Who are we?
Professor Virginia Braun (Ginny)
I am an invisibly-disabled straight Pākehā (white New Zealander) woman (pronouns she/her they/them) and a Professor in the School of Psychology/Te Kura Mātai Hinengaro at Waipapa Taumata Rau The University of Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand, where I’ve worked since I completed by PhD in 2001 (a rare career trajectory, these days!). I am a feminist and critical (health) psychologist, and I teach and research in these areas. Elected as one of the 2022 Ngā Ahurei/Fellows of Te Apārangi Royal Society of New Zealand, I also received the New Zealand Association of Scientists Marsden Medal (2021) for “outstanding service to the cause or profession of science”. In 2015 I was recipient of a Citation for Excellence from the British Psychological Society’s Qualitative Research in Psychology Section.
My research explores the intersecting areas of gender, bodies, sex/sexuality, health, and (now) food. I have worked on projects related to heterosex, sexual health, cervical cancer prevention policy, sexuality and higher education, women’s genital meanings and experiences, and ‘female genital cosmetic surgery’ (FGCS), pornography, body hair, contemporary formations of ‘healthy eating’, and more recently, covid-19, and sex/dating and disability. I am also interested in the intersections between academia and activism, and was involved in The New View Campaign’s work around FGCS.
I have an ongoing interest in qualitative research and (with Victoria Clarke) wrote the award-winning textbook Successful Qualitative Research: A Practical Guide for Beginners (2013, Sage). We have written extensively on thematic analysis (often with Gareth Terry and Nikki Hayfield), after writing about and developing what we now characterise as a reflexive approach to TA. Our latest book Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide (Sage, 2022) – which includes input from a range of students and colleagues, including Nikki and Gareth – was awarded the British Psychological Society’s Book Award 2022, in the textbook category.
My interests in qualitative research are broader than just TA, and I co-edited Collecting Qualitative Data: A Practical Guide to Textual, Media and Virtual Techniques (2017, Cambridge University Press) with Victoria and Debra Gray – which introduces a range of methods for collecting qualitative data beyond the widely-used face-to-face interview or focus group. Victoria and I, along with other colleagues, also have a particular interest in a method called story completion. Victoria and I, along with Hannah Frith and Naomi Moller, co-edited an issue of Qualitative Research in Psychology dedicated to the method.
You can find more information about my research activities on my University of Auckland staff profile or via Google Scholar. I also say things on Twitter: @ginnybraun.
Associate Professor Victoria Clarke
I am a white, queer, disabled woman with mobility and other impairments. My pronouns are she/her, they/them. I am an Associate Professor in Qualitative and Critical Psychology in the School of Social Sciences at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
I teach about qualitative research and also supervise undergraduate, Masters and Doctoral student research, mainly in applied areas. My research and writing have focused on the intersecting areas of sexuality and gender, family and relationships, appearance and embodiment, and qualitative research methods. I am the 2022 recipient of the British Psychological Society President’s Award for my “distinguished contributions to psychological knowledge”. I have received a Citation for Excellence (2015) from the British Psychological Society Qualitative Methods in Psychology Section, and the inaugural Postgraduate Prize (2000) from the British Psychological Society Psychology of Sexualities Section for my doctoral thesis research.
I have published four award winning books: Out in Psychology: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer Perspectives (2007, Wiley), LGBTQ Psychology: An introduction (2010, Cambridge University Press), Successful Qualitative Research: A Practical Guide for Beginners (2013, Sage), and Thematic Analysis: A Practical Guide (Sage, 2022), which won the British Psychological Society’s Book Award 2022, in the textbook category. I also co-edited Collecting Qualitative Data: A Practical Guide to Textual, Media and Virtual Techniques (2017, Cambridge University Press) with Ginny and Debra Gray.
I write about TA with Ginny and various other collaborators – including most frequently Nikki Hayfield and Gareth Terry – and we have now written over 30 chapters, reviews, editorials and commentaries on TA! I also have interests in other qualitative methods – particularly qualitative surveys and story completion – and encourage other qualitative researchers to embrace a diversity of qualitative methods. I have co-authored several chapters about the story completion method and co-edited a special Issue of the journal Qualitative Research in Psychology on this method.
You can find more information about my research on my University of the West of England (UWE) staff profile, or via ResearchGate, Google Scholar and Academia.edu. I tweet regularly about thematic analysis and qualitative research: @drvicclarke.
Meet our closest TA collaborators, Nikki & Gareth
Dr Nikki Hayfield
I am a white bisexual woman (pronouns she/her they/them) who works as a Senior Lecturer in Social Psychology in the School of Social Sciences at the University of the West of England (UWE, Bristol). I completed my undergrad degree at UWE before taking some time away from studying to visit Australia for six months. I returned to undertake my PhD research which explored bisexual women’s appearance and visual identities.
My current research interests are in two areas: i) women’s relationships and reproductive lives and ii) bisexualities, pansexualities, asexualities, and sexualities more broadly. My research has explored a variety of topics within my areas of interest, including bisexual identities, marginalisation, and relationships, pansexualities, asexualities, and the meanings of civil partnership for same-sex couples. Most recently, I have focused on heterosex within women’s relationships, mixed-sex civil partnerships, being childfree, and understandings and experiences of peri/menopause.
I have a keen interest in qualitative methodologies and use and teach about a variety of methods of data generation and analysis. This includes interviews, focus groups, qualitative surveys, and story completion tasks and I have a particular focus on reflexive thematic analysis. I have also dipped my toe into visual methods, including participant generated photographs, and virtual online avatars. I supervise and examine doctoral and PhD students as well as supporting undergraduate students with their final year research dissertations within my areas of interest.
During my time at UWE, I have had a variety of research roles, including Associate Head of Research and Knowledge Exchange (2022-2023), and lead of the Identities, Subjectivities and Inequalities theme (part of the Social Science Research Group) (2018-2023). I was a committee member of the British Psychology Society’s Psychology of Sexualities Section (2014-2019), and have recently joined the Psychology of Women and Equalities Section committee.
In 2020 my first book – Bisexual and Pansexual Identities: Exploring and Challenging Invisibility and Invalidation – was published as part of the Routledge series on Gender and Sexualities in Psychology. I often work with Victoria Clarke, Ginny Braun, and Gareth Terry to write book chapters about reflexive thematic analysis. In 2021, Gareth and I co-authored Essentials of Thematic Analysis as part of the American Psychological Association’s Essentials of Qualitative Methods series. My journal, chapter, and book publications reflect my research and methodological interests. You can access pre-publication copies of these where available via my UWE staff page and on ResearchGate and Google Scholar.
Dr Gareth Terry
I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Clinical Sciences the Auckland University of Technology (AUT), Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand. I work out of the Centre for Person Centred Research (PCR) at AUT and lead the research on Disability, Diversity, and Accessibility within the Centre. I am interested in the intersection of gender, bodies, and health, and my work is informed by my background in critical health psychology.
My research has explored men’s sexual and reproductive health and decision-making, men’s embodiment and experiences of illness, injury, and body modification, the decision to be ‘childfree’ (for men and women), sexual consent practices (and implications of these for sexual violence), and more recently work in rehabilitation, disability and access (informed by critical rehabilitation studies). I also have a growing interest in research that draws on principles and practices of co-design, and its implications for knowledge translation activity.
I teach about qualitative methods (especially TA) in university courses and through workshops (online and in person). I have written a number of chapters related to qualitative methods, with various combinations of Virginia Braun, Victoria Clarke, and Nikki Hayfield. I am co-author with Nikki of Essentials of Thematic Analysis, which is part of The Essentials of Qualitative Methods Series from the American Psychological Association.
You can find out more about me on my AUT staff page or via Google Scholar.