In thematic analysis, one major pitfall that can lead to misleading results is __________, where researchers impose their own biases or interpretations rather than allowing themes to emerge organically from the data.

In thematic analysis, one major pitfall that can lead to misleading results is researcher bias, where researchers impose their own biases or interpretations rather than allowing themes to emerge organically from the data. This happens when analysts start with preconceived ideas and then force the data to fit those ideas, which can distort the true patterns in participants’ words. Because the themes are shaped by the researcher’s expectations, important nuances may be missed or misrepresented. For example, if a researcher expects to find anger in a set of interview transcripts, they might label neutral comments as angry, even though the participants’ tone was calm. By staying open and letting the data guide the coding, analysts can uncover genuine themes that accurately reflect the participants’ experiences.