ABSTRACT
Questions of method are secondary to questions about the nature of reality and how that reality can be known or the relationship between the inquirer and the world that he or she attempts to understand. Within the natural sciences, a realist ontology is assumed, and it is assumed that this world can be known through methods of inquiry. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), a researcher seeks to engage with the way participants think and act to reflect their perspectives through allowing them to tell their own stories in their own words. The necessity of combining discourse analysis with IPA emerged through an engagement with the texts, in which it became clear that participants often seemed unable to articulate certain experiences or remained silent. Further dimensions to judging qualitative research are commitment and rigor. Particular issues regarding representation arise when conducting sensitive research on vulnerable populations, including concerns about perceived colonization by academic researchers investigating the lives of "others".
