Clustering Emergent Themes in Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA): A Proposed Decision-Making Framework for Novice Researchers

Despite its growing popularity in the social sciences, the methods of clustering emergent themes into higher order themes has yet to be codified as a structured decision-making process in the original text of Interpretative Phenomenological Approach which outlines six different methods of clustering: numeration, contextualization, abstraction, subsumption, function, and polarization. This space is especially susceptible to analytic drift and to undocumented and inconsistent clustering decisions by novice researchers. This conceptual paper outlines a decision making framework consisting of six techniques organised into four phases: structural check, narrative test, conceptual test and dual-layered recognition, which draws on a systematic review of 20 peer-reviewed articles and a critical synthesis of the original clustering principles proposed by Smith et al. (2009). The framework is located within a continuum of extending the hermeneutic and idiographic commitments of IPA, maintaining the researchers' focus on the individual's narrative before advancing to a more abstract level of classification. The framework is demonstrated to reduce the chance of analytic drift for novice researchers and to provide a clear and traceable organization for research diaries. However, there are a number of limitations, such as the tension between the staged nature of the framework and the traditionally flexible nature of IPA, the assumption that there is a reasonably coherent narrative of each participant, and the fact that this paper's contribution is conceptual rather than empirical. The framework needs to be applied to empirical qualitative data and extended to multiperspectival designs and more disjointed narrative accounts in future research.

Clustering, Decision-making, Framework, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Novice researcher

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