Inductive Process to Analyze the Structure of Lived Experience: A Scholar-Practitioner Protocol for Evidence-Based Practice in Qualitative Research

Abstract

One of the criticisms leveled against research and knowledge, especially "knowledge for knowledge’s sake" is that it seldom goes so far as to make a significant difference in practice. Thousands of doctoral graduates worldwide produce new knowledge every year, only to run out of steam at the end of their doctoral journey. For many, earning their doctorates is sufficient to justify the painstaking academic journey, so they give up the ghost and strive no more to make a difference. As 12th century French abbot St Bernard of Clairvaux writes, "Some seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge—and that is curiosity. Some seek knowledge that they may be known to have knowledge—and that is vanity. Some seek knowledge that they may give to others their knowledge—and that is charity." But how does one apply the knowledge to solve real-world problems? How does what you have learned and discovered, find its way into praxis? How does it find favor with organizational and community leaders who are not academically inclined and could not care less for academic theories and jargon? This paper is inspired by the work of a team of French researchers who have conceptualized and developed an innovative approach entitled "Inductive Process to Analyze the Structure of Lived Experience" (IPSE), which is being successfully integrated into evidence-based medicine (EBM). Taking a cue from EBM, an attempt is made to unpack and elucidate the IPSE framework for doctoral researchers that are unfamiliar with it and offer a compelling case for its application in the practice of social science research, outside the field of medicine.