⚠️ Research in Progress: Doctoral Defence Forthcoming
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Appendix J · Analytic Memo Template
Analytic Memo Template
Analytic memos are the researcher’s running record of interpretive decisions. They document what I noticed, what I provisionally concluded, why I connected one piece of data to another, and where I was uncertain. They are the audit trail of the analysis, and they are as important for what they reveal about the researcher’s reasoning as for what they document about the data.
In an IPA study, analytic memos are written at two levels: idiographic (about a specific participant’s account) and nomothetic (about patterns across cases). The template below structures both levels and includes a reflexivity prompt because the boundary between analytical observation and researcher projection is one of the most important boundaries to track in qualitative research.
ANALYTIC MEMO TEMPLATE
Memo Date: ____________ Memo Number: ____________
Data Source: [ ] Interview transcript [ ] Photograph [ ] Group session notes [ ] Reflexivity journal
Participant Pseudonym (if applicable): ____________
Analytical Stage: [ ] First-pass reading [ ] Emergent theme [ ] Cross-case pattern [ ] Theoretical connection
1. Data Excerpt or Description
Quote the relevant passage, describe the image, or summarize the interaction. Include line numbers or timestamps for transcripts. Include image filename and participant pseudonym for photographs.
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
2. Initial Analytical Observation
What do you see here? Write freely. This is observation before interpretation , describe what strikes you about this excerpt or image before you begin to explain it.
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
3. Interpretive Claim
What does this data tell you? Make an explicit claim, framed as provisionally as you need to. Use the language of hypothesis rather than conclusion at this stage: “This suggests…” or “This may indicate…” or “This connects to…”
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
4. Connections to Other Data
Where does this connect to other excerpts, photographs, or moments in the study? List memo numbers, participant pseudonyms, or image filenames.
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
5. Theoretical Connection
Which theoretical concepts from your framework does this data speak to? Which does it challenge? Are there concepts in the literature you have been thinking about that this data extends, confirms, complicates, or rejects?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
6. Reflexivity Check
Is this observation coming from the data, or from you? What are you bringing to this interpretation from your own experience, assumptions, or theoretical commitments? Where might your positionality be shaping what you are seeing?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
7. Questions Raised
What does this observation open up? What would you need to look for in other data to confirm, refine, or revise this claim? What are you uncertain about?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
8. Provisional Theme Label
If this observation is pointing toward an emerging theme, give it a working label here. Use the participant’s own language where possible rather than your analytical vocabulary.
Working label: ____________________________________________
Design Rationale
The structure of the analytic memo template draws on Lincoln and Guba’s (1985) criteria for trustworthiness in qualitative research, and specifically on their concept of the audit trail: a documented record of analytical decisions sufficient for an independent reviewer to trace the researcher’s reasoning from raw data to theoretical claim. Every field in this template serves that function.
Field 6 (Reflexivity Check) is the most methodologically significant component. In research that uses Scholarly Personal Narrative, the boundary between researcher experience and participant data is already intentionally blurred. The reflexivity check is a discipline for managing that blur with analytical rigour rather than treating it as a licence for projection. The question “Is this observation coming from the data, or from you?” carries no clean answer in SPN research. But asking it at every analytical step is part of what distinguishes methodologically accountable SPN from personal essay.
Field 8 (Provisional Theme Label) specifies using the participant’s own language where possible. This is a methodological commitment to the principle that theory can emerge from participant knowledge rather than being imposed on it. Smith et al. (2009) describe this as a central commitment of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: the analyst’s job is to follow the participant’s meaning-making rather than replace it.
References
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Sage.
Smith, J. A., Larkin, M., & Flowers, P. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method and research. Sage.