Class 7 Notes - Introduction To IPA

Introduction To IPA What is IPA? Critical Analyst Approach Cannot objectively access/measure ppl's experiences But can access their interpretations of experience Exploring personal meaning/lived experience Methodology- approach is underpinned by theory Informed phenomenology, hermeneutics, idiography Phenomenology Examination of lived experience Interested in personal perceptions/accounts of events/objects Getting close to their personal world, gaining an insider's perspective (Conrad, 1971) Hermeneutic Phenomenology (Heidegger, 1962) Hermeneutics - Theory of Interpretation Interpret 'data' given to us Interpretation depends on any factors: Prior knowledge Experience Mood Context IPA acknowledges that reading into is own interpretation Participants accounts are their interpretation of their experience Cannot access actual experience, only have access to their interpretation Finding represents double hermeneutic (double interpretation) Idiography IPA is interested in examining individual cases How particular ppl have experienced particular views Present both convergence/divergence in participants' accounts General claims through systematic analysis of each individual case 'To know in detail what the experience for this person is like, what sense this particular person is making of what's happening to them' (Smith, Flowers, Larkin, 2009) IPA Research Questions Experience, sense, meaning How do gay men think about sex? sexuality (Flowers, Smith, Sheeran, Beau, 1997) How does a woman's sense of identity change during the transition to womanhood (Smith, 1999) How do homeless ppl describe the impact on their identity? (Riggs & Loyle, 2002) How do ppl diagnosed w/ MS think about the experience of exercise? (Bornes et al, 2001) How to do Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis? How many participants? No fixed amount Samples should be homogenous (have shared experience) Smaller samples preferred (Smith, 2006) 3-6 undergrad & MSc projects How to collect data? Interviews Focus groups Online, e.g. blogs, YouTube videos Family conversations How to conduct IPA? Familiarisation Initial noting (descriptive, linguistic, conceptual commentary) Development of themes Searching for connections across themes Moving onto next case Looking for patterns across cases Initial Noting Descriptive comments Things which matter in the participant's life world: Events, objects, experiences Taking participant's comments face value - what are they talking about? Linguistic comments Pronoun use, tenses, laughter, repetition, tone, degree of fluency, metaphor Interpretation of explicit claims of the participant Conceptual comments Step away from explicit claims of the participant Interrogation of the data (questioning, personal reflection) Development of themes Familiar with the entire transcript Make notes into smaller statements of what was important in each meaning unit Interpret these in relation to understanding Look at meaning units (language, 2007)? Interpret these in relation to understanding Searching for connections across themes Abstraction Putting line with line; developing a new name for the group/cluster of themes Subsumption Absorbing one theme into another Polarization Examining oppositional relationships between themes & focusing on the air rather than one Similarity Contextualization Looking at the temporal, cultural, narrative elements within the themes Exploring clusters/groups which relate to key life events Numeration Paying attention to the frequency of a theme Function Relates to discourse analysis approaches - What is the participant achieving by positioning themselves in a certain way? Themes Diagnosis as transforming self Subthemes: Loss of self Mourning? Grief (loss of self?)