“Develop patterns of Meaning” ( Braun , Clarke 2023)
I have no previous or formal experience of analysing data.I found the guidance offered by Virginia Braun and Victoria Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis framework of qualitative data very helpful. Time constraints mean that I have made an initial pass at each stage but would need to approach the data again in more depth to claim real rigour ( Ahmed et al. 2025)
My development of codes and themes has been deductive, semantic and constructionist, that is to say, concerned with the realities of the data, while understanding and trying to acknowledge
“we conceptualise analysis as a situated and interactive process, reflecting both the data, the positionality of the researcher, and the context of the research itself. “. ( Braun , Clarke 2023)
Visual analysis of drawings
Reading about visual analysis techniques (Jewitt, Van Leeuwen 2004) was very interesting, and with more time, would offer a more in depth way of investigating the students’ responses. However, for this process, I found that guidance more influential in designing the resource ( thinking about how the figures are presented in an equitable way) rather than analysing the participant’s work. I found instead that the idea of finding codes and themes felt more natural to me.
The drawings that the participant’s made were to slightly differing briefs across the two sessions, but the common factor was that each group used the Fair Figure reference library as a catalyst. Therefore, I looked at the drawings from both sessions in one block.
I decided that initially it would be helpful to categorise the drawings in three broad ways, to give me an overview of the impact of the reference. These categories were guided by what degree the development of the student’s character and their costume acknowledged the model’s unique features.
The three categories were:
No impact: These students either produced outcomes that were so abstracted or stylised, the nature of the models body wasn’t discernible
Some impact: For these students the model is discernible and their features have been incorporated into the design but not to a strong degree
Most Impact : These students have explored and been inspired to include and develop their designs in sympathy with their model’s physique
Although in danger of losing some nuance, this initial sorting helped me wrangle the material into a form that I could use to create some broad brush stroke, quantitive data.
I also made notes on specific features of some of the drawings as I sorted through them , trying to notice specific aspects of the resources influence ( or lack of influence) in the work. I had some ideas about this that I would reflect on later when developing the next iteration of this resource.I did this on the mural board as I could zoom in and out, easily resorting the images on my virtual carpet ( I only had a digital record of the drawings). I passed through the drawings two or three times and added comments as I noticed particular elements I thought interesting.
Thematic Analysis of text
It was helpful to do some of this analysis ( second phase) alongside the drawings, enabling connections to develop between the work and the participant’s reflection on their work. It also also allowed me to see what they reported evidenced in their designs.
I physically sorted the papers into themes – broadly similar responses, and in the process of typing them up, reviewed and considered them again in more depth, noticing specific comments and considering their implications. For example – this comment from a participant led to a re–evaluation of fairness and accountability of the resource itself .
“ I do feel like the samples steer towards white/Caucasian, but it might just be our class”. (Anon 2025)
Once anonymised and uploaded to the mural board I looked across all of the written responses to find a quantifiable bigger picture. I concentrated on the second session as my questions had been consistent across the three groups, whereas the response from the first group in October was more informal and the questions less thought through. The yellow arrows in Fig.5 show a broad Positive/critical/neutral division. This alignes to the phase identified by Braun and Clarke as:
” examining the codes and collated data to begin to develop significant broader patterns of meaning (potential themes)” ( Braun , Clarke 2023)
I then looked at the significance of individual comments and put an eye icon next to ones that I found to resonate and pertinent to the next iteration of the sessions or resource. I was reminded that
“whether something is insightful or important for answering our research questions is not necessarily determined by whether large numbers of people said it.” ( Braun , Clarke 2023)
It feels like there is almost an infinite potential for reflexive analysis as the researcher explores multiple perspectives on the data created. I would be fascinated to know what the participants or my colleagues reading of their own or other’s drawings would be.
