academic Phrasebank is a godsend for writing up. I also trawled a load of good examples of RTA (plenty linked on B&C's website) and created my own phrasebank.

Thank you. I'm doing a separate results chapter and discussion chapter. I think what I'm most struggling with is where there's something raised by a number which I've interpreted as a theme, but I'm not sure how to structure nuance and variation in a way that keeps to the character of the theme but remains representative (I know I don't need to include all data, and I've had to be mindful of this as the interview questions were broad due to the nature of the topic and lots came up, but there are some things I think are really salient to the research question that I want to be there even if only one person said it). Spent the weekend thinking about theme names and concepts but couldn't actually work as on my own with kids, but I should be able to get out today to try to plough on. I'm trying to reframe this as being the described recursive process it's meant to be all along instead of pathologising my response to not knowing where to go with it! But the looming deadline and lots going on with work and the kids is definitely adding a touch of adrenaline!

I really hope I do get through this and can update for someone in future...

I think you are totally over thinking this. You definitely just need to sit down and write. Don’t worry about what you are writing - you can review and edit it later.

I think you're making it harder for yourself by separating out your results and discussion. B&C recommend combining, which IME makes it much easier to tell the story you're developing in your themes.

My suggestion is to take a break from it and let it percolate in the background, often that's when the magic happens!

Thanks everyone @Rocknrollstar and @PolterGoose. You're probably right about it being harder separating the analysis and discussion but it's the university prescribed format. I'm half way through the results chapter now (need to submit draft in a few days). The thematic map feels right. I am getting stuck on a bit where one thing feels like it could be a sub theme of two different themes or even just join other subthemes to make a theme of its own, it's hard to explain. But I suppose once I've written it out with extracts I can always revisit the map and move the text about if needed. I know it's interpretive but I'm interpreting it multiple ways - but it still says the same story wherever it fits as the themes are so interwoven (but I hope still distinct?!) so I suppose that's good. I'm in a better place than Tuesday even where I was feeling completely desperate trying to place everything

I solved the subthemes conundrum in the shower just now!

Isn't part of your discussion a consideration of how the data can be analysed and interpreted in multiple ways and isn't that also a feature of a truly reflexive approach? If I was analysing your data is there a chance that my themes would differ slightly due to the bias I bring to the process? Recognising these features of your research is just as much part of the discussion as the 'correct' identification and construction of themes is.

I always find a bath helps 😀

Oh well done 🎉

The best ideas always come when we don't have a pen handy!

Agree with @Fgfgfg about including this (somewhat agonising!) process in your discussion. Showing your workings is a great way to evidence the reflexive process.

I did it! I sent my supervisor a draft results chapter! There's tonnes I'm not happy with but I think I need my brain to recover and reset so I can see the wood from the trees. And writing the discussion will help. Have spotted so many methodological and other weaknesses to discuss! Thank you all. I can't describe how stressed I was about it.

Am still pretty concerned about what my supervisor will say about it but at least it's done

Brilliant, all fingers crossed for you 🤞🏼

How is it going? Did you get some feedback? I'm supporting a student doing some RTA on a batch of interviews having formerly only done this with one interview at a time. Feels like you could just keep fiddling about with the codes indefinitely. Did you use something like NVIVO to code or just by hand?

I did! It was all ok! Feedback was about where to add more of a researcher voice, and suggestions for condensing participant extracts and areas of signposting to help orient the reader. Am working on developing the discussion and reflection now!

I tried NVIVO but didn't find it that intuitive so I used the comments function on Word in the end, because it allowed for the same extracts to have multiple codes attached etc. (NVIVO does this too I think, I just found Word much easier in the end). There is a macro available on Braun and Clarke's website which can pull codes and extracts into Excel, although in the end I didn't use a macro. I also printed and hand coded some transcripts for recoding as I thought maybe it would help me to get physically closer to the data (if that makes sense!) but really Word coding was much easier

Sound good! We're just using comments in word too. That website looks really useful.

That's great feedback.

I did mine completely by hand, lots of paper, pens and post-its!