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20 a USING INTERPRETATIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL ANALYSIS Phenomenology is a science of studying experience which was one of the most determinative philosophical movements of the 20" century. Edmund Husserl developed it, and it is concerned what the experience of being human is like in all its various aspects. In other words, it tries to identify the essential components of the experience which make it unique and distinguishable from others. Phenomenological philosophy provides a rich source of ideas to psychologist how to examine a comprehend experience. Thus, phenomenological studies focus on how people perceive and talk about events and objects and try not to describe them by predetermined categories and scientific standards. The phenomenological inquiry also applies “bracketing” the own preconceptions, and attempt to understand what it is like to “stand in the shoes” of the subject (Pietkiewicz & Smith, 2014; Smith et al., 2009). There are many different emphasis and interests amongst phenomenologists (Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Sartre), but to provide a detailed overview of these contributions is not the aim of the present book. The second principal theoretical root of IPA comes from hermeneutics which is a theory of interpretation. It is developed as a philosophical underpinning for the interpretation of a wide range of texts, such as historical documents. According to Gadamer (1975), some experiences are not able to be reached by standardized methods. The concept of the “hermeneutic cycle” was improved by him, which means that the meaning of the whole text could be reached through its parts, and the meaning of the part could be understood through the whole text in which it is embedded. Thus, the process of interpretation is defined as a circular motion, new information could give new understanding to previous knowledge. The most critical hermeneutic theorists are Schleiermacher, Heidegger, and Gadamer. Hermeneutics offers an essential theoretical insight for IPA that is concerned with how the experience appears and makes the analyst to be committed to making sense of this appearance (Eatough & Smith, 2008; Pietkiewicz & Smith, 2014; Smith et al., 2009; Smith & Osborn, 2007). Since IPA is based on ideas from phenomenology and hermeneutics, this is a descriptive method that tries to uncover how things appear and it is letting things speak for themselves and also interpretative because it is aware that there is no such thing as an uninterpreted phenomenon (Pietkiewicz & Smith, 2014). The third significant influence upon IPA is idiography that is concerned with the particular. It is in contrast to the mainstream inquiry of psychology which is working with “nomothetic” approach (Smith et al., 2009). Idiography means an in-depth analysis of single cases and examines experiences in their unique contexts (Pietkiewicz & Smith, 2014). IPAs commitment to idiography operates at two levels. First, there is a commitment to the particular in the sense of detail and the depth of the analysis. Second, IPA is committed to
