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Qual Academy partner Elly Phillips
September 21, 2026
One of the (understandably) biggest concerns of people conducting their first IPA project is "am I doing it right?" That’s hardly surprising - typically, you’re undertaking something completely new, whether that’s the research approach or the level of qualification. In this post, I share some thoughts that might help normalise those feelings and give you some ways to turn them into useful actions (or reassuring self-talk).
It's not just you!
It's not just you!
The first thing to remember is that it's NOT just you. However calm and in control everyone else looks, from my experience, many people worry they're not good enough or doing it right. As I said above, it's entirely understandable to wonder. It doesn't usually solve anything to know that you're not the only one, but it can help normalise the feelings and perhaps take away a bit of the anxiety.
It's also hard to notice how far we've come in learning something new. There is a phenomenon called "the curse of knowledge": that experts forget what it's like to be a novice and take that learning for granted. It's often discussed from the perspective of teachers, but I think it also challenges us during our own learning journeys, when we don't actually realise how much we've learned and how far we've come.
So my first tip (and remember that I'm not a therapist!) is to be open with others (especially other people in a similar position) about your concerns. Chances are they'll be glad of the chance to share their own, which can normalise our own worries. And the second one is to take time to note what you have learned and problems you've solved, because your feelings about it might not actually reflect reality.
Research is messier than it looks in books and papers
Research is messier than it looks in books and papers
One reason I think people underestimate themselves in research is that published work typically shows the tidy, sanitised end product of the research process. It's rare to read work that acknowledges false steps and dead ends, so when we encounter those- which we do, because research involves people in a variety of ways- it can feel like a disaster rather than a solvable challenge. There's also not usually one right answer, which can make the whole question of 'am I doing this right?' harder to address from general searches or generic advice.
There seems to be a slight trend these days to publish papers where the authors talk about the messier side of research, and reading those might be reassuring. A couple of ideas that spring to mind are:
Shaw, R. (2010). Embedding reflexivity within experiential qualitative psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 7(3), 233. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780880802699092
Wagstaff, C., Jeong, H., Nolan, M., Wilson, T., Tweedlie, J., Phillips, E., Senu, H., & Holland, F. (2014). The accordion and the deep bowl of spaghetti: Eight researchers’ experiences of using IPA as a methodology. The Qualitative Report, 19(47), 1–15.
In the first, Dr Rachel Shaw talks about her experiences grappling with reflexivity during research and recounts what she learned from interactions that didn't go as they ideally might. The second paper (on which Fiona and I were co-authors) presents a range of struggles and challenges we all encountered during our IPA research. Both articles might help present an alternative view of the messiness of research AND that this process (and what we learn from it) can be a springboard for new ideas and insights that are useful to others.
While the idea of turning challenges into opportunities feels a little trite, there might be opportunities to add something new to the literature, especially the literature outside empirical studies using IPA. There does seem more scope these days for publishing articles about 'what it's like' to do research or practical guides.
There is a gap between ideas and implementation
There is a gap between ideas and implementation
There is a real gap between the information you read and what it means to implement it. So much of IPA (and qual research and probably academia itself!) is built on taken-for-granted knowledge and what others have figured out through their own processes. Again, if you're feeling this worry about how you actually do what you've read, if you've made the right choice, or what happens if it goes wrong, you're not alone. Part of the process of conducting a research project/degree is figuring out how to overcome these hiccups. I often tell workshop attendees that I know it's difficult because the stakes feel high, but even a PhD is a learning experience.
Beyond the gap between ideas and implementation, sometimes there isn't good guidance about how to overcome a challenge you've encountered and, again, that can sometimes be an opportunity to share your experience in the literature. Our paper on multiple hermeneutics arose because we noticed an aspect of the research process that seemed to have been overlooked and put something together. Don't assume that you wonder about something and you 'should' know - sometimes there isn't an answer, and it's a chance to be creative and contribute something novel.
What that means for Qual Academy
What that means for Qual Academy
Because there is so much behind the question about 'am I doing this right?' we know there are many reasons someone might want to talk to an IPA specialist: specific information or problem-solving, reassurance, encouragement, or to discuss and create ideas. These points also motivated how we designed our workshops (and other offerings, like Research Roundtables), which are less about repeating what you can read and more about passing on what we've learned from our own research and from working with many students. They're also a chance to meet other people and share ideas and inspiration that you might not have a chance to hear otherwise.
We know you can read a book or published papers; we're filling the 'experience gap' between the ideas about IPA and what it means to do it in practice.
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