Giving voice to teachers through interpretative phenomenological research: a methodological consideration

Abstract

PurposeThis conceptual article aims to examine the application of interpretative phenomenology to research on teacher experience. It covers methodological theory and practical interpretative approaches that are pertinent for generating useful insights into an educational issue.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on an illustrative research on secondary teachers' disciplinary and pedagogical reasoning and classroom practices in Ghana, this article explores the author's musings and introspection around carrying out an interpretative phenomenological research and demonstrates how the approach helped to amplify teachers' voices.FindingsThe article demonstrates that the canons of interpretative phenomenology and qualitative research in general, while translatable to practice, need to be regarded as a series of emergent decisions and actions rather than prescriptive set of principles. The article explains that educational researchers must recognise interpretation as the lifeblood of the approach and move beyond the description of essences and explicate participants' experiences of phenomena using workable frames of interpretation.Originality/valueThe article extends the current methodological knowledge base by contributing to international discussions on qualitative research and to an understanding of the applicability of interpretative phenomenological research design to research on teacher reasoning and practice. It also serves as a useful methodological resource for novice researchers.

Educational Technologies as Pedagogical Tools

“…The perceptions of these teachers towards the use of educational technologies for teaching are consistent with the findings of Nikolopoulou (2020), Taghizadeh and Hasani (2020), Monita and Ikhsan (2020), Boadu (2021), who reported positive teacher attitudes toward the use of technology for teaching.…”

Early Years Staff Experiences in a “Culture of Learning” Regarding Inclusion in a Nursery Class in a British School: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

“…All information was transcribed verbatim, and the participants were given the opportunity to review the data from the interview transcripts. They also participated in the coding of said data into themes and subthemes [73], codes, which were categorised into experiential clusters [74]. The initial themes were analysed for association to identify any differences and similarities between them and form clusters for themes.…”

Lecturers' and Students' Perspectives on the Importance of Sustainability Accounting in the Accounting Learning Curriculum

“…The primary data source used the results of interviews with participants. Using semi-structured techniques is very useful in interpretative phenomenological research because it focuses on the lived experiences of participants (Boadu, 2021). Interviews were conducted face-to-face, over the phone, and in Google Meet / ZOOM meetings.…”

“…Furthermore, after coding, the relationship between codes is sought and grouped so that it becomes a category. The categories that have been formed in Boadu (2021) are assessed based on the principle of internal and external homogeneity which is useful for determining whether a category is meaningful and between categories has a clear level of difference between each category that has been formed. Categories are also developed from research questions (Alam, 2021), in this study researchers will develop themes from a list of questions to participants.…”