QualBuddyES 1 · Holding back questions to protect a fragile sense of competence
“I had a question ready, but I kept thinking everyone else would find it obvious, so I stayed quiet.”
P01 · line 2 · Initial theme: Trying to belong without exposing uncertainty
Interpretative phenomenological analysis
Software built
around IPA.
Keep your interpretation beside the words that prompted it, from your first exploratory note to the write-up.
Inside the app
Your reading, alongside the words.
Transcript passages, exploratory notes and experiential statements in one workspace. Actual app screen with fictional material.
Close reading, with room to reflect
Stay beside the passage.
Select source words and develop descriptive, linguistic and conceptual notes alongside them. Link experiential statements to the passages that prompted your reading. Move between reading, annotation and a table view as your understanding develops.
Your notes and statements remain connected to their source. Return to the wider account, reconsider a phrase and revise your interpretation as you work.
A little space to think
Ideas, connected.
Drag a bubble. Explore a quote.
Give an ES a theme—or leave it open.
Alex · Returning to studyIPA · fictional example
PETESUnassigned ES
Unassigned
About this example & full text
This is a simplified browser example using fictional interview material. It is not a screenshot of the desktop app. PETs group experiential statements; unassigned statements remain open for interpretation. No GETs are shown for this single participant.
Drag to arrange. Select an ES to change its theme. Keyboard: Enter selects; arrow keys move. List view offers the same relationships and quotes. Changes stay in this example and Reset restores the starting arrangement.
ES 2 · Experiencing others’ silence as a challenge to belonging
“When nobody answered my comment, I went home wondering whether I belonged there at all.”
P01 · line 3 · Initial theme: Trying to belong without exposing uncertainty
ES 3 · Making preparation an anchor before entering the group
“Reading my notes on the bus gave me something to hold on to before I walked into the room.”
P01 · line 5 · Initial theme: Finding steadiness through preparation and recognition
ES 4 · Feeling recognised makes speaking feel more possible
“The tutor remembered what I had said the week before. After that, I found it easier to speak.”
P01 · line 6 · Initial theme: Finding steadiness through preparation and recognition
ES 5 · Feeling caught between familiar routines and a new student identity
“At home I knew exactly what was expected of me. At university I was still working out who I could be.”
P01 · line 7 · Initial theme: Unassigned
ES 6 · Making space for study feels like claiming something for oneself
“That hour in the library was the first bit of the week that felt like it belonged to me.”
P01 · line 8 · Initial theme: Unassigned
Built around IPA
Follow the experience.
Stay with each participant’s account, then explore shared and contrasting experiences across cases. Arrange themes in the map and return to their supporting passages.
- 01
Exploratory notes
Give your first observations and developing interpretations a place alongside your work with the interview.
- 02
Experiential statements
Put into words what matters in the participant’s experience, bringing your reading and interpretation together.
- 03
Personal experiential themes
Bring related experiential statements together into PETs while working carefully with each individual case.
- 04
Group experiential themes
Develop group experiential themes as you consider patterns and differences across participants.
Read the fictional interview
- Interviewer
What were the first seminars like when you returned to study?
- P01
I had a question ready, but I kept thinking everyone else would find it obvious, so I stayed quiet.
- P01
When nobody answered my comment, I went home wondering whether I belonged there at all.
- Interviewer
Was there anything that helped you feel more settled?
- P01
Reading my notes on the bus gave me something to hold on to before I walked into the room.
- P01
The tutor remembered what I had said the week before. After that, I found it easier to speak.
- P01
At home I knew exactly what was expected of me. At university I was still working out who I could be.
- P01
That hour in the library was the first bit of the week that felt like it belonged to me.
From analysis to writing
Develop the account.
Keep the evidence close.
Build a findings outline and develop group memos with linked evidence. Consider how participants contribute to a theme, including convergence, divergence and subthemes, and mark quotations for the write-up.
Export DOCX analysis tables with extracts, exploratory notes and experiential statements. Findings documents can cover the whole study or one case; quote banks help carry selected evidence into Word.
See the Word sample and worksheet ↗Help shape QualBuddy
A little space
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