Despite their growing popularity, using qualitative methods as a postgrad student can be lonely. Perhaps you’re the only person using IPA in your department, or your supervisor doesn’t know the difference between classical and constructivist grounded theory.
Whether you’re feeling alone or just want more networks and resources to help you on your qualitative journey, the list of resources below will likely be helpful. Check it out!
Research is much easier with friends to help you out.
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Interpretative phenomenological analysis
• The IPA groups.io forum is a fantastic place to chat with other students and academics using IPA. Sign up here to send and reply to emails from other group members. You can ask questions or help others with the dilemmas facing them. Forum regulars include many of the big names of IPA, including Jonathan Smith, Michael Larkin, Richard de Visser, Elena Gil-Rodriguez (more on her shortly!) and yours truly.
• Dr Elena GR, who I have mentioned above, runs online workshops designed to help IPA students. Her courses can help you with interviewing, analysis and situating your findings within the literature. You can book her workshops via her website, which is also a fab resource for all things IPA.
• Additionally, these are some of the best books and papers you can read to help you on your IPA journey. The original Smith, Flowers, and Larkin Bible has a new edition; check it out here. Smith and Nizza have written a fantastic short book on IPA Essentials. This paper from Smith and colleagues lays out how to produce excellent IPA, and this paper from Farr and Nizza reviews longitudinal IPA.
• Finally, the official IPA website from Birkbeck University, where Jonathan Smith teaches, includes any upcoming IPA events, exemplar papers and regional/international contacts for IPA discussions and networking.
Joining the IPA online forum can be very useful.
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Thematic analysis
• The best place for any TA student to start is with papers from Braun and Clarke, whose seminal 2006 paper on the methodology has, at the time of writing, been cited an incredible 22,3418 times! The pair have written many papers which are also essential reading for TA students since, particularly the paper which defines reflexive TA (RTA).
• Braun and Clarke have also recently written a paper offering useful reporting guidelines for anyone using RTA.
• If you’re struggling to understand the difference between thematic analysis and IPA, check out this paper I wrote with my colleague Ruth Riley in 2019.
Qualitative students have a lot of reading to do!
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Grounded theory
• Whether you’re brand new to Grounded Theory or are mid-way through your project, do yourself a favour and get connected with Grounded Theory Online. Helen Scott and Tom Andrews, both GT experts, run excellent online troubleshooting and coffee morning sessions via the site. You can also book 1-2-1 mentoring sessions via this site. I was mentored by Helen whilst completing a GT study and can highly recommend her help.
• There’s an absolute wealth of writing about GT out there. Which books and papers you look at will largely depend on which of the GT variations you decide to use, but some great starting points are the Discovery of Grounded Theory by Glaser and Strauss, Constructing Grounded Theory by Kathy Charmaz and Doing Grounded Theory by UWE Flick.
Finding the right mentor can be beneficial.
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General resources for qualitative students
• SAGE research methods. This is a huge site that contains examples of worked qualitative methods, including IPA, TA, GT, and discursive psychology, as well as sections on how methods are related and how to plan your project.
• ResearchGate and Academia are social networking sites for academics, where you can upload your papers, search for other people’s papers and message people whose work you admire. LinkedIn is also a handy social media site for connecting with other academics.
• The Qualitative Research in Education Facebook group is an active and friendly community that is well worth signing up for.
Here at PGPR, we offer feedback to students using IPA, TA, GT, and other qualitative methods. Just get in touch using the contact box below if you’d like to book our services.