Thematic Analysis with Large Language Models: does it work with
  languages other than English? A targeted test in Italian
Stefano De Paoli
This paper proposes a test to perform Thematic Analysis (TA) with Large
Language Model (LLM) on data which is in a different language than English.
While there has been initial promising work on using pre-trained LLMs for TA on
data in English, we lack any tests on whether these models can reasonably
perform the same analysis with good quality in other language. In this paper a
test will be proposed using an open access dataset of semi-structured
interviews in Italian. The test shows that a pre-trained model can perform such
a TA on the data, also using prompts in Italian. A comparative test shows the
model capacity to produce themes which have a good resemblance with those
produced independently by human researchers. The main implication of this study
is that pre-trained LLMs may thus be suitable to support analysis in
multilingual situations, so long as the language is supported by the model
used.