Exploring tensions of using interpretative phenomenological analysis in a domain with conflicting cultural practices

ABSTRACT

The philosophical foundations of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA)—phenomenology, hermeneutics, and idiography—guide its practice and use. However, this foundation is often at odds with cultural practices of disciplines that value post-positivist perspectives emphasizing that reality can be objectively known. The conflict between the philosophical underpinnings of the methodology and the cultural practices of particular disciplines can serve to limit the use and acceptance of IPA. This article highlights ways researchers can use IPA even when the underlying tenets of that methodological approach may be in conflict with disciplinary norms. As such, we have set out to explore the tensions that accompany the choice to use IPA in the context of engineering education research within the United States. As a group of engineering education researchers, we drew upon collaborative inquiry to systematically examine our use of IPA. Our exploration of using IPA, as connected to everyday practice in a discipline that takes a postpositivist stance toward knowledge generation, provides examples for the use of IPA in tension with these disciplinary norms.     

Body-scaled affordances in sensory substitution

The research field on sensory substitution devices has strong implications for theoretical work on perceptual consciousness. One of these implications concerns the extent to which the devices allow distal attribution. The present study applies a classic empirical approach on the perception of affordances to the field of sensory substitution. The reported experiment considers the perception of the stair-climbing affordance. Participants judged the climbability of steps apprehended through a vibrotactile sensory substitution device. If measured with standard metric units, climbability judgments of tall and short participants differed, but if measured in units of leg length, judgments did not differ. These results are similar to paradigmatic results in regular visual perception. We conclude that our sensory substitution device allows the perception of affordances. More generally, we argue that the theory of affordances may enrich theoretical debates concerning sensory substitution to a larger extent than has hitherto been the case.     

A trainee psychotherapist’s heuristic exploration of losing a mother to suicide

ABSTRACT

Suicide bereavement is a newly developing field of research in the UK, yet over 6,600 people take their own lives here every year. This heuristic inquiry aims to explore the lived experiences of trainee psychotherapists bereaved by maternal suicide. It examines the lived experiences of the researcher and two participants, with data collected through interviews, dreams and journalling. The findings revealed five themes: 1) It’s not just about the suicide, 2) The pain continues – attachment, abandonment and fear, 3) Left with all the unprocessed feelings – “the shit”, 4) Trigger after trigger – complicated experiences of psychotherapy training, 5) A catastrophic loss that no one “gets”. Implications for the counselling and psychotherapy profession are discussed.