Multi-LLM Thematic Analysis with Dual Reliability Metrics: Combining Cohen's Kappa and Semantic Similarity for Qualitative Research Validation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a validation framework combining Cohen's Kappa and semantic similarity to assess the reliability of LLM-based thematic analysis in qualitative research, demonstrated on art therapy transcripts.

Contribution

It presents a novel multi-metric validation approach with configurable parameters and consensus extraction, enhancing reliability in AI-assisted qualitative analysis.

Findings

Gemini 2.5 Pro achieved highest reliability metrics

All models showed high inter-rater agreement ($ppa > 0.80$)

Framework successfully extracts consensus themes across multiple runs.

Abstract

Qualitative research faces a critical reliability challenge: traditional inter-rater agreement methods require multiple human coders, are time-intensive, and often yield moderate consistency. We present a multi-perspective validation framework for LLM-based thematic analysis that combines ensemble validation with dual reliability metrics: Cohen's Kappa ($\kappa$) for inter-rater agreement and cosine similarity for semantic consistency. Our framework enables configurable analysis parameters (1-6 seeds, temperature 0.0-2.0), supports custom prompt structures with variable substitution, and provides consensus theme extraction across any JSON format. As proof-of-concept, we evaluate three leading LLMs (Gemini 2.5 Pro, GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet) on a psychedelic art therapy interview transcript, conducting six independent runs per model. Results demonstrate Gemini achieves highest reliability ($\kappa = 0.907$, cosine=95.3%), followed by GPT-4o ($\kappa = 0.853$, cosine=92.6%) and Claude ($\kappa = 0.842$, cosine=92.1%). All three models achieve a high agreement ($\kappa > 0.80$), validating the multi-run ensemble approach. The framework successfully extracts consensus themes across runs, with Gemini identifying 6 consensus themes (50-83% consistency), GPT-4o identifying 5 themes, and Claude 4 themes. Our open-source implementation provides researchers with transparent reliability metrics, flexible configuration, and structure-agnostic consensus extraction, establishing methodological foundations for reliable AI-assisted qualitative research.