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

In this article we introduce the concept of workplace incivility and explain how incivility can potentially spiral into increasingly intense aggressive behaviors. To gain an understanding of the mechanisms that underlie an “incivility spiral,” we examine what happens at key points: the starting and tipping points. Furthermore, we describe several factors that can facilitate the occurrence and escalation of an incivility spiral and the secondary spirals that can result. We offer research propositions and discuss implications of workplace incivility for researchers and practitioners.

Tit for Tat? The Spiraling Effect of Incivility in the Workplace

The authors first describe individual differences in the structure of the self. In the independent self-construal, representations of others are separate from the self. In the interdependent self-construal, others are considered part of the self (H. Markus & S. Kitayama, 1991). In general, men in the United States are thought to construct and maintain an independent self-construal, whereas women are thought to construct and maintain an interdependent self-construal. The authors review the psychological literature to demonstrate that many gender differences in cognition, motivation, emotion, and social behavior may be explained in terms of men's and women's different self-construals. Recognition of the interdependent self-construal as a possible alternative conception of the self may stimulate new investigations into the ways the self influences a person's thinking, feeling, and behaving.

Models of the Self: Self-Construals and Gender

Find loads of the research methods in the social sciences book catalogues in this site as the choice of you visiting this page. You can also join to the website book library that will show you numerous books from any types. Literature, science, politics, and many more catalogues are presented to offer you the best book to find. The book that really makes you feels satisfied. Or that's the book that will save you from your job deadline.

Research methods in the social sciences

In this article the concept of mobbing is introduced Mobbing means harassing, ganging up on someone, or psychologically terrorizing others at work Although mobbing is a very old phenomenon, it was not described and systematically researched until the early 1980s The article begins with a case example, some historical notes, and a definition of mobbing, and then regards mobbing in the context of medical and psychological stress research Several stages in the development of mobbing are described, based on about 800 case studies Some epidemiological findings from a representative sample of the Swedish work population are reported Causes and consequences of mobbing are discussed, and conclusions for prevention and intervention are drawn

The content and development of mobbing at work

Bullying was investigated as a group process, asocial phenomenon taking place in a school setting among 573 Finnish sixth-grade children (286 girls, 287 boys) aged 12-13 years. Different Participant Roles taken by individual children in the bullying process were examined and related to a) self-estimated behavior in bullying situations, b) social acceptance and social rejection, and c) belongingness to one of the five sociometric status groups (popular, rejected, neglected, controversial, and average). The Participant Roles assigned to the subjects were Victim, Bully, Reinforcer of the bully, Assistant of the bully, Defender of the victim, and Outsider. There were significant sex differences in the distribution of Participant Roles. Boys were more frequently in the roles of Bully, Reinforcer and Assistant, while the most frequent roles of the girls were those of Defender and Outsider. The subjects were moderately well aware of their Participant Roles, although they underestimated their participation in active bullying behavior and emphasized that they acted as Defenders and Outsiders. The sociometric status of the children was found to be connected to their Participant Roles..

Bullying as a group process: Participant roles and their relations to social status within the group

Harassment among university employees (n = 338; 162 males, 176 females) was investigated by help of the Work Harassment Scale (WHS), developed for the study. Nineteen cases of severe victimization by harassment were interviewed. Subjectively experienced symptoms of depression and anxiety were estimated with two subscales from SCL-90 [Derogatis LR, Lipman RS, Covi L (1973): Psychopharmacology Bulletin 9:13-28] and aggressiveness was measured with the Buss-Durkee Inventory [Buss A, Durkee A(1957): Journal of Consulting Psychology 21:343-349]. Females experienced themselves as significantly more harassed than men. Position was related to harassment: individuals in superior positions harassed more often than individuals in subordinate positions. Less victimization by harassment was experienced among individuals involved in research and teaching than among individuals involved in administration and service. The experienced reasons for harassment were predominantly envy and competition about jobs and status. In 25% of cases, victims felt that their sex might be a reason. Victims of harassment experienced higher levels of depression, anxiety, and aggression than others. The interviewed cases showed evidence of symptoms reminiscent of the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Aggression among university employees

Relationships between social intelligence, empathy, and three types of aggressive behavior were studied. Peer-estimation techniques were used to measure all major variables. Altogether, 526 Finnish schoolchildren from three age groups (10, 12, and 14 years old) participated in the study. As was hypothesized, indirect aggression correlated positively and significantly with social intelligence in every age group studied. Physical and verbal forms of aggression had almost zero correlation to social intelligence. Empathy correlated negatively and significantly with every type of aggression except indirect aggression in 12-year-old children. The major findings are in Line with the developmental theory by Bjorkqvist et al. [1992. Aggr Behav 18:117-127] suggesting that indirect aggression requires more social intelligence than direct forms of aggression.

The relationships between social intelligence, empathy, and three types of aggression

In previous studies [Aggressive Behavior 14:403-414, 1988; Aggressive Behavior 18:117-127, 1992] it was found that adolescent girls used indirect means of aggression more than adolescent boys, whereas physical aggression was used more by boys, and direct verbal aggression was used equally by both sexes. The present study investigated whether males, as adults, start to employ indirect aggression to the same extent is females. Three hundred thirty-three university employees (162 males, 176 females) filled in the Work Harassment Stale by Bjorkqvist et al. [1994]. Special attention was drawn to two subscales: rational-appearing aggression and social manipulation. It was found that males used the former type of aggression significantly more often than females, while females used the latter more than males. Both are variants of covert aggression, in which the perpetrator tries to disguise his/her aggressive intentions, in order to avoid retaliation and/or social condemnation.

Karin Österman

Papers

Bullying as a group process: Participant roles and their relations to social status within the group

Aggression among university employees

The relationships between social intelligence, empathy, and three types of aggression

Sex Differences in Covert Aggression Among Adults

5 – The Development of Direct and Indirect Aggressive Strategies in Males and Females