Data Analysis

IPA has a distinct methodology which applies to all stages of a research project. Similar to other qualitative methodologies used in psychology, the essence of an IPA study lies in its

analytical focus. In IPA’s case, that focus directs our analysis towards the participants’

attempts to make sense of their own experiences. Typically, analysis has been described as an iterative and inductive cycle, which proceeds by drawing upon the strategies outlined below (Smith, J. A. et al., 2009).

It should be noted that the steps outlined below are a guide for conducting IPA analysis only, and depending on the research, may not be appropriate to go through them in a linear fashion. The majority of the steps outlined below were conducted by hand, while there are a range of statistical software packages available for use within qualitative research, these are not well suited to IPA, with the use of a hard copy of the transcript seen as the best way of conducting analysis (Smith, J. A. et al., 2009). The reason for this is the steps outlined below are not easily managed within a statistical software as analysis moves from the initial transcripts, to a table of themes separate from the transcripts themselves, and finally on to a table of super-ordinate themes for the data set as a whole. Therefore it is much easier to manage the data set using a word processor. A sample of the analytical process for Lucy can be seen in Appendices I to K. All of the interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim using Microsoft Word, as is recommended for IPA research the transcript was placed in a table with three columns, the left hand column contained space for the initial notes, the middle column contained the verbatim transcript, and the third

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column contained space for the emergent themes. How this research project was conducted in line with the steps outlined by J. A. Smith et al (2009) is discussed below.

4.6.1 Reading and Re-reading

The first step in IPA analysis involves immersing yourself in the data (Smith, J. A. et al, 2009), which is achieved by reading the transcript several times to become familiar with its content. As is recommended, on the first reading the researcher listened along to the recording of the interview, this allowed attention to be paid to pauses, and tone of voice which are not evident in transcripts.

4.6.2 Initial Noting

The first level of analysis is the most time consuming and detailed as it entails examining semantic content and language use on a very exploratory level. According to J. A. Smith et al (2009) the key at this stage is to maintain an open mind and note anything interesting about the transcript. J. A. Smith et al (2009) describe three ways in which initial noting can be conducted: descriptive comments, focussing on describing the content of what the participant has said; linguistic comments, focussing on exploring the specific use of language by the participant; and conceptual comments, focussing on engaging at a more integrated and conceptual level. It is important when doing the first and most detailed level of analysis to combine these different notes in the one transcript, as the connections

between them are critical at attempting to immerse oneself in the participants’ life world.

This stage of analysis was conducted in conjunction with the reading and re-reading stage. Each transcript was taken in turn with descriptive, linguistic, and conceptual comments noted on the left hand column of the transcript. Through the use of bracketing, each transcript from the first interviews were analysed in isolation with notes from previous transcripts playing no part in the analysis of subsequent ones. As with the previous stage

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of analysis each of the transcripts from the first interviews was analysed before moving onto the transcripts from the second interviews.

4.6.3 Developing Emergent Themes

According to J. A. Smith et al (2009), following the first two steps means that the researcher will have a vast amount of exploratory notes at their disposal. The next step in the analysis process involves moving away from the transcripts, and using this larger data set to form emergent themes. The themes which emerge from the initial data set should be true to the original transcripts as they will contain an amount of descriptive comments as well as more interpretative comments. This is in keeping with the constructivist paradigm as this dialectical interchange between the researcher and the participants means that the emergent themes are a collaboration, as the researcher tries to make sense of the participants making sense of their experience (Smith, J. A. et al, 2009; Gubba and Lincoln, 1994).

Like the previous stages, the development of emergent themes was approached in a fairly systematic way, by going through each of the 15 transcripts in its own right and arranging the initial notes into groups. These groups contained items that both complimented and contradicted one another. For example if a participant discussed their partner as being open and communicative about cancer, whereas later on they described them avoiding

talking about cancer, these could both be grouped under a theme called ‘support from partner’. The name of each emergent theme was based solely on the content of the notes

which contributed to it. Therefore, although the transcripts were not strictly used in the development of emergent themes, by keeping themes as closely related to the content of the notes that made them, this ensured that the participant still had a voice in theme development. Once emergent themes had been developed for all of the transcripts, a table was created for each one that included all of the emergent themes for that particular

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transcript. It is important to note here that both transcripts for each participant were treated separately at this stage, so for example Rachel would have two tables of emergent themes, one for each interview. The names of themes were discussed with the supervision team and were refined on a number of occasions before agreeing on the final names presented within this thesis.

4.6.4 Searching for Connections across Emergent Themes

The next stage of analysis involves taking the chronological list of emergent themes and grouping them together to form super-ordinate themes. J. A. Smith et al (2009) describe two main methods of searching for themes. The first method involves entering the chronological list of themes on a word processor and moving items around and fitting them together. The second method involves printing out the tables and cutting each item up, putting them on the floor, or a table, and physically moving each item around so that they form piles of similar emergent themes. The latter approach was adopted for this particular research. When sorting the items into piles, J. A. Smith et al (2009) outline a number of different methods for doing so, however only those which were used in this analysis shall be discussed. The first method used was abstraction which involves identifying patterns between similar, emergent themes that can be grouped together under a new super-ordinate theme. For example, ‘fear of recurrence’, ‘fear of the impact of cancer’ and ‘fear associated with an uncertain future’ were grouped together as a new super-ordinate theme

called ‘cancer related fears’.

Another method utilised is called subsumption, which is when an emergent theme itself becomes a super-ordinate theme, as a series of related themes are subsumed into the larger super-ordinate theme. For example the themes ‘adjusting to cancer’, ‘taking control’,

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information seeking’, and ‘religious coping’, were all subsumed into the theme ‘adjusting

to cancer’ to create the super-ordinate theme of the same name’1

. Bracketing was also utilized in this stage of the analysis, while there was a lot of overlap in things that participants discussed, there were super-ordinate themes that emerged in one or two transcripts, as well as others which appeared in all of them. Once the emergent themes had been grouped into super-ordinate themes, a table was created for each participant. This table detailed each super-ordinate theme, and any of their sub-themes which emerged in that participants interview, along with a relevant extract from the transcript (See Appendix K).

4.6.5 Moving to the Next Case

Most studies will have more than one participant, therefore the next step is simply to move to the next transcript and repeat the steps outlined above. One of the key concepts of IPA analysis as discussed above is bracketing, setting aside preconceptions about the data from previous experience or previous transcripts within the dataset itself. However, there is an important skill in IPA in allowing new themes to emerge with each case, the rigour of systematically following the above steps should mean there is scope for this to happen (Smith, J. A. et al, 2009). A conscious effort was made in the research to not allow experience of previous transcripts to effect the analysis of subsequent ones. As such there are a number of sub-themes presented in the analysis chapters that emerged from only a few of the transcripts as well as ones which were more consistently discussed.

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4.6.6 Looking for patterns across cases

The next stage of the analysis process involves looking for patterns across cases, and usually involves laying all of the tables out on a large surface and looking over them. While doing this, attention should be paid to the connections across cases, how themes in one case illuminate a different case, and which themes are most compelling. There are multiple ways in which the final result can be presented but more often than not it is presented in the form of a table of themes for the group, showing how themes are nested with super-ordinate themes and illustrating the theme for each participant (Smith, J. A. et al, 2009). Once this process was completed eight super-ordinate themes had emerged, with 29 sub-themes. After the initial round of analysis, and discussion with the supervision team, a number of changes were made to the names of the super-ordinate themes, the emergent themes and how they were grouped together. This process was repeated a number of times before the final grouping of themes that best reflected the experience of the participants were decided. This resulted in a final set of four super-ordinate themes entitled – cancer related fears, future disorientation, consequences of living with and beyond cancer; and coping with life after treatment. These four super-ordinate themes contained 20 sub-themes. The final master table of super-ordinate themes can be seen in Appendix L.

4.6.7 Comparing data from time 1 and time 2

IPA has rarely been utilised in longitudinal studies, (see Chapter 2 for more details), therefore there is no set way to compare the data for participants from Time 1 to Time 2. However, IPA is seen by its founders to be a creative process and therefore there is no reason why it cannot be used to analyse interview data from different time points. In fact J. A. Smith et al (2009 pp 52), discuss that using multiple interviews from the same participants is one possible application of IPA. In order to address the research objectives

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it was felt the best way to conduct this stage of analysis was to repeat the steps outlined above for the second set of interviews. The ultimate goal of this process was then to create a second table of super-ordinate themes for the participants. Analysis of all fifteen transcripts was conducted at the same time, with all eight of the first interviews fully analysed before moving onto the second interviews.