A growing library of materials to support your RRITA practice — a downloadable Quick Start Guide, the matrix template, a glossary of core concepts, and guidance for interview question design.
Quick Start Guide
RRITA Quick Start Guide
New to RRITA? Start here. Covers the research question formula, matrix setup, the seven steps at a glance, the reflexive anchor, the five qualities of a good interview question, and how to know when your themes are ready.
The central analytic instrument of RRITA. Excel workbook with one tab per analytic version — Expanded, Compressed, Coded, Themed — plus a Master and Working list of codes. Pre-filled prompts mark the structure of each entry.
Key concepts that underpin RRITA's analytic logic. Best understood in context alongside the matrix and the seven-step process.
The historically and socio-politically situated contours of one's understandings; the perceived limits of what is visible, possible, and desirable within a given interpretive context. Deepening one's understanding of subjectivity may help broaden the analytic horizon — expanding what the researcher can see, question, and construct meaning from.
Structural supports, such as research domains and the expand–compress cadence, that organise analytic activity without determining its outcomes. Scaffolding facilitates interpretive work without constraining it.
A dedicated matrix feature that formalises analytic scepticism and engagement with data complexity. Analytic tensions capture interpretive frictions between researcher subjectivity and data, among emerging insights, and between data and literature. Discordance records internal contradictions and negative cases within the raw data. Together they prevent premature thematic closure.
A label used to identify and organise raw data, serving as the primary bridge between verbatim extracts and broader thematic patterns. RRITA distinguishes semantic codes — in vivo and descriptive — from interpretive codes, introduced sparingly and always accompanied by a memo documenting the analytic rationale.
The alternating rhythm of data generation and analysis that structures RRITA's seven steps. Expansion phases increase analytic density; compression phases concentrate insights into refined outputs.
A dedicated header row in the RRITA matrix that prompts researchers to document their positionality across each step of the analysis. In Steps 1 and 2, entries are made at study level; from Step 3 onwards, entries are participant-specific. The anchor creates a longitudinal record of shifting positionality.
A documented moment in the analytic narrative where the researcher's interrogation of positionality, tension, or discordance explicitly redirects or deepens the interpretive trajectory. A pivot is justified when it produces a concrete analytic consequence — a theme boundary redrawn, an interpretation revised, a code reconsidered.
Broad conceptual territories defined a priori to facilitate comprehensive data coverage and initial matrix organisation. Domains serve as temporary scaffolding and never constrain inductive coding or theme development. The domain structure remains fluid and is updated as early interviews reveal overlooked areas.
The central analytic instrument of RRITA. It consolidates raw data, reflexive positioning, coding, tension and discordance analysis, and theme development into a single versioned document, rendering the full analytic journey visible and open to scrutiny.
The systematic, ongoing process of scrutinising and documenting one's subjectivity at every step of the analytic journey. In RRITA, reflexivity is spatialised: horizontally via the reflexive anchor across all steps, and vertically via reflexive notes on specific data segments within a step.
The constellation of assumptions, positions, values, and emotional resonances through which the researcher perceives and interprets the world. In RRITA, subjectivity is treated as a central analytic resource to be documented and scrutinised — not bracketed or minimised.
A patterned account of meaning, rooted in raw data and constructed through analytic work, conveying a significant insight regarding the research question. Themes possess interpretive depth and are formally justified through a theme warrant. Where a theme contains distinct facets, it may be organised into subthemes.
A concise statement justifying why a group of codes constitutes an interpretive theme rather than a descriptive topic. The warrant makes the researcher's interpretive reasoning explicit and accountable, maintained directly within the matrix's Themes column.
Interview Question Tips
The interview guide is not a script but a thinking tool — a structured set of invitations for the participant to narrate their experience.
Five qualities
Clarity. Use your participants' vocabulary, not academic or clinical jargon.
Natural phrasing. Questions should sound like something a thoughtful person would say in conversation.
Neutrality. Avoid leading questions or embedded evaluations. Leave space for participants to define their own experience.
Descriptive focus. Ask participants to narrate and remember rather than theorise. The analysis is your job, not the participant's.
Participant-centredness. Follow unexpected threads. The most analytically valuable material often comes from a direction you did not anticipate.
On probing
Neutral probes are among the most powerful tools in qualitative interviewing: