Use of IPA in

Qualitative Data
Analysis
Dr. AFTAB
Focus of this presentation…
◦ Provide an overview of the theoretical underpinnings and
pillars of IPA and when it should be deployed
◦ Outline dissertation topics and kinds of novel research that
IPA undertakes
◦ Craft phenomenological research questions (RQs)
◦ Distinguish between “whatness” and thatness” as they
relate to research phenomena
The Methodological Foundation of IPA
◦ IPA has three methodological influences:
◦ phenomenology, hermeneutics, and idiography, illustrated in Figure 1.
◦ As IPA draws from all three of these areas, it is important to understand the key philosophers and features
from each, and how they fit together to shape the development of an IPA study.
What is Phenomenology?
◦ A movement which originated about 1905 by Edmund Husserl.
◦ Phenomenology is a philosophical approach to the study of experience.
◦ It guides us to think about what the experience of being human is like, especially in terms of the things that
matter to us and that constitute our lived world (Smith et al., 2009).
◦ The goal of phenomenology, therefore, is to explore a lived experience.
◦ Phenomenological enquiry has two different approaches: descriptive phenomenology and interpretive
phenomenology. IPA has its foundations in both.
Cont….
◦ A psychology based on the theory that phenomenology determines behaviour.
◦ A method of inquiry based on the premise that reality consists of objects and events as they are perceived or
understood in human consciousness and not of anything independent of human consciousness.
◦ The way in which one perceives and interprets events and one's relationship to them, both in contrast to
one's objective responses to stimuli and to any inferred unconscious motivation for one's behaviour.
◦ We do not experience the physical world as it is in its pure or real state, but that the world we experience is
an interpreted world that has been shaped by in-built biological invariants and the experience-based
psychological beliefs / biases.
◦ Phenomenological Psychology places the emphasis on descriptions from research participants.
What is IPA?
◦ An acronym for “Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis”
◦ Not a methodology per se, but a turnkey approach to conducting qualitative data
analysis
◦ A qualitative method of data collection analysis Developed by Dr. Jonathan Smith and
a team of health psychologists at the University of Birkbeck, UK
◦ An in-depth approach to analyzing data and streams of consciousness in
phenomenological studies
◦ The term Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis is used to signify the combination
of phenomenology and interpretation. (see phenomenology slide)
◦ I.PA. is not concerned with attempts to produce objective statements of events
IPA Conti…..
◦ IPA is concerned with the detailed examination of individual lived experience and how
individuals make sense of that experience (Smith, Flowers, & Larkin, 2009).
◦ IPA is designed to help you understand the personal experiences of a subject (for example, a
person or group of people) concerning a major life event, an experience or a situation.
◦ This event or experience is the “phenomenon” or phenomena that makes up the “P” in IPA.
◦ These phenomena may range from relatively common events – such as motherhood, or being
involved in a car accident – to those which are extremely rare – for example, someone’s
personal experience in a refugee camp or survivor of war etc.
◦ So, IPA is a great choice if your research involves analyzing people’s personal experiences of
something that happened to them.
Cont….
◦ It’s important to remember that IPA is subject–centred.
◦ In other words, it’s focused on the experiencer.
◦ This means that, while you’ll likely use a coding system to identify commonalities, it’s
important not to lose the depth of experience or meaning by trying to reduce everything to
codes.
◦ Also, keep in mind that since your sample size will generally be very small with IPA, you often
won’t be able to draw broad conclusions about the generalisability of your findings.
◦ But that’s okay as long as it aligns with your research aims and objectives.
◦ For example, a researcher who was a victim of a crime himself could insert his own feelings of
frustration and anger into the way he interprets the experience of someone who was
kidnapped.
◦ So, if you’re going to undertake IPA, you need to be very self-aware or you could muddy the
analysis.
Interpretive
◦ The researcher has to interpret peoples mental and emotional states from what they say.
◦ Meanings attached to fieldwork experiences are inevitably framed by the researchers own
implicit concepts.
◦ The researcher must remember that they have a strong personal response to the data and
that their findings are quite simply an interpretation not a reflection.
◦ Ultimately then IPA is an attempt to get as close as possible to a participants world using a
process of interpretative activity.
 Data Collection and Analysis
◦ Data for IPA research is most commonly collected through in-depth or semi-structured
interviews.
◦ The interviews are often described as “a conversation with a purpose”, and once finished, are
transcribed verbatim (Smith et al., 2009, p. 57).
◦ During data analysis, which is flexible and dynamic, the developers of IPA advocate for
researchers to return to the interview data as needed, and to focus on meanings throughout
the process of analysis (Smith & Osborn, 2008).
◦ Data are typically transcripts of in depth interviews from a small number of purposively
selected participants N = 1 up to 8-10 or larger (not a lot larger)
◦ Consider multiple interviews per person Interview guides focus on experience (a sample
follows from the Smith et al. text)Findings are presented as a series of themes Superordinate
themes Sub-themes, or variations within the superordinate themes
Cont….
◦ Emphasis is on the co-creation of understanding and
interpretation, with the researcher and participant, both playing an
active role in the semi-structured in-depth interview
◦ Researcher assumes a hands-on, paradoxically-bilateral
relationship with the participant (impacts and is impacted by the
participant)
◦ Interpretation and sense-making have already begun in the data
collection phase of the study
The I.P.A. Interview
◦ Usually fairly homogeneous sample not random/representative (one particular community)
◦ Usually broad and open research question
◦ No pre-determined hypothesis
◦ Explore flexibly an area of concern
◦ Small sample size in detail (individual cases studies) not general population refers to a
particular community
◦ But remember ones sample will be defined by who is prepared to be in it!
Semi-Structured Interview
◦ Researcher and participant engage in dialogue whereby initial questions are modified in light
of the participants responses
◦ Structured interviews limit what the respondents can talk about but good for control speed
◦ Semi structured means the interviewer is free to probe interesting areas that arise often find
novel aspects of the subject not predicted by the researcher.
◦ (Personal accounts / diaries also used but semi-structured interview probably best)
◦ Interviews generally last for an hour or more.
Some Interview Tips

◦ Have an interview schedule (try to learn by heart)

◦ Think about how you might phrase sensitive questions / areas
◦ Use as little prompting as possible
◦ But good to have gentle prompts
◦ Think about order of questions
◦ Start with the general move to more specific if necessary
◦ Questions should be neutral, not leading open, not closed
◦ Avoid technical jargon use participants own language
◦ Interview environment important
Analysis
◦ Read re-read the script
◦ Initial notes left margin
◦ Emergent themes right margin
◦ Separate sheet list emergent themes-chronological ordering
◦ Then look for connections between them(magnet effect)
◦ Cluster the themes
◦ Check transcript for evidence (actual words of the participant/s)
◦ Title the clusters appropriately super-ordinate themes
Stage 1 Identify themes and recurring patterns in the first transcript. Using the left side margin of the
transcript, list all words, phrases, ideas, and convergent patterns, keeping the study phenomenon in
mind. This is raw data.
Stage II Closely examine your own notations in the left margin of the first transcript (above) and look for
emergent themes and patterns, using specific phrases that most closely capture the essence of your
phenomenon.
Stage III Take a separate piece of paper and title it “Interview # 1.” List the emergent themes (phrases) from
stage II without worrying too much about connections between each theme.

Stage IV On the same paper, begin clustering the themes for interview # 1, making sure that you are avoiding
redundancy and repetition. Each theme must accompany short, verbatim extracts from the actual
interview transcript.
Stage V Closely examine this paper and start distilling the themes and grouping them into “superordinate”
(most important) and “subordinate” (less important, but nonetheless germane) themes.

Stage VI Use the steps outlined in stages 1-5 and repeat the entire process for all the remaining interview
transcripts, carefully noting the emergent themes and clusters. Once you are done, create a
comprehensive master listing (roll up) of superordinate and subordinate themes for all the transcripts.
Make sure you have recorded verbatim extracts for each interview.
The seven-steps of IPA data analysis (Charlick, McKellar, Fielder, & Pincombe, 2015 adapted from Smith et al.,2009
Create table of themes
◦ List the themes which go with each super-ordinate theme.
◦ Provide key words from particular extract as evidence.
◦ Provide line no. and page no. from the transcript.
◦ During this phase certain themes can be dropped if they are not rich in evidence or do not fit
in well with the emerging structure.
For 2 or more participants
◦ 2 approaches -
◦ 1 Use the themes from 1st transcript to inform subsequent analysis or
◦ 2 Put table from participant 1 to one side and start 2nd participant from scratch.
◦ Note repeating patterns but also acknowledge new themes which emerge. In other words you
are checking for both similarities and differences.
◦ Once all transcripts analysed a final table master table of themes is created. Themes selected
not purely on the basis of their prevalence within the data but the richness of the passage
also taken into account.
◦ Process is cyclical!
Constructing a Research Question in IPA
◦ Research questions in IPA studies are usually framed broadly and
openly.
◦ There is no attempt to test a predetermined hypothesis; rather, the
aim is to explore, flexibly and in detail, an area of concern (Smith &
Osborn, 2008).
◦ For example, the research question for the case study was simply,
‘What factors influence a woman to exclusively breastfeed for six
months?’
Sample Features Research Approach and/or Whatness (direct)
research phenomenon methodology or thatness
question (indirect)

What does Focus on Employee Phenomenology Thatness of

engagement “engagement” as engagement (transcendental experience
mean to an indirect phenomenology, (indirect/
employees? employee descriptive transcendental)
experience phenomenology
etc.)

What is it Focus on the Employee IPA Whatness of

like for personal meaning engagement experience
employees of “engagement” (direct/ontological)
to as a direct lived
experience experience in a
engagement specific context
in a virtual
team?
Focus of IPA…
◦ Ontological nature of being (as in “what is it like to be gay,” or “how does
one make sense of chronic lower back pain?”, or perhaps “what is it like
for unwed mothers to raise children in a single parent household?”
◦ IPA is about “meaning making” and “sense making” as they relate to
close, personal experiences
◦ IPA analyzes thick (emotional) data, discursive accounts, (moving from topic to topic without
order) evocative(good or interesting) descriptions, and pathos-laden stories(A teenager tries to convince his
parents to buy him a new car by saying if they cared about their child's safety they'd upgrade him)

◦ It does not attempt to hypothesize, validate, refute, define, taxonomize,

or theorize
Why pursue IPA?
◦ IPA is all about direct lived experience. It is about understanding the very
essence of that experience, as it reveals itself in its most primordial and
originary forms
◦ The researcher is trying to make sense of the experience as it is narrated to
her by participants.
◦ The objective is not to validate or invalidate that experience. It is not to
call into question the facticity of the experience.
◦ It is a retrospective (past) recollection of the experience, as shared by a
study participant, on her own terms in her own words
Theoretical underpinnings of IPA
◦ Phenomenology: Understanding the essence of a phenomenon from the
first-person point of view. It is about “intentionality”, i.e. it is directed
toward something (major theorists: Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, and
Schutz)
◦ Hermeneutics: Interpretation of text, be it written, verbal, and non-
verbal (Gadamer, Ricoeur, Dilthey)
◦ Idiography: Understanding an individual’s “retrospective” account on
their own terms, in their own words. Every individual is a separate entity
How is IPA different from other methods?
◦ It is a step-by-step turnkey process for sorting through and analyzing qualitative
data, using techniques of phenomenological reduction
◦ Especially useful for novice researchers
◦ Idiographic focus is on how an individual in a specific context, makes sense of a
specific phenomenon
◦ Double/triple hermeneutic: In IPA studies, the researcher is making sense of a
participant, who is making sense of a phenomenon. When you add the reader to it,
the reader is making sense of a researcher, who is making sense of a participant,
who is making sense of a phenomenon. There are multiple layers of understanding
and interpretation
IPA: Inductive approach
◦ The primary goal of IPA researchers is to investigate how individuals make sense of their
experiences. It is assumed that people are ‘self-interpreting beings’ (Taylor, 1985), which
means that they are actively engaged in interpreting the events, objects, and people in their
lives.
◦ Philosophically, inductive reasoning is more nuanced and uncertain. It does not attempt to
prove, disprove, hypothesize, validate, or refute theories or hypotheses
◦ Hermeneutics of description/suspicion: Researcher is an active participant who does not
direct or otherwise intrude in the interview process. Focus is on the participant’s account and
narrative
◦ Pays attention to what lies beneath the surface. What is not being said?
IPA and bracketing
oBracketing is a means of demonstrating the validity of the data collection and analysis
process (Ahern, 1999).
oResearcher’s assumptions, pre-conceived notions, and paradigmatic lenses, as they
relate to the study phenomenon, are important factors; however, for the purpose of
research and analysis, these are set aside (bracketed)
oWhile the researcher consciously brackets her biases and assumptions, she allows
her reflexivity to surface and makes careful notations about how she is impacting
and/or being impacted by the study
oIn this way, IPA is a unique and novel approach to studying phenomena
oThe next slide covers the interpretation and analytic process
Phenomenological writing
◦Writing up is the final stage of analysis and interpretation. It constitutes nearly 60-70% of the task
◦Given the idiographic focus of IPA, each participant’s account is treated and written about, on its
own merit and terms with specificity and particularity in mind
◦IPA writing is about evocative descriptions and pathos-laden narratives which add to its novelty
◦Interviews are referred to as “cases” in IPA. In the analysis, the researcher first writes about each
case, providing supporting extracts from the actual interviews. At this point, the researcher is only
making sense of what was obtained from the interviews, without putting a theoretical or
interpretative spin, other than what has emerged in the data collected.
◦After all the cases narratives are individually written, the researcher then distills the data and
creates a group narrative. At this stage of writing, the researcher can and must use her own
interpretative framework and understanding to further make sense of what has transpired in the
study
Further reading
◦ Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: Smith, Flowers, and.
Larkin
◦ Phenomenology of Practice: Max van Manen
◦ Researching Lived experience: Max van Manen