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Qualitative Study Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Analysis

Chapter : Methodology

The research question guiding this study is: How do individuals living in rural Africa use informal institutions to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic? A qualitative research approach using an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) research design will by employed. Using IPA, the researcher will explore the lived experience of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic through the use of informal institutions among individual living in rural Africa. This chapter begins with a description of the research paradigm, approach, and tradition. Next, the participant recruitment procedures and data collection methods will be described, followed by the data analysis plan and strategies to enhance trustworthiness.

Research Paradigm

Creswell and Creswell (2018) define a paradigm as a basic set of interrelated assumptions that guide a researchers inquiries. A paradigm is also a representation and reflection of the beliefs and values of the researcher regarding the world (Kamal, 2019). This implies that a paradigm is a philosophical way of thinking that shapes how researchers conduct their inquiries (Kivunja & Kuyini, 2017). Therefore, the research paradigm influences the way researchers think about issues and how they frame their research topics. The research paradigm is an essential part of the determination of a research issue and its exploration as it shapes the researchers world.

The proposed study will follow the constructivist-interpretivist research paradigm based on the idea that reality is developed and subjective to each person (Ponterotto, 2005). The researcher believes that every individual creates their own reality instead of the existence of a single objective reality. The creation and subjectivity of reality based on each individual is critical as it shapes the lived experience of people concerning a particular phenomenon. Because this study seeks to explore individuals' lived experiences coping with COVID-19, the researcher needs to understand reality as it is constructed by the participants. A constructivist-interpretivist paradigm provides a suitable framework for the researcher to examine and understand the individual realities of the study participants. Additionally, the constructivist-interpretivist paradigm is appropriate for the proposed research because individuals create adaptable and multiple subjective meanings of their lived experiences (Ponterotto, 2005).

The adoption of a constructivist-interpretivist paradigm implies that the research embraces a hermeneutical approach, which involves reappraisal and reinterpretation concerning cultural contexts (McCaffrey et al., 2012). This approach incorporates various factors such as intuition, subjectivity, creativity, and corporeality in theoretical reflection. The use of a hermeneutical approach as part of the research paradigm provides a framework for the interpretative and reciprocal procedure of understanding the experiences of each individual. Based on this approach, the researcher will engage with the participants to explore, interpret, and understand their lived experiences through dialogue using semi-structured interviews. Semi-structured interviews will be used as the means to elicit in-depth descriptions regarding personal experiences on the issue and highlight emerging patterns across these individual cases. The researcher will then reflect upon insights obtained from the participants as part of his interpretive role in understanding their lived experiences.

Research Approach

A qualitative research approach will be used in the proposed study as the researcher seeks to explore and understand the lived experience of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic using informal institutions at the individual level. This approach is deemed suitable for the study as it will enable the researcher to make sense of and ascribe meaning to the lived experiences of individuals living in rural Africa in their fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Creswell and Creswell (2018), qualitative research approaches are appropriate for studies that are exploratory, descriptive, or explanatory. Using a qualitative research approach, the researcher explores the phenomenon in a manner that enhances the understanding of relationships, individual experiences, and variations in observations (Creswell

Chapter : Methodology

The research question guiding this study is: How do individuals living in rural Africa use informal institutions to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic? A qualitative research approach using an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) research design will by employed. Using IPA, the researcher will explore the lived experience of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic through the use of informal institutions among individual living in rural Africa. This chapter begins with a description of the research paradigm, approach, and tradition. Next, the participant recruitment procedures and data collection methods will be described, followed by the data analysis plan and strategies to enhance trustworthiness.

Research Paradigm

Creswell and Creswell (2018) define a paradigm as a basic set of interrelated assumptions that guide a researchers inquiries. A paradigm is also a representation and reflection of the beliefs and values of the researcher regarding the world (Kamal, 2019). This iplies that a paradigm is a philosophical way of thinking that shapes how researchers conduct their inquiries (Kivunja & Kuyini, 2017). Therefore, the research paradigm influences the way researchers think about issues and how they frame their research topics. The research paradigm is an essential part of the determination of a research issue and its exploration as it shapes the researchers world.

The proposed study will follow the constructivist-interpretivist research paradigm based on the idea that reality is developed and subjective to each person (Ponterotto, 2005). The researcher believes that every individual creates their own reality instead of the existence of a single objective reality. The creation and subjectivity of reality based on each individual is critical as it shapes the lived experience of people concerning a particular phenomenon. Because this study seeks to explore individuals' lived experiences coping with COVID-19, the researcher needs to understand reality as it is constructed by the participants. A constructivist-interpretivist paradigm provides…

Chapter : Methodology

The research question guiding this study is: How do individuals living in rural Africa use informal institutions to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic? A qualitative research approach using an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) research design will by employed. Using IPA, the researcher will explore the lived experience of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic through the use of informal institutions among individual living in rural Africa. This chapter begins with a description of the research paradigm, approach, and tradition. Next, the participant recruitment procedures and data collection methods will be described, followed by the data analysis plan and strategies to enhance trustworthiness.

Research Paradigm

Creswell and Creswell (2018) define a paradigm as a basic set of interrelated assumptions that guide a researchers inquiries. A paradigm is also a representation and reflection of the beliefs and values of the researcher regarding the world (Kamal, 2019). This implies that a paradigm is a philosophical way of thinking that shapes how researchers conduct their inquiries (Kivunja & Kuyini, 2017). Therefore, the research paradigm influences the way researchers think about issues and how they frame their research topics. The research paradigm is an essential part of the determination of a research issue and its exploration as it shapes the researchers world.

The proposed study will follow the constructivist-interpretivist research paradigm based on the idea that reality is developed and subjective to each person (Ponterotto, 2005). The researcher believes that every individual creates their own reality instead of the existence of a single objective reality. The creation and subjectivity of reality based on each individual is critical as it shapes the lived experience of people concerning a particular phenomenon. Because this study seeks to explore individuals' lived experiences coping with COVID-19, the researcher needs to understand reality as it is constructed by the participants. A constructivist-interpretivist paradigm provides a suitable framework for the researcher to examine and understand the individual realities of the study participants. Additionally, the constructivist-interpretivist paradigm is appropriate for the proposed research because individuals create adaptable and multiple subjective meanings of their lived experiences (Ponterotto, 2005).

The adoption of a constructivist-interpretivist paradigm implies that the research embraces a hermeneutical approach, which involves reappraisal and reinterpretation concerning cultural contexts (McCaffrey et al., 2012). This approach incorporates various factors such as intuition, subjectivity, creativity, and corporeality in theoretical reflection. The use of a hermeneutical approach as part of the research paradigm provides a framework for the interpretative and reciprocal procedure of understanding the experiences of each individual. Based on this approach, the researcher will engage with the participants to explore, interpret, and understand their lived experiences through dialogue .......depth descriptions regarding personal experiences on the issue and highlight emerging patterns across these individual cases. The researcher will then reflect upon insights obtained from the participants as part of his interpretive role in understanding their lived experiences.

Research Approach

A qualitative research approach will be used in the proposed study as the researcher seeks to explore and understand the lived experience of coping with the COVID-19 pandemic using informal institutions at the individual level. This approach is deemed suitable for the study as it will enable the researcher to make sense of and ascribe meaning to the lived experiences of individuals living in rural Africa in their fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Creswell and Creswell (2018), qualitative research approaches are appropriate for studies that are exploratory, descriptive, or explanatory. Using a qualitative research approach, the researcher explores the phenomenon in a manner that enhances the understanding of relationships, individual experiences, and variations in observations (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). As a flexible, emergent research design, the qualitative approach will enable the researcher to develop a detailed description of the phenomenon under investigation.

Research Tradition

IPA is an approach to qualitative inquiry that was recently developed from the field of psychology (Smith et al., 2009). It focuses on evaluating how individuals make sense of their major life experiences (Smith et al., 2009, p.1). The development of this approach to qualitative inquiry was influenced by the need to bridge discourse analysis and social cognition, which are two conflicting perspectives of social psychologys core methods of inquiry (Smith, 1996). IPA emerged as an approach that unifies these conflicting perspectives and provides a more in-depth way for researchers to explore and interpret human experiences (Smith, 1996).

Larkin and colleagues (2011) contend that IPA seeks to understand how people ascribe meanings to relationships, processes, and events according to their specific life worlds. Regardless of the phenomenon under investigation, the objective of embracing IPA is a study is to explore and understand what the individual experiences in his/her context. Therefore, lived experience is one of the components of IPA and is designed to encapsulate the interpreted and meaningfully lived aspect of life in our respective contexts. Since the focus of IPA is the lived experience, the researcher approaches the phenomenon under investigation from the participants perspective. Consequently, the researcher collects detailed and rich data from a small sample to adequately situate, describe, and interpret it. IPAs stated interest is cognition through which it has positioned itself as a distinctive and experiential approach to qualitative inquiry, especially in the field of psychology (Smith et al., 2017). For the proposed study, exploring the lived experiences of individuals living in rural Africa will provide insights into their beliefs, feelings, and responses to the COVID-19 pandemic through the use of informal institutions.

Theoretical Underpinnings

IPA has theoretical roots in idiography, phenomenology, and hermeneutics (Smith, 2011). The IPA approach is significantly shaped by the interection of these influences and provides a more in-depth framework for studying the human experience. This section includes an overview of the theoretical underpinnings of IPA: phenomenology, hermeneutics, and idiography.

Phenomenology

Phenomenology is one of the theoretical underpinnings of IPA that has become the dominant means in the pursuit of knowledge development in various fields of research, including health-related disciplines (Dowling, 2007). Smith (2011) defines phenomenology as the philosophical movement that focuses on lived experience. Therefore, it is concerned with carrying out an in-depth evaluation of specific human experiences depending on the phenomenon under investigation. Phenomenology is based on the assumption that reality is individual and subjective as opposed to being objective and rational. Accordingly, phenomenology aligns with the constructivist-interpretivist research paradigm as it supports the idea that people create flexible and different subjective meanings of their lived experiences, as stated by Ponterotto (2005). Phenomenology has evolved to enhance exploration and understanding of the individual human experience through the contributions of various philosophers (i.e., Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Jean Paul Satre).

Husserl initiated the concept of phenomenology as a philosophy and research technique in his quest to understand the human experience and consciousness. Husserl was inspired by Frank Brentano, who utilized the phrase descriptive psychology or descriptive phenomenology (Dowling, 2007). Husserl borrowed from Brentano to study the specifics in attempt to understand the core of the human experience. Consequently, he developed a phenomenological reduction, which seeks to explore or understand something without interpretation or imposing judgment. Heidegger influenced the evolution of phenomenology by proposing an alternative view that emphasizes the critical role of interpretation in understanding the human experience (Smith et al., 2009). Merleau-Ponty expanded upon the ideas of Husserl and Heidegger by emphasizing the crucial role of the physical self in communicating with the world and its impact on perceptions (Dowling, 2007). Satre expanded Heideggers approach but deviated from Husserl by introducing the presence or lack of relationships with others.

Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics is a theory of interpretation and was initiated by Heidegger as an alternative view of phenomenology to Husserls philosophy (Dowling, 2007). IPA engages in a double hermeneutic because the researcher tries to make sense of the individual trying to make sense of his/her life experiences (Smith, 2011). Heidegger introduced the concept of the hermeneutic circle based on the idea that understanding is a reciprocal activity. In essence, based on this concept, an individual is between preunderstanding and u

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References

Creswell, J.W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Dowling, M. (2007). From Husserl to van Manen. A Review of Different Phenomenological Approaches. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 44, 131-142.

Kamal, S.S.L.B.A. (2019, January). Research Paradigm and the Philosophical Foundations of a Qualitative Study. International Journal of Social Sciences, 4(3), 1386-1394.

Kivunja, C. & Kuyini, A.B. (2017, September 5). Understanding and Applying Research Paradigms in Educational Contexts. International Journal of Higher Education, 6(5), 26-41.

Larkin, M., Eatough, V. & Osborn, M. (2011). Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and Embodied, Active, Situated Cognition. Theory & Psychology, 21(3), 318-337.

McCaffrey, G., Raffin-Bouchal, S. & Moules, N.J. (2012, July 1). Hermeneutics as Research Approach: A Reappraisal. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 11(3), 214-229.

Ponterotto, J.G. (2005). Qualitative Research in Counseling Psychology: A Primer on Research Paradigms and Philosophy of Science. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 126-136.

Smith, J. A. (1996). Beyond the divide between cognition and discourse: Using interpretative phenomenological analysis in health psychology. Psychology and Health, 11, 261-271.

Smith, J.A. (2011). Evaluating the Contribution of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Health Psychology Review, 5(1), 9-27.

Smith, J. A., Flowers, P., & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method and research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Smith, J.A., Spiers, J., Simpson, P. & Nicholls, A.R. (2017). The Psychological Challenges of Living With an Ileostomy: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Health Psychology, 36(2), 143-151.

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