1. Applications of Interpretative phenomenological analysis
Sheryl L. Chatfield
Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
College of Public Health
Kent State University
November

2. This evening Distinguishing features of IPA (15)
Types of research questions, design, and “products”
Personal context/background with IPA (5)
Analysis (35)
Samples from two studies
Process suggestions
Questions?
Recommended reading and resources

3. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
A type of phenomenological (and qualitative) inquiry
Focus on lived experiences
Developed by health psychologists
JA Smith, authored book with P Flowers; M Larkin
Three primary attributes
phenomenological
Hermeneutic
The double hermeneutic
Idiographic

4. Research questions focus on experience and understanding:
How does a woman’s sense of identity change during the transition to motherhood?
How do people describe living with chronic fatigue syndrome?
How do men describe the experience of living with a partner who has HIV?
Questions tend to specify who (sample of interest) and especially what (the experience of interest)

5. Findings are presented as a series of themes
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

7. Personal context (6:15) Reading by AD Kaptein
Obtained book; proposed IPA in dissertation
Joined IPA listserv (2012?)
Completed and published second study
Why appealing? User friendly, clear directions, clear focus, encourages researcher immersion in in depth data from small samples

8. First IPA study Flipping the on switch
Question: How do male mid-life exercise initiates describe their experience?
Participants: Three mid life exercise initiates
Method: One in depth interview per participant; transcribed ‘verbatim’ and checked for accuracy
Analysis: Three commenting cycles per transcript; development of sub and superordinate themes
Product: Research paper; findings used to inform follow up survey/vignette research

9. Second IPA study Acute care nurses’ hand hygiene
Question: How do acute care nurses describe their experiences with hand hygiene?
Participants: Eight acute care nurses who engage in patient care
Method: One in depth interview per participant; transcribed ‘verbatim’ and checked for accuracy
Analysis: Three commenting cycles per transcript; development of sub and superordinate themes
Product: Research paper; findings used to inform survey

10. Analysis (6:20) Commenting (not coding)
Each of three types is done in turn (i.e., do all descriptive commenting on a transcript before moving to linguistic)
Descriptive – a reflexive process; the researcher is summarizing, questioning, making sense of the data, having a dialogue with him/herself
Somewhere between a traditional ‘code’ and an analytic memo

11. Analysis Commenting cont’d
Linguistic – looking at word/language use; pronouns; metaphor; symbolism, etc.
Conceptual – interpretive; interrogative; moving further away from “explicit claims of the participant” (Smith et al. p. 88)
Per R Harris, professional researcher, try listening to the audio and reading the transcript while you create your comments

12. Analysis Developing themes
The themeing process is applied to each transcript in turn; themes are later compared across cases
Goal is data reduction while maintaining integrity of data
Shift from working with transcript to working with comments
Data will be ‘fractured’ and ‘reorganized’
Driven by researcher interpretation

13. Analysis Developing themes
“To produce a concise and pithy statement of what was important in the various comments attached to a transcript.”
“Expressed as phrases which speak to the psychological essence of the piece and contain enough particularity to be grounded in the data and enough abstraction to be conceptual”
Smith et al. p. 92

14. Clustering Superordianate themes are derived from themes/subthemes
Processes used:
Abstraction
Subumption
Polarization
Others (see Smith et al.)

15. Repeat commenting and themeing process for each transcript
Compare sub and superordinate themes for recurrence throughout data
Watch for linguistic differences that might mask conceptual similarities
Resist the temptation to make new data fit previous analysis
Retain things that have ample support (see Smith 2011 for some recommendations)

16. Findings, even really interesting and appealing findings, will be lost at each stage. If you retain and present the information that best addresses your purpose - in a way that is meaningful and engaging to your audience - there is a reasonable chance you will accomplish what you set out to do when you planned your study.

17. Analysis alternatives
Columns on transcript (one per type of commenting; pencil/pen in comments)
Columns on transcript (type in comments)
Columns in spreadsheets – insert transcript into a column and use adjacent columns to comment
Word track changes bubbles (I do) – copy comments onto a new document
Lots of linked memos in analysis software
Cutting comments with scissors
Highlight (in Word or manually) text to be commented on; insert comments in alternate font
Use your Word processing footnote function (from J Morse, Editor of Qualitative Health Research)

18. IPA commenting sample #1
(Change
identity
in Word
preferences
to change
comment
Bubble
label and
Color)

19. Descriptive

20. Linguistic

21. Conceptual

22. Analysis process recommendations:
Save all versions of transcripts (save a copy with each stage in the commenting process)
Change comment bubbles and labels in Word/preferences/user
Line number transcripts and put the line number and a transcript identifier in the comment bubble for reference
Paste the comments to another blank sheet and work with those to develop the themes

23. Analysis process recommendations:
Create a master theme table – themes going down and participant identifier going across. Indicate which participant represents each theme
Refine the theme table and keep versions
In the final version, show themes, participants, and representative excerpts
Theme table examples

24. Questions, comments, etc. ?

25. Resources:
Finlay, L. (2011). Phenomenology for therapists: Researching the lived world. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell. (Good overall text on phenomenological research methods.)
Kaptein, A.D. (2011). Pick up the pieces and go home - on the demise of health psychology. Health Psychology Review, 5(1), (Surprisingly entertaining to read.)
Shinebourne, P. & Smith, J.A. (2009). Alcohol and the self: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of the experience of addiction and its impact on the sense of self and identity. Addiction Research and Theory, 17(2), (single case research study)
Smith, J.A. (2011). Evaluating the contribution of interpretative phenomenological analysis. Health Psychology Review, 5(1), (Describes quality criteria specific to IPA)
Smith, J.A., Flowers, P. & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method & research. London, UK: Sage. (Original source material for methods.)