Brief Encounters with Qualitative Methods in Health Research: Phenomenology and Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Developed from a strong philosophical tradition, phenomenological research puts human experience at the heart of the research process. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, in particular, is a methodological stance that embraces the lived and subjective views of those who experience a given phenomenon. This flexible and descriptive approach provides researchers with an opportunity to depict and situate lived experience in rich contextual detail, while also accounting for the meaning-making of participants. Given the importance of patient/client voice, and a personalised view of health, phenomenological methods such as IPA can contribute extensively to health research by providing rich contextual accounts of experience which shed light on the essences of important phenomena.