Essentials of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Jonathan A. Smith, DPhil, is Professor of Psychology at Birkbeck, University of London. Dr. Smith's research has involved the development of interpretative phenomenological analysis, or IPA, as a particular experiential qualitative approach in psychology and its application to a range of areas in health, social, and clinical psychology. The main themes in his research have been life transitions and identity, psycho-social aspects of genetics, and family and health. Dr. Smith runs the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Research Group (IPARG) comprised of staff, postdocs and Ph.D. students that hold research meetings to exchange ideas, read papers, and analyze data. Isabella Nizza, PhD candidate, used to work as a project manager in IT and design training courses, but is now building her academic career in health psychology as one of Birkbeck's Anniversary Scholarship students. Her undergraduate studies involved working with Professor Jonathan Smith, and she was the first author of an academic paper co-written with him about the experience of women who have not signed up to be organ donors. Following an MSc in Health Psychology at King's College London, she applied for an Anniversary Scholarship from Birkbeck for further studies, and she now conducts her PhD Psychology research as a fully funded full-time student. Her PhD is about chronic pain and the experience of patients attending self-management programs and she plans to work in academia once she completes her PhD.

Chapter 1. What is Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis? Chapter 2. Designing an IPA study Chapter 3. Collecting Data Chapter 4. Analyzing the case Chapter 5. Cross-case analysis Chapter 6. Writing up Chapter 7. Variations on the method and more complex designs Chapter 8. Methodological Integrity Chapter 9. Summary and Conclusions References Appendix: List of exemplar studies using IPA