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Journal Article•DOI•

A reflective journal as learning process and contribution to quality and validity in interpretative phenomenological analysis

Sarah Vicary1, Alys Young1, Stephen Hicks1•
University of Manchester1
01 Jul 2017-Qualitative Social Work (SAGE Publications)-Vol. 16, Iss: 4, pp 1473325016635244
TL;DR: This paper examined the relationship between journaling as a learning process when undertaking computer-assisted qualitative data analysis and establishing quality and validity in interpretative phenomenological analysis, and argued that these constructs are intimately linked to the researcher-learning-process.
Abstract: Using selected, contemporaneous illustrations from the reflective journal of a doctoral student undertaking data analysis for the first time, this article examines the relationship between journaling as a learning process when undertaking computer-assisted qualitative data analysis and establishing quality and validity in interpretative phenomenological analysis. The writing of the journal is shown both to enact some potential validity criteria (e.g. in producing an audit trail) whilst also recording and reflectively prompting the process of learning, interpretation and bracketing, thus evidencing transparency. By using a journal inside the software package and alongside the stages of the interpretative phenomenological analysis, analysis within the software package, it is argued that quality and validity become dynamic, not static constructs. These constructs are intimately linked to the researcher-learning-process and permit a critical stance to be taken.

Summary (1 min read)

Jump to: [Introduction] – [The learning process] and [Conclusion]

Introduction

  • It examines the activity of journaling, (i.e. the use of a reflective researcher-created regular written log) as a learning process when undertaking data analysis.
  • The use of a software package instead can enable and in turn, be judged against, as being of quality and valid.

The learning process

  • The doctoral study from which the data are being analysed concerns the exploration of the role and experience of Approved Mental Health Professionals , a statutory role in which various approved non-medical professionals assess people for admission to mental health hospital in England and Wales.
  • At this stage in the process the student was beginning to use the journal to reflect upon the reading she was doing in relation to the use of the software package to manage the analysis.
  • In IPA the analyst is offering an interpretative account of what it means for the participant to have such concerns in a particular context 18/11/2014 10:06 what it means for the person in this particular situation (Larkin et al.
  • This, as it turns out, did not matter as she was becoming more aware that her use of the journal was allowing her to reflect upon the learning and in turn she could use journals linked to each source as a way of not just analysing each source but of adding layers.

Conclusion

  • This article discusses the relationship between such use and the process of data analysis when they are both housed inside a software package.
  • The journal that began about the process became within the process.
  • Using a journal inside the same software package housing the data is dynamic, simultaneously enabling the process of moving from description to interpretation and the development of the hermeneutic and later double hermeneutic, essential to IPA, and the assurance of its quality and validity.
  • The testimony upon which their argument is based relies on the experience of one student.
  • The student has also realised that analysis is an ongoing process.

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A reflective journal as learning process and
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phenomenological analysis
Journal Item
How to cite:
Vicary, Sarah; Young, Alys and Hicks, Stephen (2017). A reflective journal as learning process and contribution to
quality and validity in interpretative phenomenological analysis. Qualitative Social Work, 16(4) pp. 550–565.
For guidance on citations see FAQs.
c
2016 The Authors
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Version: Accepted Manuscript
Link(s) to article on publisher’s website:
http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1177/1473325016635244
Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright
owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies
page.
oro.open.ac.uk
Open Research Online
The Open University’s repository of research publications
and other research outputs
A reflective journal as learning process and
contribution to quality and validity in interpretative
phenomenological analysis
Journal Article
How to cite:
Vicary, Sarah; Young, Alys and Hicks, Stephen (2016). A reflective journal as learning process and
contribution to quality and validity in interpretative phenomenological analysis. Qualitative Social Work
(early access).
For guidance on citations see FAQs.
c
2016 The Authors
Version: Accepted Manuscript
Link(s) to article on publisher’s website:
http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.1177/1473325016635244
Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other
copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please
consult the policies page.
oro.open.ac.uk
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References
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Dawn Joseph
01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to analyse 8 participants' experiences of rejection sensitivity and found that rejection sensitivity is the same concept as abandonment anxiety.
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  • ...They are, according to the proponents of the methodology (Smith 1996, Smith et al. 2009), also offering an interpretative account of what it means for the participant to have such concerns within their particular context....

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  • ...Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), as a qualitative research approach initiated and developed primarily in the field of health psychology (Smith, 1996; Smith et al., 2009), has attracted significant debate about what might constitute quality and validity within its methodological framework (Chamberlain, 2011; Shaw, 2011; Smith 2011a; Smith 2011b; Todorova, 2011)....

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  • ...…Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), as a qualitative research approach initiated and developed primarily in the field of health psychology (Smith, 1996; Smith et al., 2009), has attracted significant debate about what might constitute quality and validity within its methodological…...

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TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss two complementary commitments of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA): the phenomenological requirement to understand and give voice to the concerns of participants; and the interpretative requirement to contextualize and make sense of these claims and concerns from a psychological perspective.
Abstract: In this paper, we discuss two complementary commitments of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA): the phenomenological requirement to understand and ‘give voice’ to the concerns of participants; and the interpretative requirement to contextualize and ‘make sense’ of these claims and concerns from a psychological perspective. The methodological and conceptual bases for the relationship between these phenomenological and interpretative aspects of IPA appear to be underdeveloped in the literature. We, therefore, offer some thoughts on the basis of this relationship, and on its context within qualitative psychology. We discuss the epistemological range of IPA's interpretative focus, and its relationship to the more descriptive features of phenomenological analysis. In order to situate our conclusions within a contextualist position, we draw upon concepts from Heideggerian phenomenology. The argument is illustrated by excerpts from our own research on relationship break-up. We conclude by encouraging ...

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"A reflective journal as learning pr..." refers background in this paper

  • ...In other words, the student mused, they [Larkin et al 2006] suggest the researcher needs to wonder; what it means for the participants to have made these claims and to have expressed these feelings and concerns in this particular situation....

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  • ...Interest in quality and validity has centred on all stages in the research process; sample identification, data collection, data analysis (interpretation) and representation in print (Brocki et al., 2006; Gee 2011; Larkin et al. 2006)....

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  • ...…is like, the second, to develop a more overtly interpretative analysis which positions the initial description in relation to a wider social, cultural and theoretical context; a second-order account to critique and comment conceptually on the participant’s sense-making [Larkin et al. 2006] (p.103)....

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  • ...Examples, or evidence, need to be traced back to a recognisable core account (Smith in Larkin et al. 2006)....

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  • ...The learning process - from description to interpretation Larkin et al. (2006) discuss the opportunities offered by IPA declaring that it is not a descriptive methodology alone....

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Beyond the divide between cognition and discourse: using interpretative phenomenological analysis in health psychology

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01 Feb 1996-Psychology & Health
Jonathan A. Smith
Giving voice and making sense in interpretative phenomenological analysis

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01 Jan 2006-Qualitative Research in Psychology
Michael Larkin, Simon Watts, Elizabeth Clifton
Participants and researchers searching for meaning: Conceptual developments for interpretative phenomenological analysis

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03 Apr 2019-Qualitative Research in Psychology
Jonathan A. Smith
Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as a coaching research methodology

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02 Jul 2020-Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research and Practice
Duminda Rajasinghe