Behind-the-scenes at our workshops

How we decided what to include

There is so much already about 'what to' do (descriptions of the process, philosophy and goals), so we focused instead on the practical and experiential stuff - the 'how to'. We know that it's valuable and useful to get a sense of what an experience or process is like for others, the reality of what happened, what went well and what didn't, and the ways people solve the challenges they encounter. These things are often not written up in books or papers, but are so helpful to other people embarking on their first piece of independent research.

We looked for the things that help make design decisions, the challenges and questions we know students encounter, and what's it like to go through that messy process of doing research. We assume attendees at our workshops are familiar with what's written about IPA (or reflexive TA), have read something about it and are familiar with the terminology (you know what personal experiential statements or group experiential themes are, for instance). We decided NOT to spend a lot of time repeating what you can already read and focus the time we spend talking on things that you're not going to encounter in textbooks and articles.

Because qualitative research is an activity and not just a set of facts to learn, we try to include as many opportunities for our attendees to do the work there and then, whether that's answering questions about their own research or working with data or ideas we provide to put ideas into practice. 

The choices we made about our sessions

We had a few things in mind when we set up our workshop format and structure:

• Deliberately shorter: We know it's hard to focus for long periods, particularly in online situations, and there's a limit to how much you can take in. We keep our sessions shorter - up to 2 1/2 hours - to make them manageable for everyone. This also keeps the price lower.

• Three main topics: For each workshop, we've identified three main topics to cover that permit us to say something meaningful about what we think are the most impactful areas around the main workshop subject. The amount of time we spend on each varies between workshops, depending on what each group of participants is most interested in. We often end up spending most time on the 'crunch' points that students most benefit from discussing and dissecting in detail (such as exploratory noting).

• Smaller groups: We limit our workshop to 8 participants, so everyone has an opportunity to be involved. When we have more demand, we typically plan another workshop rather than making groups larger. 

• We don't share slide decks or record our workshops: Our workshops are designed to be interactive. The slides are designed to be talked about. Our experience shows that large slide decks are not helpful by themselves. We have thought carefully about what is useful. We send an outline of the workshop in advance with prompts for attendees to prepare relevant questions. We share selected slides later - typically those containing more information that are a useful checklist or resource and can standalone. We provide suggestions for activities and further reading after the session, with indications of the most useful reading for those whose time is limited.

What we hope you take away

On a practical level, we hope you get new ideas and information about resources that you didn't know about before. We share a lot of our experiences about what we've seen students do, creative ideas, what worked well, and what seem to be current trends to build on what you already know. Hearing other people talk about their developing research might also inspire you to incorporate something new. We provide curated sets of references and resources - ones we think are most helpful and worth your time for you to refer to afterwards.

We also aim to help you progress your research during the workshop. If we review, say, research question formulation ("Designing your IPA study") or how to create a semi-structured interview guide ("Maximising your semi-structured interview"), we hope that you'll make developments during or straight after the workshop by applying the guidance we're talking about. Because we also talk about the practical process of doing research, that can help you plan and manage your expectations in a way that isn't often covered in research methods modules or books.

We hope your confidence takes a boost through the opportunity to talk about your ideas in an environment focused just on IPA (or reflexive TA) design with people specialised in that approach. Hearing some of the stories you DON'T usually hear about the real process of research, with its hiccups and changes can help you have a more realistic view and evaluation of the progression of your own work, too, soothing concerns about whether it all looks 'right' and how to figure out if it is! You'll meet other people doing a range of projects at different institutions, which can also be inspiring and help you make social connections that you can take beyond this workshop, for on-going support and encouragement.

To wrap up

We've created workshops tailored to key points in the research process, with guidance based on our real-life experiences of teaching, supervising and DOING IPA. We aim to de-mystify the gap between the ideal textbook view of IPA and the often slightly messy experience of doing it and the decisions and activities you need to undertake. Our workshops focus on practical recommendations and experiential guidance to tackle the unspoken knowledge you don't typically get when you're learning about research methods.