Compare and contrast - IPA and GT

Question 1

IPA and grounded theory: aims

Answer 1

Both qualitative, inductive methods that aim to understand human experience from the participants perspective

but

IPA - focuses on how individuals make sense of their personal lived experience

GT - aims to develop a theory that explains social processes or actions

Question 2

IPA and grounded theory: theoretical underpinnings

Answer 2

but

IPA - draws from phenomenology, hermeneutics and ideography

GT - lots of variation depending on theoretical stance
Glaserian - researcher is passive, more realist

, Straussian, Charmazian -more interpretivist

Question 3

IPA and grounded theory: Epistemology

Answer 3

IPA - Typically relativist or constructivist — knowledge is co-constructed.

GT - Varies by version — classic GT is more realist, while constructivist GT (Charmaz) acknowledges subjectivity.

Question 4

IPA and grounded theory: Sample

Answer 4

IPA - small

GT - Larger samples to achieve theoretical saturation

Question 5

IPA and grounded theory: Analysis and coding

Answer 5

IPA - descriptive, linguistic, conceptual

GT - open, axial, selective

Question 6

IPA and grounded theory: outcomes

Answer 6

IPA - produces rich, nuanced interpretations of individual experiences

GT - produces a conceptual theory explaining patterns of behaviour or processes