Interpretative phenomenological analysis
Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is a qualitative research method primarily used in psychology that aims to explore how individuals perceive and make sense of their personal experiences. Unlike traditional research methods that might focus on generalized findings, IPA emphasizes the subjective interpretation of experiences, seeking to understand their meaning to the individual. The approach recognizes the complexities of human experience and the difficulty in fully grasping another person's perspective, yet it strives to minimize researcher bias in interpreting these experiences.
Originating from the philosophical foundations of phenomenology, IPA has evolved since the 1990s, incorporating hermeneutics to analyze how specific events impact individuals emotionally and psychologically. Researchers typically collect detailed accounts from participants about their lived experiences, allowing for a rich, narrative exploration of how these experiences shape their realities. Thematic analysis is then conducted to identify patterns and connections within the data, ultimately forming a coherent interpretation of the shared experiences.
This method is particularly useful for studying unique or less common experiences, providing insights into diverse perspectives and cultural contexts. By facilitating a deeper understanding of individual narratives, IPA plays a significant role in mental health research and can inform therapeutic practices.
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Interpretative phenomenological analysis
Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) is a psychological research method that focuses on understanding how a patient perceives the events that have been experienced. Instead of emphasizing how the researcher sees the event or how most people would see and react to a given event, the researcher strives to uncover and understand how it affected the individual. The method recognizes that it is never entirely possible for one person to understand another person's experience, but the researcher strives to remove any personal and experimenter's bias from the interpretation. IPA has been subject to criticism because of the inherent inability to standardize the interpretation and because it does not strive to understand the experience itself, only how it affects the individual. However, many continued to see IPA as a flexible and valid way to analyze how a person is affected by past experiences.
Background
Phenomenological comes from the word phenomenon, which refers to an occurrence or something that is a fact. Both words are derived from the Greek word phainomenon, which means "that which appears or is seen." The phenomenological approach to research or analysis focuses on those factors that are directly experienced.
The contemporary method began developing in the 1990s as psychology experts began applying aspects of decades-old phenomenological study and hermeneutics to patient treatment and research. Hermeneutics is a field of study focused on interpreting some form of information. It usually applied to literary texts and especially to the Bible but has been used in other settings as well. In IPA, hermeneutics refers to interpreting how the events in a patient's life have affected the patient and led to the condition for which the patient seeks therapy, or that involves the type of event the researcher wishes to study.
Several individuals are often associated with IPA. They include German philosopher Edmund Husserl, who is credited with originating the phenomenological approach; German philosopher Martin Heidegger, who had significant influence on the study of both phenomenology and hermeneutics; and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, a French philosopher with great interest in understanding how people perceived their experiences.
In contemporary times, Jonathan A. Smith, a psychologist and professor of psychology based in England, has been credited with developing the IPA process and methodology. Smith authored or coauthored numerous articles and books on IPA, and the method grew in popularity in the early twenty-first century.
Overview
The IPA process puts great emphasis on understanding how people see and interpret the experiences they have had and what those experiences mean to them. The psychology professional focuses on collecting detailed information from the individual about not just the experience but also how the individual saw it and felt about it. The researcher or therapist will not put any constraints on how the person provides this information and will not interpret it as it is being provided.
The psychologist or researcher will then attempt to interpret the information provided by the person to understand how the experience has affected them. It is inevitable that the way the researcher relates to a similar experience will become a factor in this interpretation. However, the psychology professional strives to maintain an emphasis on what the experience meant to the person relaying the information.
Usually, a researcher undertaking an IPA study will identify a number of people who have had the experience the researcher seeks to understand. For instance, a researcher might want to study how people react to the childhood loss of a sibling, or how people who are adopting from a foreign country viewed the emotional aspects of the process. The researcher will identify a way to find people who have had this experience and develop a plan for gathering their experiences. The most common way is to ask for written accounts, but researchers may also meet with the participants and allow them to share their experiences in other ways. The person might share the experience orally or may draw, write poetry, act out the experience, or use any other art form to convey the experience, how it felt, and what it meant to them.
The researcher will then gather the various accounts and examine them carefully for themes, or patterns in the reactions. This is referred to as coding the material. For instance, the researcher may observe that children who were younger when their sibling died have very different reactions than those who were older, and may be able to establish ages in which these reactions change. The researcher will continue to pay close attention to how the participants reacted to these experiences at each stage of the event.
These themes will then be organized into some framework or structure, which shows how the themes are related and interconnected. The researcher will look for ways to cluster the information so that it can be analyzed and measured to help bring overall understanding of how the participants' experiences are the same and different. The researcher will form an overall interpretation of the combined experiences and attempt to audit it for accuracy by checking it back against the accounts. It will then be developed into a narrative or other format that can be shared with others, such as a journal article or book, usually accompanied by some form of graph or table to help the readers understand the information. The researcher will also keep a record of their own interpretations, perceptions, and reactions as part of the process.
The technique can also be used on an individual basis. It is often used in situations that are relatively unique or not often experienced by many people. It can provide important insights into groups of people who are different from the researcher's own background and help understand people from different cultures. The technique is considered valuable for ongoing study of mental health issues and the development of new ways to gather, analyze, and apply information collected from patients and others.
Bibliography
"About IPA." Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, www.ipa.bbk.ac.uk/about-ipa. Accessed 15 Nov. 2024.
Alase, Abayomi. "The Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA): A Guide to a Good Qualitative Research Approach." International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies, vol. 5, no. 2, Apr. 2017, pp. 9–19.
Hefferon, Kate, and Elena Gil-Rodriguez. "Methods: Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis." The Psychologist, vol. 24, Oct. 2011, pp. 756–59.
Larkin, Michael, and Andrew Thompson. "Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis in Mental Health and Psychotherapy Research." Qualitative Research Methods in Mental Health and Psychotherapy: A Guide for Students and Practitioners. Edited by David Harper and Andrew R. Thompson, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
Smith, Jonathan A., and Megumi Fieldsend. "Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis." Qualitative Research in Psychology: Expanding Perspectives in Methodology and Design, edited by Paul M. Camic, 2nd ed., American Psychological Association, 2021, pp. 147–66.
Smith, Jonathan A., and Mike Osborn. "Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis." Quantitative Psychology, 2007, med-fom-familymed-research.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2012/03/IPA‗Smith‗Osborne21632.pdf. Accessed 3 Mar. 2018.
Tuffour, Isaac. "A Critical Overview of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: A Contemporary Qualitative Research Approach." Journal of Healthcare Communications, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 1–5.