This paper suggests that Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) is a valuable research method for coaching research. The paper positions coaching as a social activity and highlights its subjective and contextual nature. It aims to establish clear guidance by drawing on both the author's recent research experience and others' scholarly work. The author encourages scholars with a similar interest (phenomenology, hermeneutics, ideography) to explore IPA as a potential methodology for coaching research. The clearly laid out guidance here on how to conduct an IPA study will be attractive to the wider qualitative research community. The paper contributes to coaching research by promoting IPA as a methodology that helps to develop subjective understanding within the field.
Practice Points1. To which field of practice area(s) in coaching is your contribution directly relevant?The outlined methodology helps to explore the practice of coaching qualitatively across all fields and will be particularly useful for those who consider the analysis of sense-making of experience as a valid way of knowing.
What do you see as the primary contribution that your submission makes to coaching practice?The paper will improve practitioner understanding about the contextual and subjective nature of coaching practice. The set guidelines within the paper encourage more qualitative research within the field which enhances the current evidence base for practitioners.
What are its tangible implications for practitioners?The encouraged subjective understanding throughout this paper helps coaches to acknowledge the subjective nature of coaching and facilitates them to better understand their coachees in practice.
PurposeEntrepreneurship is a complex social activity. Hence, knowledge production in the field requires inclusivity and diversity within research approaches and perspectives to appreciate the richness of the phenomenon. However, the dominance of positivist research in the field is visible, and the current qualitative research is also predominantly restricted to popular templates. This seems to have limited the understanding of entrepreneurship. This paper critically discusses the appropriateness of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as an innovative qualitative research methodology that facilitates a fuller appreciation of the richness and diversity of entrepreneurship.Design/methodology/approachThis conceptual paper critically evaluates IPA's relevance for the stated purpose by reviewing both entrepreneurship and IPA literature. It discusses how IPA's philosophical underpinnings facilitate scholars to appreciate the wholeness of the phenomenon and provides literature informed data analysis guidance, thereby addressing some of the weaknesses of the qualitative research within the field.FindingsCritical evaluation of the literature suggests that IPA is an appropriate research methodology for entrepreneurship. It has the potential to address some interesting and timely questions to elaborate, deepen and qualify existing theory or to study relatively unexplored areas within the field. The laid-out guidance helps scholars to develop informed rationale for their research decisions and to ensure quality and rigour in qualitative research.Originality/valueThis paper promotes the analysis of how people make sense of their experience as a valid way of knowing. IPA has a unique identity as it incorporates phenomenology, hermeneutics and idiography as a way to explore first-hand human experience to uncover qualitative understanding of entrepreneurship. The clear guidance and justifications in the paper promote scholarly confidence and address some preconceptions related to rigour, quality and validity of qualitative studies. Incorporating IPA into entrepreneurship, the paper also contributes to the demand for diversity, inclusivity and pluralism in qualitative research perspectives and approaches.
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