Table 2 Steps of IPA analysis (based on Smith and Nizza [2])

Step 1: Reading and taking exploratory notes

Slowly reading and rereading transcripts and going back to the audio recording when necessary to ‘evoke the participant’s voice’. Staying open, noting everything of interest

Step 2: Formulating experiential statements

Capture in a concise form the experiential meaning(s) of each portion of the transcript. A condensing effort allows both the participant’s and the analyst’s interpretations to unfold

Step 3: Finding connections and clustering experiential statements

Rearranging the complete list of experiential statements into clusters. Aiming to review and refine the analysis to show key features from ‘a bird’s eye view’ of the data

Step 4: Compiling a table of personal experiential themes

Once clustering feels satisfactory, each cluster is named as an overarching personal experiential theme. The experiential theme should relate to information on all the experiential statements in the cluster

Step 5: Moving to the next case

Repeating steps 1–4 for the next case. Respecting the idiographic focus by treating each case on its terms through ‘bracketing’ or trying as best as possible to avoid influence and association spilling over from the other cases

Step 6: A cross-case analysis

After each case has been individually analysed, it is time to establish connections and idiosyncrasies between cases, focusing on how each case can illuminate the other. The results are compiled into an overview of group experiential themes, which serves as the basis for writing up the findings