Digital Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis

Digital Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (Digital IPA) applies the rigorous IPA framework — originally developed by Jonathan Smith to explore how individuals make sense of significant lived experiences — within digital data-collection environments. Participants are recruited and interviewed online (via video call, synchronous text chat, email, or digital diary), and the resulting transcripts and digital texts are analysed through the same close-reading, emergent-coding, and cross-case patterning procedures that define standard IPA. The digital setting both expands access to geographically dispersed or hard-to-reach participants and introduces distinct methodological considerations around rapport, embodied cues, and data authenticity.