Semi structured interviews, 48 renters, three cities, thematic analysis

Sociology research poster example

A sociology research poster example should show who was interviewed, how the talk was coded and what people actually said, with counts a reader can check. This A0 portrait board reports a fictional study of 48 renters in three cities asking why they stop reporting repairs, and fear of a rent rise came up in 31 of the interviews. It uses a question as the title, a one line key finding, five labelled methods entries, one chart of four reasons, one stat block and four takeaways, and every count on it traces back to the 48 interviews.

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The whole board

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Why do renters stop reporting repairs? Forty eight interviews across three cities

D. Okonjo ¹, L. Ferreira ¹ ²

1 School of Sociology, Kingsmere University · 2 Centre for Housing and Everyday Life, Kingsmere University

Fear of a rent rise was named in 31 of the 48 interviews, and it was usually the first reason given.

BACKGROUND

Repair reporting rates are read as a measure of housing quality, which only works if renters report when something breaks. Complaint data from the three cities in this study shows a drop of about a third in reports per tenancy over five years, at the same time as inspection records show no improvement in the condition of the stock. One of those two things is wrong. This study asks the renters. It does not ask whether a repair was needed, whether it was fixed, or whether the landlord met a legal duty.

METHODS

Design. Semi structured interviews and thematic analysis. No hypothesis was set before fieldwork and the topic guide was revised twice as themes appeared.

Recruitment. Six tenant unions across three cities posted the call to their members; no landlord, agent or housing provider was involved at any point.

Sample. 48 renters in private tenancies of at least 12 months, interviewed for 41 to 68 minutes, 17 in city A, 16 in city B and 15 in city C.

Coding. Two researchers coded independently in NVivo, 12 of the 48 transcripts double coded, Cohen kappa 0.81 on the final code frame.

Ethics. Approved by the university human research committee.

Figure 1. Interviews naming each reason (several allowed): A rent rise 31, B inaction 27, C rights 19, D language 9.

Source: coded transcripts, 48 interviews, three cities, 2026.

RESULTS

Fear of a rent rise was named in 31 of the 48 interviews and was usually the first reason given. One renter put it plainly: "The last person who complained about the oven got a notice two months later." Past inaction came second, in 27 interviews, and was described as learned rather than decided: "I reported the leak three times in one year, so now I put a bucket under it." Nineteen renters did not know what the landlord was required to do, and several believed the repair would be charged to them. Nine described the report itself as the obstacle, either because the portal was in English only or because it demanded photographs, a tenancy number and a preferred time before it would accept anything at all. Only four renters in the sample described a landlord who had ever fixed a fault first and asked questions afterwards, and all four were in tenancies of more than six years.

31 of 48

renters feared a rent rise if they reported

65% of the sample, named in every one of the three cities

DISCUSSION

Read together the four reasons describe one thing rather than four. Reporting a repair is not a neutral administrative act for these renters; it is a move in a relationship where the other side controls whether the tenancy continues and at what price. That reframes the drop in complaint data. A falling report rate in a market with rising rents and short fixed terms is at least as likely to measure a shift in what renters believe reporting will cost them as it is to measure a housing stock getting better. It also fits the four renters in tenancies of more than six years, the longest in the sample, where a notice after a complaint was never described as a risk. Their accounts were the only ones in which a repair was described as routine.

27 had reported before and seen nothing happen

19 did not know what the landlord was required to fix

9 found the reporting form itself the obstacle

Report counts measure fear as much as housing quality

REFERENCES

1.Calder, N. and Iversen, H. (2025) Silence in the tenancy: non reporting as a housing outcome. Journal of Urban Sociology, 41(3), 288 to 311.

2.Mwangi, A. (2024) Coding repair narratives: reliability in small interview samples. Qualitative Methods Review, 12(1), 55 to 72.

3.Prosser, E., Baptiste, R. and Lund, M. (2026) Fixed terms and complaint behaviour in three rental markets. Kingsmere Housing Papers 2026-02.

Block by block

What each block on the board is for, in the order a reader walks it.

Question title and key finding: The title is a question, why do renters stop reporting repairs, followed by the scope: forty eight interviews across three cities. Two authors sit under it over two affiliations at Kingsmere University. The billboard line directly below answers the question in one sentence: fear of a rent rise was named in 31 of the 48 interviews and was usually the first reason given.
Background: The background sets up a contradiction worth studying: complaint data from the three cities shows reports per tenancy falling by about a third over five years, while inspection records show no improvement in the housing stock. One of those two records is wrong. It then says what the study does not ask, whether a repair was needed, whether it was fixed, or whether a landlord met a legal duty, which keeps a reader from judging it against a question it never set.
Methods as a labelled protocol: Five labelled entries. Design: semi structured interviews and thematic analysis, no hypothesis set in advance, the topic guide revised twice. Recruitment: six tenant unions posted the call, and no landlord, agent or housing provider was involved. Sample: 48 renters in private tenancies of at least 12 months, interviewed for 41 to 68 minutes, 17, 16 and 15 in cities A, B and C. Coding: two researchers in NVivo, 12 transcripts double coded, Cohen kappa 0.81. Ethics: approval by the university committee.
Figure 1, four reasons: Four vertical bars keyed A to D count the interviews naming each reason: rent rise 31, past inaction 27, rights 19 and language 9. Single letter keys keep the axis clean and the caption spells each one out. The four bars add to 86, not 48, because a renter could name more than one reason, and the caption says several reasons were allowed per interview so a reader does not think the counts are wrong.
Results in the renters words: The results give each reason its count and quote the two largest in the renters own words: "The last person who complained about the oven got a notice two months later" and "I reported the leak three times in one year, so now I put a bucket under it." Nineteen renters did not know what the landlord had to fix, nine found the reporting portal itself the obstacle, and only four described a landlord who fixed first and asked later, all in tenancies of more than six years.
The stat block: One stat block prints 31 of 48, with the label renters feared a rent rise if they reported and a detail line giving 65 per cent of the sample, rounded from 64.6, named in every city. The same number also opens the key finding line, so the takeaways leave it out and give the other three counts instead.
Discussion and the long tenancies: The discussion reads the four reasons as one: reporting a repair is a move in a relationship where the other side controls the rent and the tenancy, so a falling report rate may measure fear as much as housing quality. It then points to the four renters in tenancies of more than six years, the only accounts in which a repair was routine, which matches the results and stays inside the Sample entry, where all 48 renters hold private tenancies.
Takeaways and references: Four checked points give the three counts not already in the key finding and the reframing: 27 had reported before and seen nothing happen, 19 did not know what the landlord had to fix, 9 found the reporting form itself the obstacle, and report counts measure fear as much as housing quality. Three numbered references in author and date style close the board, invented for this fictional study; replace them with your own sources.

What makes this board work

The headline is a question

A board that opens with a question gets answered in the reader head before they reach the method, which is a reliable way to stop somebody walking past. The key finding line then gives the answer with its count, so the question never reads as a slogan.

Every theme is countable

Each of the four reasons carries the number of interviews that named it, in the chart and again in the results text. A qualitative claim with a count beside it can be checked, and the kappa of 0.81 in methods tells a reviewer the coding behind those counts was reliable.

Quotes are short enough to read standing up

The two quotes run to 14 and 17 words and sit with the two largest themes. A poster is not a paper, and a 60 word quote at a metre is a wall. Short quotes carry the voice of the participants without costing the board its white space.

Questions people ask

What goes on a sociology research poster?

The question, how people were recruited and how many took part, what was asked, how it was coded and by whom, the themes with a count and a short quote, and what the themes mean together. A reliability figure such as a kappa belongs on the board, because it is the first thing a methods reviewer looks for.

How long should a poster quote be?

Under 25 words. Anything longer stops being a quote and becomes a paragraph, and it will not be read at a poster session. Pick the sentence that carries the theme rather than the one that explains it, and put the explanation in your own words beside it, as this board does with its oven and leak quotes.

How many themes fit on one board?

Four is comfortable at A0 portrait on this layout, because the chart, the results text and the four takeaways each give every theme a slot. Five is tight and six means something gets one line. If you have more, group them under a parent theme, or split the work into a themes board and a method board rather than shrinking the type.

Why do the theme counts add up to more than the sample?

Because one person can give several reasons, and each interview is counted once under every reason it named. That is normal in thematic work, but a reader who adds the bars and gets 86 from 48 interviews will assume an error. This caption says several reasons were allowed per interview, so the bars read as counts, not shares of one total.

Should a qualitative poster report a kappa?

If two people coded, yes, with how many transcripts were double coded and at what stage. This board gives 12 of 48 double coded and a kappa of 0.81 on the final code frame. Some qualitative traditions reject agreement statistics; if yours does, say how coding was checked instead, because a reviewer will ask either way.

Should the title of a research poster be a question?

When the finding is an answer to a question readers already have, yes. A question title invites a passer by to guess before they read, and a key finding line underneath then gives the answer. It works less well when the result is a measurement, where a title that states the number carries more than a question would.

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Sources

Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked 29 September 2026.