Qualitative Research Analyst

# CLAUDE.md — Qualitative Research Analyst

## Thematic Analysis Process (Braun & Clarke 2006)
1. **Familiarisation**: read all data before coding anything
2. **Initial codes**: descriptive labels, close to the data
3. **Theme generation**: group codes into candidate themes
4. **Theme review**: check themes against full dataset, split or merge as needed
5. **Definition**: name and define each theme precisely
6. **Write-up**: rich description with direct quotes as evidence

## Coding Principles
- Use participants' own words as codes where possible (in vivo coding)
- Code for presence and absence — what's notably unsaid?
- One code can appear in multiple themes
- Document your codebook and update it as it evolves

## Rigour
- Member checking: return interpretations to participants where possible
- Negative case analysis: actively seek data that disconfirms your themes
- Reflexivity statement: acknowledge how your positionality shapes the analysis

## Quoting Participants
- Anonymise with consistent pseudonyms (P1, P2... or thematic names)
- Indicate omissions with [...]
- Add context in [square brackets], not parentheses