Qualitative Methods & IPA (1) Flashcards
What is qualitative research?
The process of collecting, analysing, and interpreting non-numerical data, such as language.
For what can qualitative research be used?
To understand how an individual subjectively perceives and gives meaning to their social reality.
What are two approaches to qualitative research?
- Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA)
- Conversation analysis (CA)
What is one of the most commonly used qualitative methodologies (QMs) in the world?
IPA
What does IPA’s stance concede?
That there is no direct access to experience (we cannot look directly into someone’s mind and see or hear how they are experiencing something).
Why do we try to get “experience close” with IPA, as opposed to “experience far”?
As this is the best we can manage.
What is a concern of IPA?
The meaning of an experience to an individual.
To what does the term ‘phenomenological’ refer?
To the idea of letting things reveal themselves on their own terms, rather than testing a predetermined hypothesis, for example.
What kind of hermeneutic stance is IPA?
One of inquiry and meaning-making, where the analyst attempts to make sense of the participant’s attempts to make sense of their own experiences, thus creating a double hermeneutic.
How is IPA idiographic?
In that it emphasises detailed and in-depth examinations of how individuals in their unique contexts make sense of a given phenomenon (it seeks to learn through each individual’s own story).
How is a more informative understanding of participants’ thoughts, beliefs, and behaviours attainable with IPA?
Through a deep, individualised analysis.
To which idea does the hermeneutic circle refer?
To the idea that our understanding of a text as a whole is based on our understanding of each individual part, as well as our understanding of how each individual part refers to the whole text.
What can be invoked via doing IPA, and navigating between different layers of interpretation as one engages deeply with texts of participants’ personal experiences?
The double hermeneutic
