Interpretative phenomenological analysis for LIS research
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-09-2013-0118 |
| Published date | 09 March 2015 |
| Pages | 338-357 |
| Date | 09 March 2015 |
| Author | Amy VanScoy,Solveig Beyza Evenstad |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science,Records management & preservation,Document management |
Interpretative phenomenological
analysis for LIS research
Amy VanScoy
Department of Library & Information Studies, University at Buffalo, Buffalo,
New York, USA, and
Solveig Beyza Evenstad
Department of Information and Communication Sciences,
University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, Nice, France
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview and evaluation of interpretative
phenomenological analysis (IPA) for the library and information science (LIS) community, as this
method has only recently been used for exploring experiences of various phenomena related to LIS.
Design/methodology/approach –IPA is discussed within the phenomenological tradition. Two
examples of recent IPA studies are examined in parallel to show application of the IPA method. Issues
and challenges of applying IPA to LIS research questions are discussed.
Findings –IPA is an alternative phenomenological method, adding to the repertoire of qualitative
methods used for LIS research. It was an effective method for exploring experience among information
professionals: it was equally suitable for studying reference and information service work for academic
library professionals and burnout experience for information and communication technology workers.
Originality/value –Only a few LIS studies have used IPA and no discussion or evaluation of the
method has been published for this field. This paper provides a discussion of the method for LIS
researchers interested in this emerging phenomenological method.
Keywords Qualitative research, Research methods, Interpretative phenomenological analysis,
Research methodology, IPA, Interpretive phenomenological analysis
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
This paper offers a discussion of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) in the
context of library and information science (LIS) research and provides an in-depth
discussion of issues in applying the method by means of two recent examples of IPA
research. Since most of the IPA research to date is in health psychology, it can be a
challengeto envision the usefulnessof the method for LIS and how itcan be implemented.
The detaileddiscussion of the application of themethod to explore various experiencesof
LIS professionals can serve as a model for future LIS researchers.
IPA originated with a paper by Jonathan Smith (1996) from Birkbeck University
of London. Developed as a way to provide an in-depth, experiential perspective to
quantitative experimental psychological studies, IPA has subsequently received
greatest attention from psychology and health psychology researchers in the UK. IPA
is a growing method with more studies being published every year (Smith, 2011, p. 12).
The UK is still the hub of activity for the method, being the home of the annual
conference and monthly workshops, as well as the major web site (www.ipa.bbk.ac.uk).
However, the method is spreading from its origins in the UK to researchers in other
countries (Smith, 2011, p. 12).
In addition to its geographic spread, the method is increasingly being used in fields
outside psychology and health psychology. Smith (2011) provided some evidence of the
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 71 No. 2, 2015
pp. 338-357
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/JD-09-2013-0118
Received 12 September 2013
Revised 12 March 2014
Accepted 5 April 2014
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0022-0418.htm
338
JDOC
71,2
spread of IPA to other fields (p. 13) although his study is limited by his use of only
Web of Science, Medline and PsycInfo as sources of data. His study does provide
evidence of the growing use of the method and expansion into new disciplines.
He stated “one challenge for the IPA community is to get high-quality papers accepted
in non-psychology journals so that the examples of work are available to a wider
audience”(p. 23).
The aim of this paper is provide an overview and introduction to IPA method for the
LIS community. LIS community as a term used in this paper covers a broad range of
professionals who provide data, documents, information, and knowledge, as well as the
underlying technologies, products and services to their “customers,”that is information
seekers and users. We will refer to them as LIS professionals and/or users.
Traditional research problems that concern LIS community have been studied by
using a broad repertoire of quantitative and qualitative methods. However when the
focus of the research is to study the human experience of various phenomena, IPA
method emerges as an excellent method for studying experiences in LIS community.
This paper provides models for IPA’s application to LIS research problems and an
in-depth discussion of various issues in its application in LIS. To achieve these aims,
IPA is first discussed within the context of the phenomenological tradition in LIS. Next,
The authors’IPA studies are described in depth and used as a vehicle for discussion
of issues in applying the method for LIS research.
The phenomenological approach
A brief introduction to phenomenology is provided to give a context and philosophical
background for IPA. The word “phenomenology”comes from Greek: phainómenon
“that which appears”; and lógos “study.”Thus phenomenology is the philosophical
study of the structures of experience and consciousness. As a philosophical movement,
it was founded by Edmund Husserl in 1936 (Husserl, 1970). Phenomenology takes the
intuitive experience of phenomena as the starting point and tries to extract from it the
essential features of experiences and the essence of what we experience. This “insider
perspective”is characteristic of the methodology of phenomenology. Phenomenology
has been conceptualized as a philosophy, a research method and an overall perspective
for qualitative research.
Phenomenological approaches are based in a paradigm of personal knowledge
and subjectivity, and emphasize the personal perspective and interpretation. As such
they are strong methods for understanding subjective experience, gaining insights into
people’s“life world”or lived experience. Further, presuppositions are suspended in
favor of the descriptions given by the individual. Phenomenology emphasizes also
intentionality of consciousness and reality is not divided into subjects and objects.
The reality of an object is only perceived within the meaning of the experience of an
individual. Moustakas (1994) expresses this as:
[…] to determine what an experience means for the persons who have had the experience and
are able to provide a comprehensive description of it. From the individual descriptions,
general or universal meanings are derived, in other words the essences of structures of the
experience (p. 13).
Within the phenomenological tradition there are two variants: “descriptive”and
“interpretive”or hermeneutic phenomenology. Pure phenomenological research aims to
describe rather than explain, and to start from a perspective free from hypotheses or
preconceptions (Husserl, 1970). Heidegger, Gadamer, and Ricoeur are the foremost
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LIS research
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