Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: Learnings from Employing IPA as a Qualitative Methodology in Educational Research

Abstract

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is an established qualitative methodology widely adopted within health-based research. However, one gap in the literature is that little has been written about IPA’s employability within educationally situated research. Our paper aims to demonstrate that IPA is a suitable methodology for education research. This paper has two parts. In the first part, the authors utilise the method of exegesis and theoretical analysis to explicate and provide clarity concerning the often-misunderstood philosophical and theoretical background of IPA. In the second part, we advocate for IPA as a suitable option for qualitative research in educational contexts. To execute this advocacy, the authors present a specific example of qualitative research that successfully employed IPA as its methodological approach and system for analysis. We present the details of a research project that utilised IPA to explore spirituality in early childhood education contexts, and in doing so the authors illustrate how the theories and methods of IPA can be actualised, thus introducing IPA into education contexts in a coherent fashion. The overall aim of the paper is to affirm IPA as a viable qualitative approach for education researchers.