IPA study is a dynamic process with the active role of the researcher who influences the extent to which

they get access to the participant’s experience and how, through interpretative.

The analytical process in IPA is often described in terms of a double hermeneutic or dual interpretation
process because, firstly, the participants make meaning of their world and, secondly, the researcher
tries to decode that meaning to make sense of the participants’ meaning making (Smith & Osborn,
2008).

To sum up, IPA synthesizes ideas from phenomenology and hermeneutics resulting in a method which is
descriptive because it is concerned with how things appear and letting things speak for themselves, and
interpretative because it recognizes there is no such thing as an uninterpreted phenomenon.

Phenomenology, developed by Edmund Husserl as an eidetic method, is concerned with attending to

the way things appear to individuals in their experience. In other words, it aims at identifying the
essential components of phenomena or experiences which make them unique or distinguishable from
others.

Phenomenological studies thus focus on how people perceive and talk about objects and events, rather
than describing phenomena according to a predetermined categorical system, conceptual and scientific
criteria. This involves ‘bracketing’ one’s preconceptions and allowing phenomena to speak for
themselves.

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it is important for IPA researchers to know that the essence of this qualitative research approach is not
to be a self-aggrandizing approach mechanism, but to be a research approach that helps understand,
interpret, and amplify the ‘lived experiences’ of the research participants and make their experience a
meaningful and dignified one.

The importance and essence of a phenomenological research approach (IPA) is its ability to explore,
investigate, and interpret the ‘lived experiences’ of the research participants.

IPA gives researchers the best opportunity to understand the innermost deliberation of the ‘lived
experiences’ of research participants

interpretative phenomenological analysis approach allows the interviewees (research participants) to

express themselves and their ‘lived experience’ stories the way they see fit without any distortion
and/or prosecution. Therefore, utilizing the IPA approach in a qualitative research study reiterates the
fact that its main objective and essence are to explore the ‘lived experiences’ of the research
participants and allow them to narrate the research findings through their ‘lived experiences’.

Thematic Analysis is a method to systematically put in order and identify patterns across

a dataset. This allows the researchers in making sense of the collected data. This method is a way

of identifying what is common in the data and making sense of it. However, the commonalities

of the data must be in relation to the topic and question being explored (Braun and Clarke).

The researchers have used thematic analysis in the research study for it is flexible and is a

method fit for their topic. The researchers have interviewed senior citizens living in a home for

the aged and have identified the pattern or commonalities in the experiences and responses of the

interviewees. Through this, the researchers are able to make sense of the gathered data.

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is a dynamic method in which the

researchers constantly measure the extent to which and how the researchers interpret and gain

insight into the selected research participant’s experience through interpretation study. More so,
it focused on how things occur and allowed them to speak for themselves and their loved

experience stories in whichever way they want, without fear of being judged. This method aims

to determine the main traits of phenomena or experience that makes the selected research

participants unique as stated by Pietkiewicz, I. (2014).

The researchers have used interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) in the research

study to evaluate, explore, and interpret the selected research participants lived experiences. The

researchers have interviewed elderly people living in a home for the aged to interpret and gain

insight into the lived experience of the interviewees. Through this, the researchers are able to

make sense of the gathered data.

REFERENCES:

Pietkiewicz, I. (2014). A practical guide to using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis in

qualitative research psychology. Psychological Journal. Retrieved from:
https://www.academia.edu/7609849/A_practical_guide_to_using_Interpretative_Phenom
enological_Analysis_in_qualitative_research_psychology?
auto=citations&from=cover_page