The aim of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) is to explore in detail how participants are making sense of their personal and social world, and the main currency for an IPA study is the meanings particular experiences, events, states hold for participants. The approach is phenomenological (see Chapter 3) in that it involves detailed examination of the participant’s lifeworld; it attempts to explore personal experience and is concerned with an individual’s personal perception or account of an object or event, as opposed to an attempt to produce an objective statement of the object or event itself. At the same time, IPA also emphasizes that the research exercise is a dynamic process with an active role for the researcher in that process. One is trying to get close to the participant’s personal world, to take, in Conrad’s (1987) words, an ‘insider’s perspective’, but one cannot do this directly or completely. Access depends on, and is complicated by, the researcher’s own conceptions; indeed, these are required in order to make sense of that other personal world through a process of interpretative activity. Thus, a two-stage interpretation process, or a double hermeneutic, is involved. The participants are trying to make sense of their world; the researcher is trying to make sense of the participants trying to make sense of their world. IPA is therefore intellectually connected to hermeneutics and theories of interpretation (Packer and Addison, 1989; Palmer, 1969; Smith, in press; see also Chapter 2 this volume). Different interpretative stances are possible, and IPA combines an empathic hermeneutics with a questioning hermeneutics. Thus, consistent with its phenomenological origins, IPA is concerned with trying to understand what it is like, from the point of view of the participants, to take their side. At the same time, a detailed IPA analysis can also involve asking critical questions of the texts from participants, such as the following: What is the person trying to achieve here? Is something leaking out here that wasn’t intended? Do I have a sense of something going on here that maybe the participants themselves are less aware of?

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Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Since initially writing on thematic analysis in 2006, the popularity of the method we outlined has exploded, the variety of TA approaches have expanded, and, not least, our thinking has developed a...

Reflecting on reflexive thematic analysis

Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method is a systematic introduction to discourse analysis as a body of theories and methods for social research. It brings together three central approaches, Laclau and Mouffe's discourse theory, critical discourse analysis and discursive psychology, in order to establish a dialogue between different forms of discourse analysis often kept apart by disciplinary boundaries. The book introduces the three approaches in a clear and easily comprehensible manner, explaining the distinctive philosophical premises and theoretical perspectives of each approach as well as the methodological guidelines and tools they provide for empirical discourse analysis. The authors also demonstrate the possibilities for combining different discourse analytical and non-discourse analytical approaches in empirical study. Finally, they contextualize discourse analysis within the social constructionist debate about critical social research, rejecting the view that a critical stance is incompatible with social constructionist premises and arguing that critique must be an inherent part of social research.

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Discourse Analysis as Theory and Method

Research demonstrates that rejection sensitivity develops through early, continuing, or acute experiences of rejection from caregivers and significant others. Rejection sensitivity refers to individuals who anxiously or angrily expect, readily perceive, and intensely react to rejection. The question regarding why rejection is feared by rejection sensitive individuals remains unanswered by existing rejection sensitivity literature. Therefore, the current study answers this question using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to analyse 8 participants' experiences of rejection sensitivity. Four superordinate themes emerged: `experiences of parenting'; `impact of rejection'; `coping with the concept of rejection'; and `identity'. The primary fundamental finding indicates that rejection sensitivity is the same concept as abandonment anxiety. Participants in the current study demonstrate both rejection sensitivity and abandonment anxiety. Furthermore, the origins and characteristics of both concepts are identified as the same. Therefore, these findings indicate that rejection is feared for the same reason that abandonment is feared. In childhood, abandonment is experienced as terrifying and therefore defences are adopted to avoid further abandonment. The concept of `past in present' means that childhood feelings can be timelessly re-experienced in adulthood as actual and unchanged. Therefore, later rejection situations are perceived as abandonment and accordingly alert an individual to impending danger. As a result, rejection is feared because it is perceived as abandonment and as a threat to survival. This finding is fundamental to the fields of rejection sensitivity and abandonment anxiety, in terms of research and therapeutic work with clients. Integrating existing literature provides much greater depth of knowledge and support for these concepts. Recommended therapeutic approaches for abandonment anxiety can also inform interventions for rejection sensitive clients. Findings also suggest that participants experience annihilation anxiety in relation to perceived rejection, which further increases fear. Clinical applications and implications with respect to the findings arc discussed.

Interpretative phenomenological analysis

The End of History and the Last Man

List of boxes chapter one: From recipes to adventures How, and what, can we know? Positivism Empiricism Hypothetico-deductivism Critique of the 'scientific method' Feminist critique of established epistemologies Social constructionism Epistemology and methodology Qualitative research Overview of the book Three epistemological questions Further reading chapter two: Qualitative research design General principles of qualitative research design The research question Choosing the 'right' method Semi-structured interviewing Participant observation Diaries Focus groups Further reading chapter three: Grounded Theory Basic principles of Grounded Theory An example of Grounded Theory Versions of Grounded Theory Limitations of Grounded Theory as a method for psychological research Three epistemological questions Further reading chapter four: Phenomenological methods Phenomenology The phenomenological method Phenomenology and psychology Descriptive phenomenology Interpretative phenomenology Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Doing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Analysis of an individual case Worked example Integration of cases Interpretation Writing up An example of IPA Limitations of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Three epistemological questions Conclusion Further reading chapter five: Case studies Research methods for psychological case studies Types of design for case study research Procedural issues An example of case study research Limitations of case study research Three epistemological questions Conclusion Further reading chapter six: Discursive Psychology The 'turn to language' Discursive Psychology and Foucauldian Discourse Analysis Discursive Psychology An example of discourse analysis Limitations of discursive psychology Three epistemological questions Further reading chapter seven: Foucauldian Discourse Analysis Selecting texts for analysis Procedural guidelines for the analysis of discourse An illustration of the application of the six stages to an interview extract Limitations of Foucauldian Discourse Analysis Three epistemological questions Key differences between Discursive Psychology and Foucauldian Discourse Analysis Further reading chapter eight: Working with memories Narrative psychology Memory work Why memories? Data collection and analysis 'Saying sorry': an example of data analysis in Memory Work Limitations of Memory Work Three epistemological questions Conclusion Further reading chapter nine: Quality in qualitative research What constitutes 'good' qualitative research? Epistemology and evaluation Evaluation of the methods introduced in this book Some caveats Opportunities and limitations in qualitative research A word about technology 'What' and 'how' Further reading Appendix one: What is understood by 'dominance'? An interpretation through memories Goran Petronic Reflexive preface Abstract Introduction Method Participants Procedure Analysis of memories Comparison of memories Discussion References Appendix two: A qualitative study of the occurrence of abuse in one heterosexual and in one lesbian relationship Kris dew Valour Reflexive preface Abstract Introduction Method Reflexivity Results Discussion References Appendix Appendix three:The emotional experience of looking at art : an observation in the National Gallery Karolina Mornsjo Reflexive preface Abstract Introduction Method Setting Participants Ethical consideration The paintings Practical considerations Analysis Discussion References References Index

Introducing qualitative research in psychology : adventures in theory and method

PART ONE: METHODS Ethnography - Christine Griffin & Andrew Bengry-Howell Action Research - Carolyn Kagan, Mark Burton & Asiya Siddiquee Conversation Analysis - Celia Kitzinger & Sue Wilkinson Discursive Psychology - Sally Wiggins & Jonathan Potter Foucauldian Discourse Analysis - Michael Arribas-Ayllon & Valerie Walkerdine Psychoanalytic Approaches TO Qualitative Psychology - Stephen Frosh & Lisa Saville Young Memory Work - Niamh Stephenson & Susan Kippax Narrative Psychology - David Hiles &Ivo Cermak Phenomenological Psychology - Amedeo Giorgi & Barbro Giorgi Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis - Virginia Eatough & Jonathan A. Smith Social Representations - Uwe Flick & Juliet Foster Q Methodology - Paul Stenner, Simon Watts & Marcia Worrell Grounded Theory - Kathy Charmaz & Karen Henwood PART TWO: PERSPECTIVES & TECHNIQUES Ethics in Qualitative Research - Svend Brinkmann & Steinar Kvale Qualitative Methods in Feminist Psychology - Mary Gergen Visual Approaches - Paula Reavey & Katherine Johnson Using and Interpreting Images Using the Internet for Qualitative Research - Alison Evans, Dick Wiggins & Jonathan Elford Using Computer Packages in Qualitative Research - Christina Silver & Nigel Fielding Mixing Qualitative and Quantitative Methods - Lucy Yardley & Felicity Bishop A Pragmatic Approach PART THREE: APPLICATIONS Social Psychology - Steve Brown & Abigail Locke Health Psychology - Kerry Chamberlain & Michael Murray Developmental Psychology - Erica Burman Clinical Psychology - Dave Harper Counselling and Psychotherapy - Joseph G. Ponterotto, Geena Kuriakose & Yevgeniya Granovskaya Educational Psychology - Andy Miller, Victorial Hobley, Lisa DeSouza & Tom Billington Work and Organizational Psychology - Jo Silvester Forensic Psychology - Peter Banister Community Psychology - Carrie E. Hanlin, Kimberly Bess, Patricia Conway,Scotney D. Evans, Diana McCown, Isaac Prilleltensky & Douglas D. Perkins Cultural Psychology - Leslie Swartz & Poul Rohleder Cognitive Psychology - Thomas C. Ormerod & Linden J. Ball Postcolonialism and Psychology - Catriona McCloud & Sunil Bhatia Review and Prospect - Wendy Stainton Rogers & Carla Willig

The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research in Psychology

In critical realism, language is understood as constructing our social realities. However, these constructions are theorized as being shaped by the possibilities and constraints inherent in the material world. For critical realists, material practices are given an ontological status that is independent of, but in relation with, discursive practices. The advantage in taking a critical realist, rather than relativist, approach is that analysis can include relationships between people's material conditions and discursive practices. Despite calls to develop a critical realist discourse analysis there has been little empirical critical realist work, possibly because few have addressed the critique that critical realists have no systematic method of distinguishing between discursive and non-discursive. In this article we outline a three-stage procedure that enables a systematic critical realist discourse analysis using women's talk of motherhood, childcare and female employment as an example.

Critical Realism in Discourse Analysis: A Presentation of a Systematic Method of Analysis Using Women's Talk of Motherhood, Childcare and Female Employment as an Example

Introduction - making a difference stress as regimen -critical readings of self-help literature "it's your opportunity to be truthful" - disbelief, mundane reasoning and the investigation of crime an analysis of the discursive positions of women smokers - implications for practical interventions deconstructing and reconstructing - producing a reading on "human reproductive technologies" discourse analysis and sex education tablet talk and depot discourse - discourse analysis and psychiatric medication conclusion - opportunities and limitations of applied discourse analysis.

Applied discourse analysis : social and psychological interventions

This article is concerned with what it may mean to individuals to engage in practices that are physically challenging and risky. The article questions the assumptions that psychological health is commensurate with maintaining physical safety, and that risking one's health and physical safety is necessarily a sign of psychopathology. The research was based upon semi-structured interviews with eight extreme sport practitioners. The interviews were analysed using Colaizzi's version of the phenomenological method. The article explicates the themes identified in the analysis, and discusses their implications for health psychology theory and practice.

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Carla Willig

Papers

Introducing qualitative research in psychology : adventures in theory and method

The SAGE Handbook of Qualitative Research in Psychology

Critical Realism in Discourse Analysis: A Presentation of a Systematic Method of Analysis Using Women's Talk of Motherhood, Childcare and Female Employment as an Example

Applied discourse analysis : social and psychological interventions

A Phenomenological Investigation of the Experience of Taking Part in `Extreme Sports':