Conduct and report a small-scale qualitative piece of research. select a health psychology related research topic e.g. eating disorders, mental health, and women’s health, cancer. Then select a research question and use Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as form of analysis.
Data should be gathered using one of the research methods such as interviews or focus group and analysed using IPA qualitative analysis.
Give a brief introduction to the report introducing the topic and briefly consider why a qualitative approach is preferred. You must also briefly outline the aims of the analysis. Provide a clear, open research question and make reference to the journal where the work could be submitted (avoid ‘quantitative’ terminology) Include a relevant reference for IPA (e.g. Jonathan Smith)
Description of the approach and analytic process (400-450 words)
Provide a concise description of the chosen method of data collection and justify its suitability in relation to the research topic. Give some background to the method of analysis (IPA) and include an appropriate reference(s). Here you should refer to the research topic and refer to the research question and/or aims.
Ensure to consider the process of analysis. How was data collected and prepared for analysis? Ethical issues? What were the analytical steps? The aim here is for the reader to be able to replicate data collection and analysis. Transcripts/ data must be appended in the appendices.
Analysis (up to 1500 words)