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Hermeneutics, human sciences and health: linking theory and practice
International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Health and Well-being
Abstract
This paper considers the relationship between hermeneutic theory and qualitative empirical research in the human sciences. I suggest that the human sciences can offer a useful crucible for thinking again about some of the ideas in hermeneutics. I then provide a small piece of data from an empirical study I conducted on identity change during the transition to motherhood and show how the data and analysis can be "re-illuminated" when thought of in terms of ideas from the hermeneutic writing of Schleiermacher, Heidegger and Gadamer. Finally, I suggest a project that would go round one particular hermeneutic circle in the different direction, using empirical research in the human sciences to further extend and develop hermeneutic theory. Key words: Hermeneutics, human sciences, interpretation, identity
... To explore the participants' subjective experience of their participation in the art group, and to gain insight towards the participants perspectives of their own experience, a qualitative research was carried out using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, (IPA), as an approach towards conducting this research. IPA, which has origins in phenomenology, (Smith, 2007), is an approach to qualitative research which aims to offer insight into how a given person, in a given context, makes sense of a given phenomena, (Fade, 2004, Reid et al, 2005. Smith and Jarman, (1999), stress that the purpose of IPA is to attempt to gain an insider perspective of the phenomenon being studied, therefore it recognises the researchers capacity to become immersed in the private world of each participant as a phenomenological insider, (Brocki & Wearden, 2006), and recognises the researcher's role in making sense of the participant's experience, (Smith & Osborn, 2003). ...
... To enable a deeper understanding and to gain a meaningful insight towards the participants' experiences, the data was analysed using an interpretative phenomenological approach consistent with IPA guidelines put forward by Smith andOsborn, (2009). This approach was utilised within the data analysis process as it is based on the identification of themes in qualitative material and generally treats participants' accounts as a source for finding out about the experiences to which they refer. ...
... As the aim of the research was to explore the experiences of individuals who use the art group, IPA seemed a logical approach to take as it is particularly suited to the exploration and close examination of the lived experiences and meaning making activities of research participants, (Smith, 2007, Smith & Osborn, 2003. I also thought that IPA was an appropriate approach to take as it was an objective of the research to place individuals' narratives of their experiences at the centre of the organisation's work practice and model how to attend to these in practice. ...
... Extending the notion of Dasein to the philosophy of phenomenological research, Heidegger (1927Heidegger ( /2005 rejected the strict transcendental phenomenology of being able to study essences as they appear and stated that the researcher, in meeting with the participant, is automatically implicated in the meaning making process of lived experience. He believed that the appearance and subsequent meaning making process of phenomena required an interpretative method by the researcher to reveal any potential hidden meaning (Finlay, 1999;Smith, 2007). ...
... By introducing Dasein and Being-in-the-world to phenomenology, Heidegger (1927/2005) extended the study of how a phenomenon is and argued for an understanding of the relationship of the phenomenon and the interpreter, remembering that the revelation depends both on the encounter and the person investigating (Larkin, Watts & Clifton, 2006;Smith, 2007). ...
... Since Heidegger (1927Heidegger ( /2005 viewed the interpretative process as embedded in experience and as part of being-in-the-world-with-others, the notion of the hermeneutic circle takes into account the active and changeable relationship of each part and the entirety of the interpretative process. Meaning is created out of the coconstructed space between participant and researcher, who are both shaped by their respective past experiences and present outlook and since the process will inevitably affect both, their future will be altered due to the intersubjectively constructed meaning (Smith, 2007). ...
This research explores the personal experience of individuals in recovery from heroin and crack cocaine. Wanting to give voice to personal narratives and turning the attention towards the process of recovery, this study explores the question: what is the drug users' experience of being in recovery?
... However, the authors Smith et al. (2009) structure the analysis into a few basic steps, which we also followed during the data analysis in this research. This experience is a target phenomenon from an IPA perspective (Smith, 2007;Smith et al., 1997). ...
... However, this is a specific finding related to the Czech population. Already de Visser and Smith (2007) reported that drinking alcohol can be perceived as important by adolescent boys due to their masculinity. This finding of ours seems to go back to fairly established findings. ...
This study examines a boyʼs experience of delinquency during his middle adolescence (14–16 years of age) at the case level. This is a boy from a functional family with no known predisposition to delinquency. The non-pathological context of the case under study allows the case to be labelled as deviant sampling. The Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) method was used. The results show that the boy perceives his extremely extensive delinquent behaviour (especially substance use, rule-breaking, lying and denial) as inappropriate but at the same time necessary to achieve freedom, respect and dominance among his peers. During adolescence, he changes his strategies for achieving respect and dominance in the group by beginning to use his rhetorical skills.
... Narratives may be characterised by disturbances or disequilibria before returning to equilibria or calm. Smith (2007) writes: 'I think there is considerable scope for developing, and extending hermeneutic theory to help its application to the activities of researchers in the human sciences' (Smith 2007, p. 4). Such development could be initiated by noting that narrative derived research participant content may be interpreted as 'configuring' (Ricoeur 1988), establishing experientially their position on 'horizon of understanding' (Gadamer 1975), with the latter thereby appropriately explored during interview. ...
... Citing Schleiermacher's hermeneutics, who 'suddenly sounds contemporary', Smith (2007) reminds us that participants as 'author' of their phronesis may be considered sources establishing a meaning for their experience (5). An interviewee account can be analysed as attempting or essaying integration of their episodic experience in a 'hermeneutic circle of understanding' (Gadamer 1975): he or she strives to assemble the fragmented experience into holistic narrative of an issue. ...
Aristotle’s distinction between phronesis (practical wisdom) and episteme (theory) has been centrally influential in the development of hermeneutics. Heidegger, initiating hermeneutic phenomenology, foregrounded practical understanding as foundational (or ‘ready-to-hand’): scientific theory was but secondary (‘presented-at-hand’). Gadamer subsequently emphasised understanding as primarily practical, as an applicative achievement, within broad assumptions, ‘horizons of understanding’, a metaphor signalling explicitly/implicitly represented surroundings. How should Aristotle’s idea of practical wisdom in human affairs articulated in phenomenology’s hermeneutic thought - principally Gadamer’s scholarship - inform researcher analyses? Here an account of hermeneutic philosophy, with its core conceptual formations, is presented as concerning situated understanding in practice, phronesis. Multiple instances of this behavioural research focus from psychology’s Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis then receive reflection. Interviewing proceeds from ‘horizons of expectation’ (Jauss 1982). Themes are viewed as 'horizons of understanding’ (Gadamer 1975), interviewees’ perspectives on practices. A researcher may engage in resolving ‘indeterminacy’ (Iser 1978). Participants’ reflectively recounted meaning-making phronesis practices can be structured in their analyses by locating their a priori, universally discernible aspects. Thus phronesis is constituted by generic, care (Heidegger’s Sorge) embodying activity, ‘emplaced’ or understood from tacit representational affective ‘horizons of understanding’: participant bodies can become denoted ‘equipment’ (Heidegger’s Zeug). Keywords: caring, hermeneutic phronesis, interpretative horizons of understanding, phenomenology
... Many researchers have been inspired to use this approach as it has a commitment to explore, describe, interpret and situate the participants' sense-making of their experiences. Conceptualised by Smith (1996), Smith (2007) and Smith et al. (2013), IPA has been developed as an interpretive phenomenological approach to analysing qualitative data. It offers a theoretical foundation and a detailed procedural guide for the analysis of qualitative data. ...
... Inevitably, this analysis has resulted in an account of how I think the participants think, described by Smith (2007) as double hermeneutics. Thus the 'truth' claims within this analysis are tentative and subjective, but, at the same time, that subjectivity has been dialogic, systematic and rigorous in its application. ...
Although a wealth of research examines varying facets of mentorship within nursing, to date, the voices and perspectives of newly qualified nurses working as mentors without formal preparation have largely been excluded from the literature. This research stems from three exploratory studies undertaken as part-fulfilment for this EdD. These preliminary studies identified the questions that, to date, have not been answered in the literature. This initial work provided impetus for the focus of this dissertation and ultimately led to the conceptual framework laying the foundation for the aims and research questions. The research questions asked were how newly qualified nurses are prepared for mentorship; how they acquire knowledge and skills for mentorship in the reality of practice; how they transition into the mentor role whilst still novice staff nurses; and, finally, how they identify as mentors. This study presents a qualitative, constructivist interpretation of newly qualified nurses’ early experiences of working as unqualified mentors. Using the principles of Smith et al.’s (2013) Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) framework, a qualitative hermeneutic approach guided the research process and the analysis of transcribed interview-texts. Four superordinate themes emerged from the data. These were: 1) Proactive Strategies in Becoming Prepared, where participants took a pragmatic, hands-on approach to mentoring, took an active personal involvement with reflection on past experiences of being mentored, and sought ways to find emotional support; 2) Experiential Learning, where participants engaged in active learning and learnt from their peers and through trial and error and the use of intuition; 3) Development of Resilience in Transition, where participants learnt to cope with transitional shock, but experienced being in a liminal phase during their transition; and 4) Attaining Professional Identity, where participants sought the approval of others as professional mentors to attain professional identity. Having a sense of belongingness to a professional group provided participants with the professional identity they strived for to be valued as part of the mentorship team. This study challenges and contributes to the existing body of knowledge and professional practice in four ways. Firstly, the findings narrow an existing gap in the mentorship literature and advances understanding of the experiences of newly qualified nurses who support students in everyday practice. Secondly, the findings contribute to the existing concepts of preparedness, professional identity, transition, and ways of learning in the context of mentorship. Thirdly, although there is a plethora of studies around mentorship, this is the first study to explore newly qualified nurses’ experiences of working as unqualified mentors before undergoing formal preparation. Finally, this study will help inform educators and policy makers and enable them to enhance further the preparation of nurses for the new role of practice supervisor.
... 22). For instance, IPA originator Smith (2007) explains that when he returns home after a researcher interview, "I am also irretrievably changed because of the encounter with the new, my participant and ...
For over a century, attempts to fix, capture, and control a way of being now known as "autism" have haunted and harmed countless autistic people, all under the guises of medical care and treatment. These unjust events precipitated from rigid Western scientific and cultural paradigms about what is real and what is normal, leading to the deep misunderstanding and social oppression of autism and other non-normative ways of being. Presently, autistic people still endure oppressive and traumatic behavioral interventions and minority stressors (such as internalized prejudice and discrimination) in consequence of living in an "autistiphobic" world-a world that is preoccupied with being normal. Yet, non-normative ways of being such as autism generate new possibilities, which can liberate and facilitate connections between people. Systemic and cybernetic therapy frameworks-in combination with insights from the neurodiversity paradigm of autism-may offer insights into co-transformative psychotherapy practices with autistic clients and people close to them, enabling more authentic autistic being in the world. This study used interpretative phenomenological analysis to explore how neurodiversity paradigm-embracing therapists retroactively make sense of their co-transformations with autistic clients; specifically, their reinterpretations of social normativities and connectedness. Results showed that participants came to both 1) recognize and oppose normative oppression in their therapeutic practices and 2) align with neurodivergent authenticity, autonomy, and connection as therapists and people. Implications of this research for therapeutic practice and broader sociopolitical issues are discussed at the end of the project. The goal of this research is to offer curious therapists possible paths for ethical, liberatory, and generative work with autistic clients.
... In the IPA process, the researcher attempts to give meaning to the participantʼs experience by analysing how the individual attributes meaning to their own experience (double hermeneutice; Smith, 2011). This experience is the target phenomenon in terms of IPA (Smith, 2007;Smith et al., 1997). The emergent themes are firmly embedded in the literal quotations of the participant, which, according to Brocki & Wearden (2006), takes IPA beyond mere thematic analysis. ...
The study focuses on the specific case of a girl with a significant experience of delinquency in early adolescence (13–15 years of age). The girl is from a functional family with no known predisposition to delinquency. Therefore, this case can be considered as deviant sampling. The study has a multidisciplinary overlap (psychology, criminology and social pedagogy). The IPA (interpretative phenomenological analysis) method was used to uncover the meanings that the participant attributes to the phenomena of delinquency. The results showed that the need for peer social acceptance was at the core of the case. The accompanying manifestation of delinquency was lying, which transcended theft. In late adolescence, the girl changed her strategy for gaining social acceptance and used her own ability to „empathically counsel” others. The results of this study evoke the creation of an evaluation study of an experimental educational program for adolescents from non-pathological backgrounds.
... The In this study, thematic analysis was used in an iterative and inductive cycle, as recommended in phenomenological analysis (Smith, 2007). Thematic analysis refers to the process of identifying meaning structures embodied and dramatized in human experience (Van Manen, 2014). ...
Alevi students' longstanding discontentment regarding compulsory religious education has become an important human rights issue in Türkiye. Although many theologists, political scientists, and legal scholars have conducted research on this subject, studies addressing the issue through curriculum and teaching practices are limited. This study seeks to examine the experiences of 12 Alevi university students in the province of Nevşehir who attended Türkiye's compulsory Religious Culture and Ethics course within the context of religious identity and gender from a multidimensional perspective. Participants included six female and six male students. Data were analyzed along the axis of gender. The findings highlight institutionalized discrimination through curricula and teaching practices in different dimensions. According to the findings, teachers' attitudes and behaviors on the axis of religious identity included discrimination and hatred, with participants being subjected to both verbal and physical violence. Alevism topics in the content of the course book were either not dealt with or were considered superficially or on the axis of imposition/discrimination. When the experiences of Alevi participants were investigated in terms of gender, it was determined that both female and male students reported being restrained, although the extent differed by gender. While female students were pressured to adopt
... The hermeneutic phenomenological process offers unique insights into how individuals make sense of specific phenomena within their contexts (Giorgi, 2009;Smith, 2007). ...
This paper highlights the unique features of hermeneutic phenomenology, a methodology that can significantly enhance qualitative research. It is an investigative approach deeply rooted in
philosophical and psychological foundations (Buber, 1958; Marcel, 1983; Schutz, 1967). The core principles of phenomenology distinguish it from other methodologies, such as empathy, receptiveness, life viewed as an enigma, and the researcher’s duty to fully engage with and for the participant throughout the process. The term ‘phenomenology’ is a blend of phenomenon (observable events grasped by the mind) and logos (the human capacity for clear thinking and articulation) (Vivilaki & Johnson, 2008). It is broadly understood as an investigative approach or philosophical standpoint where all truths are revealed through self-awareness; this method explains the ‘rational interpretation of a phenomenon.’ Hermeneutic phenomenology requires researchers to acknowledge and strive to set aside their predispositions while posing relevant, incisive queries to reveal and interpret the fundamental aspects of participants’ collective experiences. This article aims to demonstrate how hermeneutic phenomenology is a promising methodological tool to empirically amplify the voices of historically marginalized groups. We elucidate this strategy’s philosophical and methodological tenets, emphasizing the ethical considerations guiding our research to ensure the integrity of the methodology. We present a comprehensive, detailed illustration of hermeneutic phenomenology from our previous study, including the research question, data collection methods, data analysis procedures, and outcomes to provide a practical understanding of the process. This pragmatic understanding serves as a clear roadmap for researchers interested in adopting the hermeneutic phenomenological approach to illuminate the narratives of historically marginalized populations.
... To the subjective experiential focus, IPA adds an explicitly interpretative layer. It tries to make sense of the participants, who try to make sense of what happens to them, a so-called ''double hermeneutic'' (Smith, 2007;. IPA is idiographic and focuses on the particular, examining the participants' accounts in detail, trying to understand the specific experiences of particular people in particular circumstances (Smith and Nizza, 2022). ...
Chronic sorrow involves parents’ enduring grief due to their child’s disability. This stems not only from the recurring painful reality parents face, which differs from the life they had hoped for their children, families, and themselves but from also being confronted with societal and personal norms and expectations they cannot meet. There is a lack of research on the lived experiences of parents’ chronic sorrow. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) study involving six parents with severely disabled children explored what it is like for parents to confront being “different.” Besides sorrow, the parents experienced intense ambiguity, guilt, and uncertainty while navigating societal expectations and their own perceptions of their children. Their ideas of parenthood and their self-identity as parents proved central to their strategies. This study provides insight into the intricacies of this particular aspect of chronic sorrow in parents, with relevance for research and practice.
... The data analysis procedure is depicted in Fig. 1. The IPA analysis is iterative and inductive [83], involving the organisation of data into a structured format for easy tracking through various stages -from initial exploratory notes on transcripts to the development of empirical statements, theme clustering, and final group theme structure. The theoretical framework was incorporated at the final stage of empirical theme development. ...
Background
Sexual minority student-athletes (SMSAs) face discrimination and identity conflicts in intercollegiate sport, impacting their participation and mental health. This study explores the perceptions of Chinese SMSAs regarding their sexual minority identities, aiming to fill the current gap in research related to non-Western countries.
Methods
A qualitative methodology was adopted, utilising the Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) approach with self-categorization theory as the theoretical framework. Participants were recruited through purposive and snowball sampling, and data were collected via semi-structured interviews, documents, and field notes. Sixteen former and current Chinese SMSAs participated in this study.
Results
The study reveals four themes: hidden truths, prioritisation of athlete identity, self-stereotyping, and attempt. The results revealed that while SMSAs were common in intercollegiate sport, their identities were often concealed and not openly discussed. The predominant focus on athlete identity in sport overshadowed their sexual minority identities. Additionally, SMSAs developed self-stereotypes that influenced their thoughts and behaviours. The non-heterosexual team atmosphere in women’s teams led to the development of intimate relationships among teammates.
Conclusions
The findings from this study could be incorporated into existing sport policies to ensure the safe participation of SMSAs in Chinese intercollegiate sports. This research offers valuable insights for the development and implementation of inclusive policies. Future research in China could investigate the attitudes of coaches and heterosexual student-athletes toward sexual minority identities to inform targeted interventions.
... Den interpretativa fenomenologiska ansatsen lämpar sig särskilt väl då informantantalet är mindre och det som studeras tolkas i två led: först av den som intervjuas och sedan av oss som forskare (Alase, 2017;Noon, 2018). Avgörande i analysmodellen är ett cirkulärt tillvägagångssätt där materialet analyseras i flera steg: från en initial läsning, via en identifiering av centrala teman till att utifrån dessa utforska samband och söka mönster i materialet (Alase, 2017;Smith, 1996Smith, , 2007Smith et al., 2009). ...
I Sveriges universitets- och högskoleförbunds (SUHF) rekommendationer om mål för behörighetsgivande högskolepedagogisk utbildning finns ett delmål som säger att deltagarna ska ”självständigt, och tillsammans med andra, kunna planera, genomföra och utvärdera undervisning och examination på vetenskaplig eller konstnärlig grund inom det egna kunskapsområdet”. Den här artikeln undersöker vad pedagogiska utvecklare lägger i SUHF:s formulering tillsammans med andra och diskuterar vilka förutsättningar de högskolepedagogiska kurserna ger deltagarna att utveckla de kunskaper, färdigheter och förmågor som krävs för att kunna samarbeta i utbildning. I semistrukturerade intervjuer med tolv pedagogiska utvecklare vid nio svenska lärosäten har tre aspekter av pedagogiskt samarbete blivit särskilt tydliga: att utveckla ett språk för lärande, att utveckla ett kritiskt förhållningssätt och att utveckla en professionell handlingsberedskap. Det står också klart att de pedagogiska utvecklarna tolkar tillsammans som ihop med sina kollegor snarare än sida vid sida med dem och gärna vill att deras kursdeltagare lär sig kunskaper, färdigheter och förmågor som gör att de kan delta i en gemensam pedagogisk praktik. Samtidigt ser de pedagogiska utvecklarna det som problematiskt att de i princip aldrig möter lärarlag på sina kurser och därför har svårt att bedöma deltagarnas förmåga att samarbeta med andra lärare inom det egna kunskapsområdet. Det är med andra ord osäkert om det är möjligt att uppnå SUHF:s delmål i den behörighetsgivande högskolepedagogiska utbildningen som den är organiserad vid de nio lärosätena. ENGLISH ABSTRACT Jointly with others: Learning to collaborate in higher education teacher training In the recommended general learning outcomes for higher education teacher training issued by the Association of Swedish Higher Education Institutions (SUHF), one objective states that participants should demonstrate the ability to ”independently, and jointly with others, plan, implement and evaluate teaching and assessment in higher education with a scientific, scholarly or artistic basis and within their own area of knowledge”. This article analyzes interpretations made by academic developers of SUHF’s wording jointly with others. It also discusses what foundations higher education teaching courses offer participants for developing knowledge, skills, and abilities to collaborate with others in their pedagogical work. Three aspects of educational collaboration emerged from semi- structured interviews with twelve academic developers at nine Swedish universities: developing a language for learning; developing a critical approach; and developing a professional capacity to act. It also became evident during the interviews that the academic developers interpret jointly as working together with colleagues, rather than just side by side, and that they hope that their course participants are acquiring the knowledge, skills, and abilities to enable them to engage in a shared pedagogical practice. However, the academic developers also find it problematic that they rarely come into contact with teaching teams through their courses, making it difficult to assess participants’ ability to collaborate with colleagues within their own areas of knowledge. In other words, it is uncertain whether it is possible to achieve SUHF’s objective in the higher education teacher training courses as they are organized at the nine universities studied.
... The analysis of our qualitative study data was informed by the paradigm of interpretative phenomenological analysis [83]. During the analysis, we aimed to cast out our hypothesis in RQ2, but answer it in the end with a rich narrative of how users made sense of the system, the intermediate and final results; how they constructed meaning out of the interaction, and what they thought of themselves during and after the interaction. ...
... A strategic method for doing Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis is outlined by multiple authors. 37-39 HS flexibly followed these approaches seeking to undertake an iterative and inductive cycle which drew on specific strategies in stages 40 : listening back and familiarisation with the transcripts with a willingness to re-enter into the participant's world; getting rid of the 'noise' 37 by reading transcripts and notetaking; notation in the transcript margin categorising text as descriptive, linguistic and conceptual; 'chunked' transcriptions highlighting when participants were talking about topics of interest; identifying emergent patterns (e.g. themes), informed by the exploratory commenting in margins; whilst identifying emergent themes returning to the highlighted coloured 'chunks' of a transcript to focus on a strategy for extracting themes and placing them in context, with each participant having their own themes; construct individual tables (eight tables) for participants, then moving analysis to group level, with the use of supervision from GL and MJA. ...
Background
Social workers have a significant role in hospices working with clients who are facing death but there is limited detailed understanding of the emotional impact of this work on social workers. Research has highlighted that those involved in hospice work find the work both a struggle (e.g. because of heightened emotions) and rewarding (noting that end-of-life care can feel like a privilege).
Aim
To explore UK hospice social workers’ emotional experiences of work and how this influences their practice.
Design
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with hospice social workers. Interviews were transcribed and transcripts were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.
Setting/participants
Eight social workers from different hospices in the UK.
Results
Five overlapping superordinate themes emerged: making a difference to clients and families (‘the difference made’), the emotional impact of working in hospices (‘dealing with people’s emotions, and death, and dying, it’s serious stuff’), the relational context of this type of work (‘awareness of affinity to connect’), the ways in which coping is facilitated in hospices (‘seen it coming’) and a foundation theme, connection and disconnection to values (‘(dis)connection to values’).
Conclusions
The results offer an exploration of social workers’ experiences of their work in hospices; how adept they were at coping and how they prepared for and made sense of the often emotionally-laden experiences encountered. Their experience of the rewards and meaning derived from their work offers important findings for clinical practice. Further research is suggested to explore a multitude of healthcare professionals’ perspectives across country settings using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.
... IPA investigates individuals' lived experiences and involves an interpretative endeavour [22]. This endeavour can be on two levels-the researcher's level and the research participants' level; that is, the researcher makes sense of how the research participants made sense of their lived experience [25]. Our study focused on engineering students' lived experience during the latter stage of the pandemic when they were exposed to a mixture of in-person and online modes. ...
... Thematic analysis was used to explore meaning from the perspective of the participants and describes the lived experiences of older adults in residential care in their own voices, which is important in order to understand problems or issues from the participants' perspectives. The main aim of this approach is to develop meaning from the respondents' stories [31]. ...
This article explores the adaptation process of older adults in residential care facilities in New Zealand. Through a phenomenological approach, this study provides clarity on how older adults adjust in residential care despite losses and challenges. Qualitative data on 24 older adults, 6 residential care facilities, and 10 staff were collected. Utilising qualitative software the following were identified: loss, support, acceptance and meaningful support. Initially, the unfamiliar environment and faces, structured routines, lack of interaction, absence of familiar activities, and limited visits from family and friends increased residents’ feelings of loneliness with institutionalisation. In time, they adapted to the routines and came to accept the facilities as, if not “home,” then “like home.” Participation in activities and support from staff and family contributed to this process. Activities can facilitate adjustment by promoting social contact, providing meaning and helping residents to establish new identities. The participants’ stories revealed that, despite the challenges of relocation, they adapted well to the residential environment.
... The first step of the scale development process was to conduct a qualitative study for exploring the dimensional structure of intimate co-creation through interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) (Smith, 2007). Following the recommendations of Smith and Osborne (2003), steps included were analysis of transcribed interviews, clustering codes of emerging themes, identifying master themes, and then the identification of final themes, codes and quotes. ...
Purpose: Built upon the theories of psychological ownership, personal intimacies, and interpersonal relationship; the concept of intimate co-creation was conceptually theorized in the recent management literature. Intimate co-creation typically occurs at the dyadic level often for the creative task engagements and has a spillover effect on groups and teams. However, there is no measurement scale on intimate co-creation available in the management literature. Methodology: The current study has addressed this literature gap by developing a new measurement scale on intimate co-creation. Best practices for new measurement scale development as available in the management literature were followed. A qualitative study was conducted first to determine the dimensional structure of intimate co-creation and an initial pool of 72 items. Scale development experts’ review of the measurement scale, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) abetted in finalizing a 14 items measurement scale with four dimensions of intimate co-creation. Findings: This new measurement scale development is a milestone for further empirical research on intimate co-creation as it is the first-ever measurement scale on intimate co-creation. Conclusion: This is the first-ever measurement scale on intimate co-creation that is available for future researchers to empirically validate the concept of intimate co-creation
... 140 .)Interpretivist approaches are also concerned with the contextual circumstances that influence authors as well as the contextual circumstances that influence researchers' interpretations .They believe that a researcher must learn more about the author, his or her culture, social reality and the period to understand the text ( Lacity & Janson, 1994;Smith, 2007.) The paragraphs below try to justify the application of hermeneutic design in this study .The reviewing the literature that explains the world product of the ancient period to now . ...
Phenomenological research tries to describe and interpret meanings of experiences to a certain degree in-depth about the historical and sacred scripture and tried to explore the live experience of people about the phenomenon. There are mainly two types of phenomenology such as heuristic transcendental phenomenology and hermeneutic phenomenology. The heuristic transcendental phenomenology was used first by Husserl as descriptive or psychological or empirical phenomenology and it was developed as heuristic transcendental phenomenology. In heuristic transcendental phenomenology, Suspension or Reduction, Bracketing (epoche) is used to place researchers' preconceptions about the phenomenon at the edge of the writing. The hermeneutic phenomenology is used to understand the meaning of historical scripture such as Veda, Kuran, Bahagvat Geeta, Ramayan and other old scripture through the learning cycle being reflective and critical. So phenomenology works as the philosophy and qualitative research design to guide the whole research process.
... Heidegger, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty (Smith, 2007 personal communication, November 20, 2018). Following many years of dance instruction, the researcher transitioned to teaching the art and it was through that process of teaching rhythm to the students, that the researcher noticed an improvement in his own judo abilities. ...
Aim The aim of this research is to understand the application of rhythm in judo through the experience of expert Japanese coaches.
... Semi structured interview can acquaint with an issue the investigator had not thought of. Open-ended, non-directive interview questions were developed as part of a semi-structured interview schedule in order to promote thorough and free-form narrative responses needed for IPA (Smith, 2007). ...
Visible physical differences may have a variety of social and psychological effects. Complete hair loss on the scalp and body is a defining feature of the deforming disorder alopecia universalis (AU). The present study was conducted in order to gain some meaningful insights into cross cultural explanations of psychosocial consequences. The current research examined the lived experiences of males with AU in two different cultures—the United Kingdom and Pakistan. Participants from two diverse cultures were taken to compare and contrast the individual experiences in different social context. To understand the psychosocial experiences of males with AU, interpretive phenomenological analysis was used. Face to face in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with a volunteer sample of N = 12 men, n = 6 from Pakistan and n = 6 from UK having a formal diagnosis of AU. Five superordinate themes were emerged including: (1) Reactions (personal and social) (2) Impact (psychological and social) (3) Coping (cognitive and behavioral) (4) Adjustment and Rehabilitation and (5) Equilibrium /Growth (Psychological and spiritual). Men from UK tend to report stronger personal reactions. Pakistani men tend to experience social reactions such as stares, giggles and point blank questions from the public. Long term impact, coping process, adjustment and rehabilitation period reported by men with AU was quite similar across cultures. Having lived with AU for some period of time; men from UK getting more empathetic and compassionate whereas, Pakistani men developed gratitude over the years. Dermatologists must take into consideration the psychological requirements of those who have AU. Psychosocial interventions may be used to help patients by healthcare professionals, particularly psychologists. Future researches need to assess both men and women in order to address the impact of AU on people with different ages and sociodemographic backgrounds that will provide some insight into the significant effect of AU on individual’s wellbeing.
... Heidegger, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty (Smith, 2007 personal communication, November 20, 2018). Following many years of dance instruction, the researcher transitioned to teaching the art and it was through that process of teaching rhythm to the students, that the researcher noticed an improvement in his own judo abilities. ...
... IPA is an approach to qualitative psychological research which aims to provide insights into how a person makes sense of a given phenomenon such as a major life event or the development of an important relationship. It has its theoretical origins in phenomenological psychology which figured prominently in the history of humanistic psychology (Smith, 2007). IPA is distinct from other approaches to phenomenological psychology because it contains psychological, interpretative and ideographic (or individual case) elements. ...
A better understanding of the role of personality type on the male experience of midlife is thought to be of value when providing counselling and psychotherapy support to men, but to date there are few available resources in this area. Based on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®, the pilot study compared ten males aged 40-55 years with a preference for Intuitive-Feeling with ten with a Sensing-Thinking preference. The majority of both personality types reported a smooth transition into midlife with several gains including increased life mastery, greater self-awareness and enhanced intimacy in relationships. However, men in the Sensing-Thinking group compared with those in the Intuitive-Feeling group were more likely to have experienced an existential crisis, viewed their self/masculine identity primarily in terms of career/work and were less likely to have experienced increased intimacy with their spouse or partner in midlife. The tentative findings of this pilot study suggest that personality may influence the male experience of midlife.
... It was up to researchers to decide when the interpretation was satisfactory. 7 We followed Tracy's 8 criteria for rigor in qualitative research. ...
Background: Some studies suggest that individuals having lost a loved one during the COVID-19 pandemic report higher levels of grief reactions than people bereaved from natural causes. Little is known about the lived and subjective experience of individuals who lost a loved one under confinement measures.
Aim: This research aims to provide a phenomenological description of pandemic grief (PG) that can be useful in clinical settings and bereavement services.
Methods: Seventy-six qualitative phenomenological interviews have been conducted with 37 individuals who have lost a loved one during the first wave of the pandemic. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was performed following Tracy's criteria for rigorous qualitative research.
Results: The experience of PG comprises clinical manifestations and can be described as “a type of grief occurring in the context of a pandemic, where applicable public health measures have precedence over end of life and caregiving practices as well as funeral rituals, overshadowing the needs, values, and wishes of the dying individuals and those who grieve them.”
Discussion/Conclusion: This study is the first to provide a phenomenological and experiential understanding of PG. Our phenomenological description can be helpful in clinical settings such as bereavement services within palliative care teams.
... In the first phase, a qualitative study was conducted for an in-depth exploration of the phenomenon of intimate co-creation through interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) (Smith, 2007). Following four steps for a qualitative study as proposed by Smith and Osborne (2003), a careful analysis of the interview transcripts was done. ...
Different forms of value co-creation have been a source of literary debate in management literature. Management scholars got the early inspiration for this phenomenon of multi-stakeholder engagement from the field of design engineering in the 1970s. Intimate co-creation is a new concept that explores the immediate impact that a co-creation activity might have on an individual at the dyadic, group, or team level. Most of its benefits as conceptually theorized by Rouse (2020) are very positive; however, it lacks a valid measurement scale for which an exploratory analysis of the dimensional structure of intimate co-creation is needed. The current study has addressed the same research gap. For this purpose, a mixed methods study was conducted to explore the dimensional structure of intimate co-creation and operationalize the concept for development of relevant items. This exploratory factor analysis is the prime step in a series of studies to develop a new measurement scale on intimate co-creation.
... In the first phase, a qualitative study was conducted for an in-depth exploration of the phenomenon of intimate co-creation through interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) (Smith, 2007). Following four steps for a qualitative study as proposed by Smith and Osborne (2003), a careful analysis of the interview transcripts was done. ...
Almost half of all marriages in Pakistan are consanguineous. Despite its high prevalence, little is known about the change over time in consanguineous unions in Pakistan. Examining the patterns of the cousin marriages is particularly important given the substantial improvement in women’s education which is often associated with the decline in consanguineous unions across the world. Our analysis, based on four waves of nationally representative Pakistan Demographic and Health Surveys - PDHS (1990-91, 2006-07, 2012-13, and 2017-18), shows that the prevalence of consanguineous unions remains stable over time. Further, women’s education is negatively associated with cousin marriages. Hypergamous (husband is more educated than her wife) unions are more prevalent, but a consistent rise in educational hypogamy (wife is more educated than her husband) is observed during this time. The results show that consanguineous marriages are more likely to be hypogamous than non-consanguineous marriages. Moreover, contraceptive use is lower among women in consanguineous unions. An inverse relationship has been found between the mean fertility and cousin marriages. Women in consanguineous marriages are likely to have fewer children than women in non-consanguineous marriages. Overall, the results show that consanguinity patterns are stable, and there is no evidence that the societal changes such as improvement in women’s education and urbanization over time have led to a decline in cousin marriages in Pakistan.
... Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, 2009) was chosen as the most appropriate research design due to its suitability for gaining a rich idiographic account of each participant's experiences. It allowed the researcher and participants to engage in an analytic dialogue within the framework of double hermeneutics, known as the two-stage interpretation process (Smith & Osborn, 2008), where the interviewee is interpreting their own experiences as they speak, while the researcher is interpreting the participant's words. ...
Objectives
This study aimed to explore how eight female leaders from four Arab countries experienced their leadership journey, and to consider a potential role for coaching in that developmental journey.
Design and Method
A qualitative design was applied to explore the participants’ experiences. Data collection was through semi-structured interviews, and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the data.
Results
Four themes emerged: (i) a continuous, exhausting struggle; (ii) fulfilment and pride in achievements; (iii) adoption of coping strategies; (iv) engagement in personal and professional development.
Conclusion
The findings suggest that coaching may be an appropriate intervention to increase the individual leadership potential of females in the Arab world.
... Consistent with IPA, we analysed the data through a double hermeneutic process (Smith & Osborn, 2003), where we attempted to understand and make sense of the siblings' experiences while they, themselves, were making sense of their own experiences. Although we started our transcript analysis with a case-by-case approach, we revisited all the transcripts at various points throughout this process, consistent with the iterative and inductive cycle described by Smith (2007). ...
The impact of autism on the family is an area of study that merits further research attention. Much of the existing literature has focused on the parent perspective, with less emphasis on the experiences of other family members, particularly non-autistic siblings. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of a sample of nine 8- to 17-year-old non-autistic siblings of children and youth on the autism spectrum. We interviewed siblings and analysed transcripts using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Our results revealed the following Group Experiential Themes: (1) Role disparities, different expectations; (2) Connection and disconnection; and (3) Our family is (extra)ordinary. Our study findings highlight the unique and collective perspectives of siblings regarding their brother or sister on the spectrum within the broader family dynamic. We discuss the implications of these results on siblings of autistic children and youth.
Lay abstract
The impact of autism on the family is an important area of study. Much of the existing literature has focused on the parent perspective, with less emphasis on the experiences of other family members, especially non-autistic siblings. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences of a sample of nine 8- to 17-year-old non-autistic siblings of children and youth on the autism spectrum. We interviewed non-autistic siblings and analysed the written transcripts. Our results revealed the following themes: (1) Role disparities, different expectations; (2) Connection and disconnection; and (3) Our family is (extra)ordinary. Our study findings highlight siblings’ unique and collective perspectives regarding their brother or sister on the spectrum within the broader family unit. We discuss the implications of these results on siblings of autistic children and youth.
... This is a feature shared with most phenomenologically-informed qualitative methods, but not with all philosophical writing in the tradition. IPA draws on a range of phenomenological writings for its conceptual grounding, including Husserl, Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty (see Smith et al., 2009;Smith, 2007;Larkin et al, 2006. From these it takes the view that language has sufficient expressive power to convey someone's experience, under certain conditions. ...
Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) is an idiographic approach to qualitative research. It is widely used in psychologically-informed studies which aim to understand the meaning and context of specific experiences. In this paper, we provide some background and introduction to the principles and processes underpinning IPA research. We extend this via a practical example, reporting on selected analyses from a study which explores the phenomenology and meaning of loneliness, through interviews conducted with a group of religious women. Through our observations on the complex role of absence for loneliness, we show that IPA can be a powerful tool for exploring and understanding the meaning of salient experiences. We reflect on the significance of the results for advancing theories of loneliness; and on the capacity of the IPA approach to provide researchers with an important and useful phenomenological perspective, through its emphasis on context, and its commitment to integrating convergent and divergent claims.
... This interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) study was based on theories and guidelines by Smith et al. (2012c) and Smith (2007;. IPA is ideographic and thus focuses on details, depth and how experiences are shaped by the factors constituting the context. ...
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to explore and interpret how frontline leaders define, experience and rationalise their approaches to the successful implementation of clinical guidelines in mental health care.
Design/methodology/approach
Employing an interpretative phenomenological design, the authors conducted and analysed individual interviews of frontline leaders at 14 psychiatric clinics involved in a national study of implementing evidence-based clinical guidelines in mental health.
Findings
The authors found a broad spectrum of attitudes and attributes, as well as a wide repertoire of strategies for frontline implementation leadership. Three main approaches were revealed, comprising “Curious and welcoming”, “Integrity and setting standards” and “Caring and collegial”.
Research limitations/implications
The study present what experienced frontline leaders emphasise to enable implementation of guidelines, not empirical pieces of evidences for what they in fact do or if these actions lead to implementation. The generalisability to other settings is unknown. Another sample profile, context or organisational level may have impacted the result. The concreteness of the frontline leaders’ considerations, approaches and actions gives important knowledge about frontline leaders leadership across traditional leadership theories.
Originality/value
Existing leadership theories describe different leadership styles, while this study reveals the need for a wide range of approaches to balance the many needs and demands. The complexity of leadership approaches this study found is in line with implementation theories; thus, the present study incorporates implementation science into the leadership literature.
... The method used here, interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), aims to study and encapsulate shared experiences in qualitative data using hermeneutic and phenomenological principles (Smith, Flowers, & Larkin, 2009). The methodology allows for the exploration of new knowledge rather than findings being influenced by predetermined hypotheses, beliefs, and traditional methods such as questionnaires or researcher bias (Smith, 2007). IPA therefore offers the optimum method to capture the experiences of this highly marginalised group who have not previously had a voice within the peer reviewed literature. ...
Individuals detained within forensic mental health services in Scotland, under Compulsion and Restriction Orders (COROs), have the greatest theoretical constraints on their liberty of any patients within Scotland’s mental health system. COROs function to aid patients’ recovery but also to prevent harm to the public; unlike civil compulsion where outcomes are measured based solely on recovery. There is a dearth of research exploring patients’ perspectives of compulsory treatment and this study is the first to focus solely on the perspectives of those living under COROs. The current study used Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to analyse interviews with participants about their experiences of living under restriction. Eleven participants were interviewed: six living in the community under conditional discharge and five residing in low secure care. Four superordinate themes were derived from the data: (1) How did I end up here? (2) Impact:
Power, Punishment and Protection (3) Surviving and Adapting (4) Recovery. The results are reviewed in the context of extant findings; clinical implications and areas of future research are considered.
Objectives
The aim of the research is to try to broaden understanding of the meanings that young artists attribute to their experience of participating in an art competition.
Material and methods
In-depth interviews were conducted with young artists awarded in a competition. Transcriptions of the interviews were subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis. This approach was deemed the most appropriate to look at the personal experiences of the young artists and examine the way they give meaning to their lives and the world around them.
Results
The results indicate that participation in the competition was meaningful for the young artists in many dimensions. It provided an opportunity for exploration, experimentation, making choices and taking responsibility for them, both in the realm of artistic craftsmanship and in the formation of identity, and building the world of one's life. Participation in the competition provided an opportunity for active and reflective action and an intense experience of community, collaboration and agency.
Conclusions
The conceptual framework, which enables, at the stage of interpretation, the disclosure and ordering of meanings and the rendering of the individual and the universal, was Bruner's concept of development-supporting education, which was placed in the context of a pedagogy of peace. The analysis of a fragment of school praxis revealed the everyday life we would expect from an educational institution. This micro-image of an alternative vision of the school where the individual can have a learning experience is a viable example. Important recommendations include the suggestion of promoting student tasks that break stereotypes and release the joy of working on oneself, in the context of using the resources and potential of the wider culture.
Limited face-to-face classes involve limiting students’ daily attendance at face-to-face sessions on campus. This study explored the lived experience of 10 school administrators in implementing limited face-to-face classes in Central Visayas, Philippines. These administrators were part of the state universities and colleges that practiced limited face-to-face classes after the Philippine government decided to reopen the classes, guided by the implementation guidelines through a CHEd Joint Memorandum Circular, after the lockdowns in the COVID-19 pandemic. These administrators had been part of the universities and colleges for two years before the pandemic. This study employed a descriptive phenomenological research design, utilized a semi-structured interview guide, and used Collaizi’s seven steps to analyze the data. The findings revealed that the universities and colleges made academic adjustments to the curriculum, the teaching and learning strategies, and teacher professional development. Emotional and psychological support was also provided to schools to nurture the well-being of the students, teachers, and staff. Communication and collaboration inside the school and with the stakeholders were promoted. Despite the newness of the phenomena, the limited face-to-face implementation was positively carried out. Research related to full face-to-face may be conducted.
Keywords
Limited face-to-face classes; school administrators; lived experience; universities and colleges
Pediatric palliative care is a multidisciplinary branch of medicine and health care that includes both biomedical techniques of patient care and social and psychological practices. At the same time, its goal difers from that of curative approaches in medicine and is predominantly to alleviate patients’ sufering. We used the qualitative method of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), which allows us to uncover the «inside», emotional and existentially signifcant dimensions of respondents’ personal and intersubjective experiences. This method provides an «insider» perspective of the community under study. The article presents the results of IP. interviews with nine doctors of pediatric palliative care working in the Russian health care system and taking specialized advanced training courses. The goals of the study were to identify the most subjectively signifcant factors for physicians of palliative care for children, infuencing the ethical and communicative aspects of interaction with patients and their parents, and to identify the most important problems and issues of concern to specialists, with an emphasis on worldview. Semi-structured interviews were conducted using a specially designed questionnaire and mainly addressed the topics and issues of worldview of palliative care physicians (including the role of faith and religion) in the context of communication with patients and their parents. As a result, it was found that doctors typically assess their work as a vocation (in a number of cases — with explicitly religious attribution), and this is used by part of the respondents as a justifcation of their activities in front of a critically minded environment. A common view of a hospice is that of a place that needs to be comfortable, home-like. Subjectively, the majority of respondents evaluate themselves as Orthodox Christians, but emphasize the «non-fanatical» nature of their faith. At the same time, respondents note the signifcant infuence of parental religiosity on communication patterns and acceptance of inevitable disease outcomes. Most respondents noted a high need for a spiritual counsellor in the hospice. Respondents do not necessarily insist that the counsellor be a priest, but his or her fgure in the physicians’ descriptions has distinct confessional features.
This study used a qualitative methodology to examine the career transition of military veterans to entrepreneurship. This ongoing study conducted interviews with three veterans who have all career transitioned from the military to running their own business(es). Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) the emerging themes were elicited that described various elements including mindset pre-and post-career transition; preparedness for establishing business; levels of risk-taking behaviour; joint ventures with veteran co-founders and the impact of camaraderie on business relationships; level of support and barriers to success. All participants were satisfied with their entrepreneurial endeavours and couldn't see themselves being employed full-time. All participants leveraged some of their military training into their business pursuits and identified significant challenges when removed from the system of the military environment.
Background: Digital technology (DT) has already changed history, and it is transforming childhood as more and more children go online around the world.
Aim: The aim of this article was to critically explore the potential of young children’s digital learning (DL), while concurrently assessing the constraints.
Setting: Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) stakeholders’ environments formed the setting for this study.
Methods: The critical theory of technology emphasizes the need for increased democratic involvement in technical decisions. It also explores the impact of theories on technology users, affecting design, usage, and, consequently, outcomes. This study adopted an interpretative phenomenological approach to discover 10 South African ECCE stakeholders’ experiences of DL with young children.
Results: Firstly, findings presented the affordances of DT. Secondly, the threats of
connectivity, socio-economic factors, and the availability of inappropriate content were emphasised. Thirdly, there are risks and fears associated with DL, especially with young children. Lastly, the possibilities of DL, where pedagogical transformation can take place, were interrogated.
Conclusion: In the ever-evolving world of DT, the pursuit of improved educational
outcomes for young children remains a paramount concern. Proven practices that improve children’s learning through DT and effect change at a systemic level should be further interrogated.
Contribution: This research contributes to the ongoing discourse surrounding DT in early childhood education by offering a critical examination of its challenges and opportunities. It provides insights for educators, policymakers and researchers on enhancing DL experiences for young children while considering the associated risks and benefits.
Keywords: digital learning; digital technology; early childhood education; critical theory of technology; pedagogical transformation.
In dit onderzoek staat de vraag ‘Hoe heeft de meritocratische ideologie invloed gehad op het huidigewatervalsysteem om het onderwijs vorm te geven?’ centraal. Al decennialang heeft het onderwijsvan Vlaanderen te kampen met een categoraal systeem dat bekend staat als “het watervalsysteem”.Dit watervalsysteem beperkt de kansen voor sociale mobiliteit. Zo is op te merken dat in de meestescholen van het beroeps-, technisch- en buitengewoon onderwijs merendeel kinderen uit gezinnenmet een laag socio-economisch profiel of met een migratiegeschiedenis oververtegenwoordigd zijn.Het watervalsysteem zou in theorie kinderen rangschikken op basis van talenten en zorgen voormeer inclusiviteit. Elk kind zou zichzelf kunnen uiten volgens zijn talent(en), maar de realiteit blijktniet zo te zijn. Het watervalsysteem is niet inclusief en vergroot de kloof in het onderwijs alleenmaar. Er zijn bepaalde ideologieën in het onderwijssysteem die het watervalsysteem versterken enveranderingen moeilijk, of zelfs onmogelijk maken. Meritocratie zou de efficiëntste en rationeelstemanier zijn om talenten van individuen op elkaar af te stemmen, klopt deze meritocratische ideologiein het Vlaamse onderwijs? Of is de meritocratie in het onderwijs eerder een ideologie die deleerlingen ervan overtuigt dat hun sociale positie verdiend is? Kan het onderwijs de sleutelrol spelenin de meritocratische ideologie en de individuele inspanningen van leerlingen? Er zal in dit onderzoekbekeken worden of de meritocratische ideologie in het Vlaams onderwijs klopt of dat dit eerder eenideologie is die de leerlingen ervan overtuigt dat de sociale positie verdient is. We gaan na of hetonderwijs een sleutelrol kan spelen in de uitrol van de meritocratische ideologie waarbij deindividuele inspanningen van leerlingen worden beloond.In dit onderzoek wordt onderzocht hoe de meritocratische ideologie bijdraagt aan het reproducerenvan de objectieve, maatschappelijke structuur in Vlaanderen. De rol van de meritocratische ideologiein het watervalsysteem binnen het Vlaams onderwijs wordt hierbij bestudeerd. Het watervalsysteemhoudt in dat leerlingen bij aanvang van het secundair onderwijs starten in het ASO, maar eindigenin het TSO en later zelfs in het BSO. Het motto in het Vlaamse onderwijssysteem lijkt: “the only wayis down” (Vantieghem, Van Avermaet, Groenez, & Lambert, 2018). De meritocratische ideologiedaarentegen stelt dat iedereen gelijke kansen heeft op succes en sociale mobiliteit, op basis vanindividuele verdiensten en capaciteiten. Het doel van dit onderzoek is om te onderzoeken hoe dezeideologie heeft bijgedragen aan het in stand houden van het watervalsysteem in het onderwijs. Hetonderzoek werd uitgevoerd aan de hand van de analyse van krantenartikelen over het onderwijs,gepubliceerd tussen 1970 en 2022. Door de veranderingen in de berichtgeving over het onderwijsgedurende deze periode te onderzoeken, kan een beter inzicht worden verkregen in de evolutie vande meritocratische ideologie en de impact ervan op het onderwijsbeleid.Door middel van een diepgaande analyse van krantenartikelen uit verschillende periodes, wordt deimpact van het watervalsysteem en de rol van meritocratie in het Vlaamse onderwijs onderzocht.Het onderzoek richt zich op de gevolgen van deze concepten voor onderwijskansen, sociale mobiliteiten gelijke kansen in het Vlaamse onderwijssysteem. Geconcludeerd kan worden dat er over de jarenheen, van 1970-2022 een verandering is van de uitleg die wordt gegeven voor de verdeling vanberoepen in de maatschappij en de daaraan voorafgaande verdeling in het onderwijs. Oorspronkelijkwas er een verdeling op basis van erfelijkheid, deze evolueert in de jaren 80 en 90 verder naar eenverdeling met als basis de meritocratie.De resultaten van dit onderzoek dragen bij aan een beter begrip van de structurele aspecten vanhet Vlaamse onderwijs en werpen een kritische blik op de beperkingen en uitdagingen die hetwatervalsysteem en meritocratie met zich meebrengen. Bovendien biedt het onderzoek richtlijnenvoor mogelijke verbeteringen en alternatieve benaderingen om een meer rechtvaardig en inclusiefonderwijssysteem in Vlaanderen te bevorderen. Dit onderzoek draagt bij aan het bredere debat overonderwijsbeleid en biedt waardevolle inzichten voor beleidsmakers, onderwijsprofessionals enandere belanghebbenden die streven naar een eerlijker en effectiever onderwijssysteem in Vlaanderen.
The study focuses on the specific case of a girl with a significant experience of delinquency in early adolescence (13–15 years of age). The girl is from a functional family with no known predisposition to delinquency. Therefore, this case can be considered as deviant sampling. The study has a multidisciplinary overlap (psychology, criminology and social pedagogy). The IPA (interpretative phenomenological analysis) method was used to uncover the meanings that the participant attributes to the phenomena of delinquency. The results showed that the need for peer social acceptance was at the core of the case. The accompanying manifestation of delinquency was lying, which transcended theft. In late adolescence, the girl changed her strategy for gaining social acceptance and used her own ability to "empathically counsel" others. The results of this study evoke the creation of an evaluation study of an experimental educational program for adolescents from non-pathological backgrounds.
This study, ‘Adaptive-Intelligence Learning Architecture: Utilising an African aphorism to increase organisational adaptive quotient’, investigated the challenges organisations face within an exponentially disrupted business environment. The research problem studied is the possible incapacity of the organisation’s current learning systems to rapidly increase an organisation’s adaptive quotient. The problem encases the growing possibility of the dehumanisation of organisations through vast technological disruptions. Therefore, the study aims to describe a novel learning architecture utilising an African humanness aphorism that could increase organisational adaptive quotient when re-settling into any ‘new normal’.
The qualitative abductive approach to the research is based on post-positivism and metamodernism within conceptual relativism and a social constructivism philosophy. A blended research methodology, using hermeneutic phenomenology and grounded theory, was utilised to distil the phenomenon’s essence, telling the story of the life experience of the research participants in their current and foreseen future world of work. The study, which took place between 01 October 2019, and 30 November 2021, followed a multi-step design that collected multi forms of research data from 15 participants who were interviewed individually, three focus group discussions and, 14 teams with 120 participants in total were observed.
The study delivered a complexity of findings, which centre on the five themes identified during selective coding. In broad terms, the study found that most current learning efforts lack an intentional focus on Organisational Adaptive Quotient. Most Organisational Learning Systems (OLS) show low connectedness and collectiveness, indicative of a slow reaction to problem ecologies. There is a general ignorance of the Coherence-Correlation-Dynamics required within learning efforts. Most OLSs do not actively promote the Adaptive Intelligence of their people system. Finally, the study’s key findings further indicated Requirements for a new learning architecture that can oscillate between enabling the OLS and energising the OLS.
The study’s results present an Adaptive-Intelligence Learning Architecture (AiLA) framework. The AiLA framework advocates for an organisational learning system that weaves adaptive intelligence into its learning efforts focused on competency improvement. Through its focus on organisational adaptive quotient, the AiLA places African Humanness as the core energy of the learning system to provide the energy to the architecture in combating system entropy.
Key Words: Adaptive-Intelligence, Organisation Adaptive Quotient, AiLA Framework, African Humanness, ‘Being levels’ of existence, Learning Architecture, Organisational Learning System, Spiral Dynamics, Metamodernism, Integral, African Aphorism
Research exploring the educational relevance of wellbeing only tentatively confronts the ‘tension’ of expecting educators to nurture pupils' wellbeing while school effectiveness is evaluated by metrics of academic performance. Complete wellbeing includes hedonia (feeling) and eudaimonia (doing) well. Accordingly, school ‘happiness agendas’ overlook the latter, despite psychologists suggesting eudaimonia (‘welldoing’) is foundational for wellbeing, particularly in adolescence. Rooted in Aristotlean ideas of ‘living and doing well’, philosophers underline eudaimonia's educational significance. However, high‐stakes testing undermines eudaimonia, with England's performativity culture representing a barrier. Recently scholars have called for ‘stronger evidence’ documenting links between adolescent mental illness and academic pressures. The present study therefore explored 18 adolescents' (14–15 years' old) lived experiences of wellbeing in one English state school. Although existing studies document adolescents' conceptualisations of ‘wellbeing’, adolescents' lived experiences, particularly of eudaimonia and specifically in school, are comparatively absent. Interviews adopting a phenomenological approach therefore investigated (1) how adolescents experience wellbeing, and (2) what ‘doing well’ at school means to adolescents. Adolescents' welldoing experiences did not resemble eudaimonia, which involves individuals connecting with personal purpose through cultivation of their unique abilities. Instead, welldoing at school was instrumentalised as obtaining good grades. Although hedonia was reflected in adolescents' experiences, hedonia was intrinsically connected to welldoing, with mental health attributed to achieving ‘good’ or ‘bad’ grades, respectively. Recommendations include the need for wholescale integration of wellbeing into education in England, which requires (1) overhauling educational aims to focus on supporting individual flourishing as opposed to academic standards, and (2) de‐emphasising harmful performativity culture.
Introduction
The COVID-19 pandemic entailed significant changes in accompaniment, end-of-life, and bereavement experiences. In some countries, public health measures prevented or restricted family caregivers from visiting their dying loved ones in residences, long-term care institutions, and hospitals. As a result, family members were faced with critical decisions that could easily lead to ethical dilemmas and moral distress.
Aim
This study aimed to understand better the experience of ethical dilemmas among family caregivers who lost a loved one.
Methds
We interviewed twenty bereaved family caregivers and analysed their narratives using Interpretative phenomenological analysis.
Results
Our analysis suggests that family caregivers struggled with their multiple responsibilities (collective, relational, and personal) and had to deal with the emotional cost of their choices. Results display three emerging themes describing the experience of ethical struggles: (1) Flight or fight: Struggling with collective responsibility; (2) Being torn apart: Assuming relational responsibility and (3) “Choosing” oneself: The cost of personal responsibility.
Discussion/Conclusion
Results are discussed and interpreted using an ethical, humanistic, and existential conceptual framework.
« Manquer d'air », « suffoquer », « étouffer », c’est là l'une des pires épreuves auxquelles peut être soumis un être humain. Ainsi, la dyspnée, définie comme "la perception consciente de la respiration assortie d'un affect négatif tels que la peur ou l’anxiété", modifie profondément la vie des patients qui en souffrent, en particulier lorsqu'elle ne peut pas être soulagée adéquatement par un traitement. On parle alors de dyspnée persistante. Il s'agit d'une situation particulièrement désespérante pour les patients, les proches et les soignants. Elle concerne de nombreux patients atteints de maladies respiratoires, cardiaques et neuromusculaires ou cancéreuses, notamment aux stades avancés. Elle est pourtant notoirement sous-évaluée autant collectivement, comme problème de santé public, qu'individuellement, comme souffrance physique et psychologique. Les professionnels de santé sous-estiment l'intensité et l'impact de la dyspnée. Ces constats, à l’origine du concept d’invisibilité de la dyspnée, sont une injustice. Cette injustice existe sur le plan épistémique, en ceci que les patients ne peuvent faire reconnaitre leur expérience dans toute sa significativité et que l'invisibilité de la dyspnée empêche de facto les patients concernés de bénéficier, de la part des soignants, de la "considération" qui leur donnerait accès à des approches thérapeutiques adaptées. Cela se traduit, in fine, par une injustice dans la prise en charge médicale. L'objectif de cette thèse est de contribuer à corriger cette situation, au travers d'une triple approche, phénoménologique, expérientielle et expérimentale. L’approche phénoménologique s'adresse à l'injustice épistémique telle que décrite ci-dessus. Ainsi, elle a pour objectif de donner la parole aux patients, et à travers cela de décrire la façon ils perçoivent leur maladie ainsi que l'appréhension qu'ont les autres (famille, environnement social, soignants). Elle a permis de conceptualiser différentes formes d'invisibilité (sur le plan temporel et catégoriel), de mettre en lumière certaines particularités de la souffrance respiratoire (symbolique du souffle par exemple) et d’identifier différents déterminants de l’invisibilité de la dyspnée. L’approche expérientielle nous a permis d’explorer certaines de nos hypothèses élaborées à partir de ces déterminants de l’invisibilité de la dyspnée. Ainsi, dans le contexte de pandémie de Covid 19 qui a généralisé le port du masque, nous avons pu démontrer que le port du masque génère une expérience de dyspnée et que cette expérience de masse d’une dyspnée induite sensibilise la population générale au concept de santé respiratoire et aux vécus des malades souffrant de dyspnée). L’approche expérientielle permet également de tester la portée correctrice d’actions, notamment pédagogiques à destination des soignants, intégrant à un enseignement spécifique à la dyspnée une composante expérientielle. L’étude menée dans cette perspective a montré que l’aspect expérientiel de l’enseignement améliore la compréhension par les étudiants du vécu des patients dyspnéiques. Enfin, l’approche expérimentale vise à objectiver et quantifier l’impact de l’invisibilité de la dyspnée sur le vécu (notamment affectif) de celle-ci. Des volontaires sains, exposés à deux épisodes successifs de dyspnée expérimentale, sont randomisés dans un bras qualifié de « neutre » et un qualifié de « sollicitude empathique ». La sollicitude empathique étant ici conceptualisée comme un levier de correction de l’invisibilité de la dyspnée. Les différences de vécu des volontaires sains peuvent donc être considérés comme une première estimation, bien qu’indirecte, de l’impact de l’invisibilité de la dyspnée dans le cadre de la relation soignant-soigné. Les travaux de ce travail de thèse sont les premières, mais indispensables, étapes pour repenser la dyspnée et sa prise en considération dans notre société et dans le soin.
The current phenomenological study explored marital experiences of Pakistani couples to investigate the factors leading to a flourishing marital life. The data was collected using semi-structured interviews that were digitally recorded and transcribed. The sample included 14 couples who were married for more than ten years. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was applied to explore the qualitative data. Two major clusters emerged from the couples’ descriptions of their marital flourishing: Personality Cluster and Relationship Cluster. The clusters was further divided that included: Commitment and Loyalty, Respect, Patterns of Communication, Degree of closeness and intimacy with the partner, Spousal support and encouragement, Interactional Styles during Conflict, Self Compassion, Ability to regulate Emotional Reactions, Capitalizing on Positive Events, Humor, Expressing love for the partner. Study has implications for Family Research Analysts working at Mental Health Solace and Pakistan Council on Family Relations. Counselors working with couples and positive psychologists can also benefit from present researchFlourishing
Purpose
Self-disclosure describes the act of revealing personal information to another person. To date, researchers in the area of stuttering have primarily demonstrated the utility of self-disclosure through analysis of listener perceptions. This study explores the utility of informative self-disclosure use from the perspectives of adults who stutter with experience using this strategy over time and across contexts.
Method
Twelve adults who stutter discussed their self-disclosure experiences in semistructured interviews. Interview transcripts were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis to produce themes reflecting the most salient aspects of self-disclosure experiences. Credibility was achieved through bracketing, investigator triangulation, and member checking.
Results
Four superordinate themes reflecting experiences shared by all 12 participants were generated. Each superordinate theme contained two to three corresponding subthemes. The superordinate themes included cognitive relief, self-empowerment, social connection, and personalization. These findings reflect the positive impact of informative self-disclosure use on communication and quality of life.
Conclusions
Adults who stutter perceive informative self-disclosure to be an effective strategy that provides various benefits to the speaker, in addition to facilitating positive listener perceptions. Clinicians should encourage clients to self-disclose in an informative and personalized manner, provide opportunities for practice, and support clients in determining when and where it is most beneficial for them to implement this strategy.
Purpose
During the COVID-19 pandemic, older adults were portrayed as an at-risk group. While this may have been true in some respects, empirical studies on mental health, including well-being were conflicting. Some studies found that older adults demonstrated a notable emotional resilience against the impacts of the pandemic. In this study, we qualitatively examine how older adults understand well-being and how they approached pandemic’s potential influence on their well-being.
Methods
17 older adults participated in the study, out of which 14 were interviewed and three provided written responses to a set of questions.
Results and conclusions
Through Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, three themes emerged:adaptation, control, and a sense of community. We use them to discuss three central questions within well-being theory and research: How far does well-being depend on personal traits and how far does it depend on the environment? How far do people adapt to changed circumstances, and how far is such adaption conducive to maintaining genuine well-being and not just a lowering of standards of comparison? How far does subjective well-being depend on individual and momentary experiences and how far does it depend on the larger temporal and social context of an individual?
This study explores the barriers and challenges faced by Saudi women entrepreneurs along with the motivational forces that drives them towards entrepreneurship. This study employs a qualitative research design, and is based on the interview of 11 Saudi women entrepreneurs and includes a review of data on the motivational factors and challenges faced by them using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Research participants’ perspectives have been quoted for each distinct theme that emerged from the interview finding. The factors motivating Saudi women towards entrepreneurship have been identified as passion, identification of opportunity, dissatisfaction and family support. Barriers that are exclusive to Saudi women entrepreneurs are difficulty in maintaining work-life balance, lack of business networking, limited access to financial resources, lack of understanding of business-related tasks and functions, fear of deception, lack of trust, reservation about work-related travel, recruitment and training issues like lack of experienced and trained Saudi workers and negative attitude and non-willingness to work under female leadership. Decision-makers in government and other relevant organisations can develop a solid framework of focussed agendas, policies and measures to address the barriers identified in this study. Arab countries especially Saudi Arabia can use these results to fully utilise the entrepreneurial skills of Saudi women to boost economic growth and development. This pioneering study reveals the intricacy of Saudi women entrepreneurs’ experiences in the presence of gender-bias and internalising socio-cultural values and attributed gender roles during the formation of their entrepreneurial identities through a unique non-western viewpoint.
Hermeneutic philosophy and phenomenology are advanced in the Handbook of Media and Communication Research as being two of four ‘main traditions’ shaping media and communication studies. Informed by hermeneutic scholarship, ‘ready-to-hand’ (Heidegger) habitual media user practices become a central focus. Drawing on Gadamer’s hermeneutic thought positions agent practices within perspective or a tacit hermeneutic representational ‘horizon of understanding’. Ricoeur showed subsequently that culturally hegemonic horizons of understanding can be perceived from ‘distanciated’ (Ricoeur) positions, viewed as powerful bearers of ideology, a political ‘moment’. In this paper’s reflecting on approaches to mediated practices, hermeneutic phenomenology underwrites the discussion of Malaysian multicultural research as instantiating exemplar. In a first section, the philosophy involved with a practices analysis is outlined in discussing phenomenology and media studies. The second section considers media research situating practices within horizons of representational understanding, digitally, institutionally and also constituted within ‘figurations’. A final section sees hermeneutic practices as a tacit presence in Malaysian multi-cultural activity: mall visiting and media viewing, responses to advertising and identity defining religious occasion.
Background:
Primary care is dealing with an ever-increasing workload. The causes are multi-factorial but include a decreasing number of General Practitioners (GPs), combined with increased numbers of patients with multiple co-morbidities and an ageing population. As a result of these pressures, nursing and allied health professionals are now working within a growing number of advanced practice roles delivering community-based care. One such example is paramedics taking up advanced roles within General Practice settings in Northern Ireland. What is not known, however, is what GPs' experiences are of these developments.
Aims:
To examine the experiences of GPs who have introduced an advanced paramedic into their primary care team in Northern Ireland.
Design:
A qualitative descriptive design was chosen as the most suitable approach to allow participants to relay their experiences in their own words within the loose confines of a semi-structured interview.
Methods:
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a group of four purposively selected GPs who had direct experience of the phenomena of interest. These interviews were transcribed verbatim, anonymised and then analysed thematically.
Results:
The thematic analysis produced three superordinate themes of alleviating pressure, acceptance and psychological well-being. These were underpinned by seven ordinate themes that were supported using verbatim quotes. These were then discussed and contextualised with themes from existing literature.
Conclusion:
Generally, there was widespread support from the GPs for the introduction of advanced paramedics into primary care teams. The reasons were multi-factorial but the reduction in GP workload featured prominently. The participants reported benefits in terms of increased resilience and work-life balance. The capacity to provide a clinician with experience of dealing with acute and emergency presentations, in combination with managing routine procedures, was also reported to be of great importance.
Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted thousands of individuals’ experience of caregiving and grief. This qualitative study aimed to gain in-dept understanding of family caregivers’ lived experiences of caregiving and bereavement in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, Canada. The study also aimed at providing new insight about caregiving and bereavement by analysing the metaphors family caregivers use to report their experiences. Methods: The design of this study was guided by an interpretative phenomenological approach. In-depth interviews were conducted with twenty bereaved family caregivers who had lost a loved one during the first waves of the pandemic. Results: Results indicate that bereaved family caregivers lived and understood their experience in terms of metaphoric cut-offs, obstructions and shockwaves. These three metaphors represented the grief process and the bereaved’s quest for social connection, narrative coherence and recognition. Conclusion: By identifying the meaning of the bereaved’s metaphors and the quest they reveal, our study underlines the singularity of pandemic grief and points to the value and meaning of caregiving with regard to the grieving process.
This paper considers some of the implications of reflexivity for the practice of psychological research. After a brief consideration of the theoretical background to a concern with reflexivity, the paper goes on to examine how various researchers have attempted to incorporate components of reflexivity in their research practice. While a group of sociologists of science have operationalized reflexivity by self-conscious concern for their own role in the construction of social—scientific knowledge, new paradigm co-operative inquirers interpret a need for reflexivity by including their participants as fully self-reflexive co-researchers. Mulkay's suggestion for a dialogic analytical exchange with one's participants is also considered. The second half of the paper illustrates an attempt at reflexive practice in the authors' own research. This was a project concerned with identity change during the transition to motherhood, and aimed to allow the women a strong hand in helping to shape the project's direction. Preliminary analysis of a woman's data was taken back to her for her comments, and her reflections on the data were incorporated in the final case study. A detailed example of the investigator and participant's discussion of a piece of data is provided.
Franz Brentano - descriptive psychology and intentionality Edmund Husserl - the founder of phenomenology pre-phenomenological beginnings - Husserl's path to the logical investigations Husserl's logical investigations Husserl's discovery of the reduction and transcendental phenomenology Husserl and the crisis of the European sciences Martin Heidegger - hermeneutical phenomenology Heidegger's later philosophy of language Hans-Georg Gadamer - phenomenology and philosophical hermeneutics Amor Mundi - Hannah Arendt and the phenomenology of the public sphere Emmanuel Levinas - the phenomenology of the other Jean-Paul Sartre - the phenomenology of freedom perception, the body-subject and the flesh of the world - Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology Jacques Derrida - from phenomenology to deconstruction conclusion - the fate of phenomenology.
This study works towards a theoretical model of the relational self derived from the intensive examination of a small number of case studies of women going through their first pregnancy. The study is idiographic, grounded in the women's own accounts of the experience, and it is primarily qualitative. It employs interviews, diaries, repertory grids and interpretative phenomenological analysis. The theory argues that pregnancy can accentuate the symbiotic relation of one's perception of self and others, and that this aids psychological preparation for mothering. Increasing contact with key others can be psychologically informative: the woman may perceive herself as becoming more like key other(s); close involvement with existing family can facilitate the woman's preparation for taking on the new role of mother. The model is explicated with illustrations from the women's accounts. It is then discussed in relation to the existing literature.
The word and the world
- M Mulkay
Mulkay, M. (1985). The word and the world. London: Allen and
Unwin.
Translater's introduction
- J Duke
Duke, J. (1977). Translater's introduction. In F. Schleiermacher
(Ed.), Hermeneutics: the handwritten manuscripts. Missoula:
Scholars Press.
Reflective lifeworld research
- K Dahlberg
- N Drew
- M Nystrom
Dahlberg, K., Drew, N., & Nystrom, M. (2001). Reflective
lifeworld research. Lund: Studentlitteratur.