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Data collection in qualitative research is intended to capture the participant experience in relation to defined phenomena. Whilst attention is given to the different ways of gathering qualitative data, the presence of the researcher is a common feature. However, the researcher does not hold an inert position in the data collection process and may influence the type and level of data obtained. This paper highlights and explores the issue of researcher presence by suggesting a strategy to distance the researcher from the data collection frame via self-governing focus groups. Developed in a study examining vocational student experience in further education, a data collection method is proposed which aims to reduce the influencing factor of the researcher. A self-administered structured question schedule replaces the interviewer to promote authentic access to the participant voice in an environment which is familiar, comfortable and safe. Consideration is given to the construction of the question schedule and recording procedure which aims to stimulate inclusive and unhindered contributions, as well as maintaining the research focus. The analysis of contributions indicates that by standing back, the researcher can see authentic customary social processes which reveal a meaning of the phenomena for the participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a practical analysis of being reflexive when doing Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) research. We argue that although reflexivity is widely discussed in relation to qualitative research, there are few practical examples demonstrating how to be reflexive. To address this, reflexivity will be presented through the experiences learnt from doctoral research using IPA. Reflexivity is understood in qualitative research as an attentiveness to the influence of the researcher on the research process.. However, experiencing reflexivity as an IPA researcher is tricky, time-consuming and often uncomfortable; it does not 'happen' and the researcher had to learn to 'live' with data. Drawing on the work of Heidegger, the experience and expression of reflexivity is conceptualised as the 'house of being', a shared analytic space that researchers and participants inhabit. This paper adds to the existing discussion of reflexivity by extending the dialogue of 'what is it like' to be reflexive and how to integrate reflexivity into research. The insights in this paper are intended to generate insight as to how reflexivity can be overt in the doing and writing of IPA research and to assist IPA and qualitaive researchers in their awareness and implementation of reflexivity in research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we propose reflexivity can be revealed through a deliberate adjunct to the interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) process. This adjunct, which we refer to as "echoes," is a mixture of the participant's and researcher's words and experiences resonating with each other during the research process. We argue that explicitly recognising echoes gives a heightened sensitivity to both the researcher's own place and being in the research, and to the other in relation to the researcher. Exploring the echoes enables the researcher to work with, rather than dismiss, his or her own presuppositions and exposes greater phenomenological sensibility toward the research subject and is-ness of that phenomenon. The purpose of this article is to outline how attending to echoes is a strategy for IPA researchers to promote and overtly journal reflexivity as central within their research practices. To exemplify how echoes can be used, practical examples from a doctoral research project are given to demonstrate how resonance can explicate reflexivity in the IPA process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]