qualitative analysis.docx - Running head: QUALITATIVE...

Running head: QUALITATIVE REPORT
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QUALITATIVE REPORT 2
Qualitative Report
Research Rationale
The current study was interested in exploring how motivation plays a role in students
completing their studies in a Psychology degree. Common beliefs would speculate that to
undertake a degree of any nature, motivation would be a leading factor. What drives a
student to complete university is subjective, therefore this study looked at motivation in an
individual completing her Masters in psychology. Due to the long process of becoming a
registered psychologist, motivation is seen as a defining factor for students to reach this
point, therefore a qualitative approach was necessary to assess a students lived experience
with completing the degree, Furthermore, a qualitative approach ensured the student was
able to express what was important to her in her own words, and this in turn, was better
able to capture her thoughts and feelings about motivations, therefore obtaining a
subjective viewpoint . To account for the differences in each individual regarding motivation
around a psychology degree, the research question ‘To what extent has motivation
influenced your studies in
Psychology’ was employed.
.
Method
Participant
One 22-year-old female participated in the study. The currently resides in
Penrith, Sydney and is of white, middle class decent. The participant has completed her
undergraduate degree in psychology and is currently completing her Masters in Professional
Psychology. The participant attends university full time, while maintaining a casual job in the
disability sector as a support worker and doing placement at primary schools around
Western

QUALITATIVE REPORT 3
Sydney as a provisional psychologist.
Material and Procedure
The researcher prepared seven questions (Appendix A) related to motivation in a
psychology degree, and a semi-structured interview approach was used. Prior to the
commencement of the interview, The participant was shown a copy of the questions to
familiarise herself with the aim of the interview. The interview took place at a convenient
location for The participant and was recorded using a voice memo App on the Iphone XR.
The interview lasted for approximately 20 minutes, with the first 2-3 minutes obtaining
demographics of the participant. The researcher then transcribed the interview verbatim
(Appendix B), using a Mac laptop and word document,
Data Analysis
Thematic analysis is a qualitative analytical method that identifies meanings within a
particular data set, and organises and sorts the extracts of the interview into codes and
themes (Braun, Clarke, Hayfield & Terry, 2018), which then gets analysed for its semantic
meaning. Thematic analysis also allows the researcher to identify the experience of
individuals and make meaning of what is being conveyed through the interview (Braun,
Clarke, Hayfield & Terry, 2018). It therefore identifies and makes sense of what is being said
by the interviewee
(Braun & Clarke, 2006).