Phenomenological philosophy ‘provides IPA with a rich source of ideas about how to examine and comprehend lived experience’ (Shinebourne, 2011; p17). Husserl, the founder of descriptive phenomenology, recognised that human experience held value and should and could be studied scientifically (Lopez and Willis, 2004). He thus believed that research could scientifically
investigate
…essential components of lived experiences specific to a group of people (Lopez and Willis, 2004; p727).
Smith et al (2009) suggested that like Husserl’s descriptive phenomenology, IPA is underpinned by a systematic and attentive reflection of human
experience. However, Husserl’s phenomenology was more aligned with a positivist paradigm (Wright-St Clair, 2015) and his ideas were further developed by Heidegger and others and interpretative / hermeneutic phenomenology was established (Ashworth, 2015; Howell, 2013; Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009).
Wright-St Clair (2015) suggests that as
Heideggerian phenomenology is a way of uncovering and
interpreting people’s situated experiences in this world, thus it fits within the interpretative paradigm (p54).
Furthermore, she believes that interpretative phenomenology is concerned with understanding and interpreting the existential nature of being (ontology) rather than
…seeking to understand how people come to know things in the world (epistemology) (p55).
Heidegger’s philosophical aim was to understand existence. He identified the concept of Dasein or ‘being there’ / ‘there being’ which relates to the
understanding of being. He espoused that the person and their lifeworld are inseparable and that this should ‘be the focus of phenomenological inquiry’ (Lopez and Willis, 2004; p729). Within this study, I wanted to understand what ‘being’ an OT student with a disability was like from the individual’s unique perspective.
Whilst a separate body of knowledge, hermeneutics, the theory of
interpretation was also recognised in the work of Heidegger (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009). Hermeneutics is concerned with the interpretation of text, in order to understand the individuals thoughts and lived experiences (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009; Wright-St Clair, 2015).
Heidegger suggested that
…a phenomenon is something which is not self-evident; it is taken for granted or concealed in some way (Wright-St Clair, 2015).
Through interpretation the phenomenon becomes illuminated. The exploration of the lived experience of disability whilst studying to become an Occupational Therapist, aimed to illuminate and examine the previously under researched and unknown subject within the context of the UK Higher Education.
Heidegger theorised that description involved interpretation and believed that with experience comes meaning and that meaning can be identified via
hermeneutics or a process of interpretation (Lopez and Willis, 2004). I wanted to uncover the meaning that individuals attributed to their disability and how they interpreted their experiences of being an OT student.
Schleiermacher, a hermeneutic scholar, suggested that through interpretation the analyst, along with their knowledge and experience of the subject is able to offer a different perspective to the text than that of the author (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009). Thus my interpretation of my individual participant’s narratives and the whole data set, would offer a different perspective given my knowledge and experiences.
IPA is a structured hermeneutic phenomenology, which allows rigorous and systematic exploration of subjective experiences (Biggerstaff and Thompson, 2008). It is a dynamic approach in which the researcher plays an active role within the research process (Smith and Osbourne, 2007; Smith, 2009; Clarke, 2009; Cronin-Davis, Butler and Mayers, 2009; Pringle et al 2010). IPA is primarily an interpretative approach which
…aims to capture and explore meanings that participants assign to their experiences (Reid, Flowers and Larkin, 2005; p20).
IPA, following the beliefs of Heidegger,
…is concerned with examining how a phenomenon appears and the analyst is implicated in facilitating and making sense of this appearance (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009; p28).
Thus developing an understanding of an experience within an IPA study is crucially not just about identifying the phenomena but also to
…understand, both in the sense of trying to see what it is like for someone and in the sense of analysing, illuminating and making sense of something (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009; p36).
Thus my intention was to understand what being an OT student with a
disability was like from the participant’s perspective, whilst also analysing the individual’s perspective in the context of my knowledge. This two stage interpretation process, referred to as a ‘double hermeneutic’ by Smith (2009) acknowledges the researcher’s involvement when interpreting the
participant’s personal experiences thus allowing the researcher to access the individual’s ‘inner world’.
In order to maintain integrity in interpretation, I endeavoured to understand the experiences of the individual from within (Cohen et al, 2011) whilst
acknowledging that it is not entirely possible ‘to stand in the shoes of the subject’ (Pietkiewicz & Smith, 2012; p8).
My emphasis was on interpretation, which generated a deeper understanding of the experiences of being an OT student with a disability from the
individual’s perspective through the lens with which I viewed the data (Clarke, 2009) as an Occupational Therapist and an OT educator.
The ability to fully achieve transcendental reduction, as suggested by Husserl, is disputed by phenomenologists such as Heidegger, Sartre, Gadamer and Merleau Ponty. They believed that truly and fully bracketing all knowledge, bias and preconception is impossible given the researcher’s ‘own embodied position in the world’ (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009; p18). Lopez and Willis (2004) also highlighted how knowledge, understanding and interest in a topic are frequently the initiators of research, as was the case here. Smith, Flowers and Larkin (2009) also suggest
…the reader, analyst or listener brings their fore-conceptions (prior experiences, assumptions, pre-conceptions) to the encounter and cannot help but look at any new stimulus in the light of their own prior experiences (p25).
Recognising my ‘fore-conceptions’ and ‘fore-structures’ allowed me to consider the ‘likely consequences of [my] preconceptions and structure of
[my] knowledge’ may have on the research, thus improving the credibility and transparency (Finlay, 2011; Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009). My subjectivity and any preconceptions which may have impeded the research also ‘enabled insight’ which others would potentially not have had (Finlay, 2011). I, therefore embraced my subjectivity and potential biases but engaged actively in
reflection and reflexivity, throughout the research process, as implied in Dasein (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009).
Reflecting on my personal and professional beliefs, I recognised that I am influenced by my culture and history. I am an Occupational Therapist, who believes that everyone is unique and has the right to engage and participate in occupations which hold meaning and value to them. Therefore, I believed that my participants would be unique and that studying OT would be
meaningful to each of them. I accept that engagement in meaningful occupation can positively influence health and wellbeing. I believe that everyone has an equal right to education. My experience of education has changed; I have been actively engaged in the education of OT students for more than 20 years from both a practice educator and lecturer perspective. A positive outcome of the widening participation agenda with HE and anti-
discriminatory legislation is the increased numbers of individuals with
disabilities accessing HE and OT specifically. The greater diversity within the student cohort is welcomed and refreshing but can also pose challenges. During the last 20 years the complexity of the adjustments some students with disabilities require appears to have increased. Whilst it also appears that systems within the university have improved enabling students to access and utilise reasonable adjustments, these adjustments are not always so readily available within the practice setting. As a practice placement coordinator, I have been exposed to potentially discriminatory attitudes towards students with additional support requirements, which would not be expected from a profession whose core skills include activity analysis, grading and adaption.
The work of Heidegger and interpretative or hermeneutic phenomenology proved most influential when considering the aims of this research, given the desire not only to describe the experiences of individuals with additional
support requirements but also to make sense of and interpret the meaning of those experiences. Wilding and Whiteford (2005) also contend that
Heideggerian phenomenology is consistent with OT’s philosophical beliefs about the importance of everyday life and everyday doing (Wilding and Whiteford, 2005; p99).
My intention was to explore the individuals every day experiences of being an OT student with an impairment, considering their academic life and their experience of practice placement.
Smith, Flowers and Larkin (2009) suggest that an underpinning belief of IPA is that
People are physical and psychological entities. They do things in the world, they reflect on what they do and those actions have meaningful, existential consequences (p34).
This too resonates with the underpinning beliefs of OT and OS reflecting the holistic nature of the profession and our beliefs linking participation in
meaningful occupation to doing, being and becoming (Wilcock, 1999; See Section 4.3.1.1).
Merleau-Ponty and Sartre, further added to Heidegger’s perspective on
phenomenology and their beliefs have also influenced the development of IPA specifically but also appear to link directly with the philosophy of OT. Merleau- Ponty believed that:
The lived experience of being a body in the world can never be entirely captured or absorbed, but equally, must not be ignored or overlooked (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009; p19).
His belief that the individual’s cognitive and physical aspects of the body in the world were influential within an experience link well to the holistic beliefs within OT, that the body and mind can not be separated. Sartre believed that
we are always becoming ourselves, and that the self is not a pre- existing unity to be discovered rather an ongoing project to be unfurled (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009; p19).
His suggestion that we become who we are through engagement in ‘projects’, frequently with others, is also reflected in OT philosophy and our beliefs that engagement in occupations (such as studying to become an Occupational Therapist) are linked to the development of one’s identity. This study sought explore if and how studying OT was linked to the development of the
individual’s identity. Typically, within an IPA study, I wanted to explore the embodied, existential factors, thoughts and feelings (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009) which impacted upon my participants as they experienced a new ‘project’ studying to become an Occupational Therapist, being an OT student with a disability.
IPA differs from other hermeneutic approaches, in that, it focuses on the individual and prioritises exploration of the individuals sense making (Maringer and Jensen, 2014). IPA is committed to idiography. Idiography opposes
nomothetics in its approach to knowledge. Nomothetics considers how the behaviour of an individual is
…the outcome of laws that apply to all and the aim of science is to reveal these general laws (Ashworth, 2015; p14).
Idiography focuses upon the particular. IPA is concerned with depth and understanding the detail of particular experiences ‘from the perspectives of particular people in a particular context’ (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009; p29). Thus data analysis is detailed and thorough.
Idiography can also refer to the commitment to the single case in its own right, or to a process which moves from the examination of the single case to more general claims. Thus idiography does not eschew generalisations (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009; p29). The commitment to idiography and the particular was a further reason for undertaking an IPA study, the idiographic element was important to me and my professional beliefs. I believed it was important to recognise the distinct
voice of the individual and to understand their unique experiences and the meaning they ascribed to their lifeworld before considering if there were convergences and divergences across cases. I was committed to the idiographic sensibility as I wanted to understand the experiences of the students with additional support requirements whilst studying OT at one university within the UK.
As an interpretative phenomenologist, I explored the experience of disability as it was reflected upon by my participants, as it emerged and became visible to them initially, as they made sense of their experiences and to me as I interpreted their sense making (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009).
My primary rationale for choosing IPA rather than any other qualitative approach was related to its ‘fit’ with the epistemological position of the research question (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009). IPA was chosen for a number of reasons:
• In congruence with OT, IPA offered a detailed exploration of how the participants make ‘sense of their personal and social world’ through the exploration of the meaning of their experiences’ (Smith and Osbourne, 2007; p55). Using IPA offered the potential to interpret how the
occupation of being an OT student was experienced and how the meanings of participating in the occupation was ascribed by each individual participating in the occupation.
• IPA allowed me to explore the ‘rich, multifaceted, intangible and dynamic phenomena’ (Wilding and Whiteford, 2005; p103), of being a student with a disability, studying OT. I wanted to understand, imagine and interpret ‘insider accounts’ via participants (Smith et al, 2009), which is not a requirement of all qualitative research.
• IPA is idiographic and as such client / person centred and focused on the detailed exploration of each individual’s lived experience of
studying OT before making comparisons with others (Smith, Flowers and Larkin, 2009).
• IPA allowed me as an OT researcher to develop a deeper understanding of each participant individually and the meaning
studying to become an Occupational Therapist held for each of them. The use of IPA facilitated a deep and thorough personal reflection on existing practice, leading to a potentially enhanced service for OT students with disabilities (Clarke, 2009; p37).
• IPA has also recently increased in popularity not just within psychology but within other healthcare disciplines, including OT and education (Clarke, 2009; Finlay, 2011; Smith 2011).