This paper presents a thematic analysis methodology which uses a hybrid coding process to understand how science and engineering students in higher level education relate to mathematics. This process utilises and builds on previous research on mathematical identity amongst student teachers by using deductive coding while continuing to be grounded in the new data through inductive coding. Many authors have written on both or either of these methods. Most treat it was a simple choice between one or the other. Few have addressed best practice in integrating these approaches