Participant perceptions of airport security measures: a thematic analysis

Airport Security

In the current analysis responses from five participants were evaluated. While this thematic analysis was undertaken with no a priori theoretical guidelines, we can still anticipate that the reactions to any organizational policy can fall into three general categories: positive, negative, and/or neutral (Tyler and De Cremer 2005). Thus, while this is an a priori assumption it is very broad and does not violate the principle of not attempting to identify theoretical concepts while coding data in a thematic qualitative analysis (Willig 2008). In addition, while there are three general categories of responses, this does not mean that any one participant would necessarily generate only positive, negative, or neutral responses. It is quite possible that respondents would generate a mix of these three major categories. These three general categories served as guidelines for the initial coding and analysis of the comments from the participants.

The thematic analysis was done according to the six step specifications described by Braun and Clarke (2006). After reading in transcribing the dating of the initial codes were generated and then the data was codified. Following this the codes were grouped according to themes and the data was reduced to a number of themes and instances that the theme is expressed by each participant. Themes were reviewed and combined when two related themes were expressed within the same sentence (e.g., the negative themes of searches being invasive and a violation of rights were considered to be expressing the same general theme). Themes were developed in order to be simple and recognizable from the actual statements made by the participants as opposed to the researcher insinuating them from the data (Horton 2007).

After reviewing the data, identifying potential themes, reviewing the themes, generating codes, and encoding the data it became apparent that no statements could be codified as neutral.

The majority of codified statements were negative, expressing the view of the participant that they found the airport security measures detrimental in some way. There were a total of 27 negative coded statements that fell within eight identified themes or subcategories. The most common negative statements the participants made regarding airport security related to a theme regarding some form of perceived violation of the participants' rights as a result of the searches, either from physical searches or from the scanners. Four of the five participants made at least one comment regarding the invasive nature of searches they experienced (12 of the total 27 negative statements). Three of the five participants made statements indicating that they believed that the airport security measures were not working; every one of these negative statements was made in conjunction with a complaint about searches either being too aggressive or too invasive. Thus, the two themes expressing the invasive nature of the searches and the ineffectiveness of the heightened security measures were related. The third most common negative statement regarding airport security was related to the aggressive nature of the searches that participants had experienced (two of the five participants). Other noted negative themes included that other passengers were not following the instructions of the security agents and holding up the lines, increase in theft due to airport security searchers, and a vindictive attitude towards the airports for their heightened security.

There were a total of 10 positive coded statements that fell within four general subcategories/themes. The most commonly used positive statements reflected the things that increased effort security was justified giving terrorist activities and that the participants felt safer (these two themes accounted for six of the 10 positive statements). A related theme was that an enhanced airport security was worth it to the participants because it had worked and decreased numbers of terrorist attacks and airports. Further review of the data indicated that every participant made at least one negative comment regarding the heightened measures.