INTERPETATIVE PHENOMOLOGICAL

RESEARCH
IPA

Submitted by
Mehreen khan
Hareem Bibi
Anooshay
saida kawal
 What is phenomological approach
• Its all about studying human experiences.
• Anything that is expereinced by an individual or group of individual can be
searched through phenomological approach.
• Data is collected using focus group and interview from the people who have
experienced the phenomena that you plan to study.
• Data can be collected through observation as people are expereicning the
phenomena.
• A phenomological approach focus on
• Describing the participant experiences
• Describing perspective of the participants experiences
• Interpretating participant experiences
• Interpretating the perspective of the partcipant experiences.
 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.
• 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.
• Psychological perspective that emphasizes how individuals interpret and
perceive their experiences (phenomenology) shape their behavior.
• Phenomenology focuses on studying and understanding phenomena
(objects, events, experiences) as they appear in human consciousness. It
suggests that reality is constructed through our perceptions, thoughts, and
experiences, rather than existing independently of our consciousness.
• It understands the individual's unique interpretation of events, rather than
just their observable behaviors or underlying unconscious drives.
 What is interpretative?
• 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. This process involves immersing oneself in
the data, identifying patterns and themes, and interpreting these within the context
of the participants' lives.
• Ultimately then IPA is an attempt to get as close as possible to a participants world
using a process of interpretative activity. This process involves immersing oneself in
the data, identifying patterns and themes, and interpreting these within the context
of the participants' lives.
 What is IPA?
• It is 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.
• I.PA. is not concerned with attempts to produce objective statements of
events
• 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.
 IPA and theoritical approaches
• There are four different approaches used in interpretative
phenomological approach:
• Descriptive
• Interpretative
• Hermeneuatic
• Ideography
Descriprive IPA: Its aim is used to describe the lived expereicnes without
giving meaning to it.
Philosophical influences: According to Husseral leave a side our prevous
knowledge and investments and to see the phenomena as experienced.
Example
Research question: How do individuals experiences living with chronic
pain?
Descriptive approach: In this approach researcher will provide a detail
account of participant experiences without imposing theoritcial
interpretation.
Interpretative IPA: Its aim is to interpet the implicit meaning in a lived
expereinces.
Philosphical influence: the researcher cannot extract themseleves from the
research and interpetation are made from the resarcher perspective and we
are always becoming our selves.
Example
• Research Question: How do individuals experience living with chronic
pain?
• interpretative Approach: for example if a research is interpretating a piece
of literature. Let's take the novel , it would also involve interpreting the the
events that happen in the story, a hermeneutic approach might involve
considering the historical context in which the novel was written, the author's
background and intentions, and how the novel reflects the society of its time.
It might also involve analyzing the psychlogical and grammatical factors to
uncover its deeper meaning.
• hermeneutic IPA : It provide a surer foundation and processes for
interpreting .
• Philosophical influences:
It the iinvolves grammatical and psychological interpretation.
The researcher brings their own preconception in analysis
• Ideography IPA : It aims to focus on the individual.
Philosophical influences:
It provide a detail,thorough indepth analysis
From the perpesctive of the particular people.
Example Researcher wants to know experiences of the individual
with PTSD this process allow the researcher to understand the
detail expereicnes of the phenomena by collect the data thrugh
interviews.
 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
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
IPA and 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!
 Data analysis

Stage 1: identify the recuurent themes and pattern and write it down on
the left margin of the transcript list all the words phrases and keeping
the study phenomena in the mind. this is the raw data.

Stage 2: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 3: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 4: 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 5: 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 6: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.
 IPA and 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.
• Inductive Reasoning: This is a method of reasoning in which
general principles are inferred from specific observations. In the
context of research, inductive reasoning involves deriving
generalizable patterns or themes from the specific data collected,
without aiming to prove or disprove pre-existing theories or
hypotheses. It is often used in exploratory research where the
goal is to generate hypotheses or theories based on the data.
This approach emphasizes the importance of understanding and interpreting
the meaning of texts or narratives, such as interview transcripts, without
imposing preconceived interpretations. In the context of research,
particularly qualitative research, the researcher takes on the role of an
active participant who seeks to understand the participant's account and
narrative without directing or intruding upon the interview process. The
focus is on uncovering the meaning embedded in the participant's words
and experiences, often through a process of interpretation and
understanding rather than hypothesis testing or validation.
 IPA aand bracketing
o Bracketing is a means of demonstrating the validity of the data collection and
analysis process (Ahern, 1999).
o Researcher’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)
o While 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
o In this way, IPA is a unique and novel approach to studying phenomena
 Conclusion
• 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