Towards Better Reflexive Thematic Analysis in HCI: A Scoping Review of Practice at CHI

Reflexive Thematic Analysis is an increasingly popular method of qualitative analysis in many disciplines, including HCI. However, previous work has questioned the quality of its application, often finding it misunderstood and misapplied. To establish a snapshot of current practice in HCI, we performed a scoping review to examine 147 CHI papers from a single year that purported to use the method. Markers of good and poor practice were assessed based on writings and guidelines by the method’s originators. Similar to reviews in other domains, we found widespread issues such as methodological incongruence, insufficient detail, and poorly conceptualised and reported themes. Despite this, we highlight encouraging pockets of good practice. We conclude that HCI researchers should engage more holistically with Reflexive TA, and question whether it is always the most appropriate choice of method. To this end we offer several recommendations for improvement.