Hi All.
I am conducting a study on occupational stress management. I have been advised to use Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to do this but I have mixed feelings about it. While IPA explores respondents' lived experiences and they way make sense of phenomena, is it still a suitable method to analyse people's occupational stresses and their coping mechanisms?
Thanks,
Marta
Could you say more about why you have "mixed feelings" about using IPA?
My opinion is that IPA would be one of several qualitative methods that could be appropriate for the topic you propose. Other possibilities include Ground Theory and open-ended interviewing followed by Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006).
Thank you David.
My mixed feelings are more due to a 'gut feeling' that I might be going in the wrong direction. This is because I there are very few papers that investigate stress management with the IPA method so I am having thoughts that Thematic Analysis might be more appropriate.
I have little experience with qualitative inquiry hence my concerns.
Thank you,
Marta
Thanks,
Marta
It seems to me that if there are fewer papers investigating this with IPA, it might be an opportunity. But then again, thematic analysis is an easier path to take if you're new to qualitative inquiry.
If you are interested in describing the experience of stress management, then IPA would be good (thematic analysis is similar in its methodological procedures but not grounded in philosophical underpinnings of the investigative procedure such as bracketing, imagined variation, metaphor analysis etc.)
If, however, you are interested in generating a theory of how the mechanism of stress management unfolds or operates, you better go with grounded theory.
Best of luck.
My PhD research is a grounded theory study on the way stress is constructed within a particular workforce subject to high health and safety risk. IPA vs Constructivist Grounded Theory was one of the choices I thought about (along with discourse analysis). I went with the grounded theory methodology because of the fit between that methodology and my interest in stress and coping as a process and the nature of the participant group (mostly older men whose core capability is hand-eye coordination). I'll be interested in hearing what you decide to do. Good luck.
I do agree the view of an opportunity for an exploration of your topic by means of IPA. Here, Hetherington’s study/methodological consideration may be helpful, namely: …..the study uses interpretative phenomenological analysis to gain insight into the experience of occupational stress amongst a sample of signed language interpreters in the North West of England. The findings suggest two significant causes of occupational stress for signed language interpreters…..Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.....is to gain an understanding of psychological processes/individual perception/experience in relation to occupational stress….(see: Hetherington, 2011, pp. 9, 138 and 141).
- Hetherington, A. (2011) A Magical Profession? Causes and Management of Occupational Stress in the Signed Language Interpreting Profession, in Leeson, L., Wurm, S. and Vermeerbergen, M. (eds.) Signed Language Interpreting: Preparation, Practice and Performance. Manchester, UK: St. Jerome Publishing, pp. 8-9, 138-159.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Psychology
- Organizational Psychology