Reflexive Thematic Analysis vs Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: Which should you use?
Is Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) better than Braun and Clarke’s Reflexive Thematic Analysis, or vice versa?
You’ve chosen a topic that lends itself to a qualitative approach, so next, you need to choose the method you’re going to use.
For a lot of the qualitative PhD researchers I’ve worked with over the last two decades, the choice has come down to two options: Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis (RTA) and interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA).
You’ve likely done some reading around these already and you might be swinging from one to the next. One day RTA seems like the obvious choice. The next, IPA feels more “appropriate” - or more rigorous - or more aligned with what your supervisor might expect.
At the same time, your ethics application is looming. You know you need to name your methodology. You know this choice will shape your data collection, your analysis, and ultimately your thesis, so you want to get it right.
In this blogpost, I’ll help you on your way to that. Essentially, RTA and IPA look similar at first glance. Both involve coding, themes, and interpretation. But they are built for different kinds of questions, and choosing the wrong one can leave you with analysis that feels awkward to do and hard to defend in the write-up. Let’s get into it.
Why they look similar at first
On the surface, RTA and IPA share some familiar features. You work with qualitative data. You spend time reading transcripts closely. You label segments of text. You build a structured account of what your data is telling you.
That overlap can be misleading, because the purpose of the analysis is different.
A useful way to think about it is this: RTA is primarily about patterns across a dataset, and IPA is primarily about meaning within individual lives.
What reflexive thematic analysis is really for
RTA is designed to help you construct themes that capture patterns of meaning across your dataset.
You are not trying to “discover” themes as if they are hidden in the data waiting to be found. This isn’t a treasure hunt. You are making analytic decisions about what matters, guided by your research question, your theoretical approach, and your reflexive awareness of how you are interpreting what you are seeing. So you are the one actively building the themes.
This is something most of the PhD researchers I’ve worked with have had difficulty with. They’ve come to me supervision asking if their themes are “right”, to which I always respond, “Ask this question instead - Are these themes appropriate for your study?”. Two different researchers may interpret a similar set of data in different ways depending on the lens they are looking at it through - and that is fine in RTA.
RTA tends to be a good fit when you want to explore shared patterns such as how people talk about something, how a social process operates, or how a particular experience is shaped by context. It works well for questions about perceptions, practices, social norms, institutional cultures, identities, and discourse.
If your aim is to produce a clear thematic account of what is going on across a group, RTA is often the most defensible choice.
What IPA is really for
IPA is designed to explore how individuals make sense of a particular lived experience.
It is rooted in phenomenology and hermeneutics, and it is idiographic. That means it goes deep into individual cases before making careful connections across cases.
IPA is usually a good fit when your research question is about personal meaning-making. You are interested in how a specific experience is understood, narrated, and integrated into someone’s life and identity.
In IPA, you do not move quickly to cross-case themes. You stay close to each participant, often developing rich case analyses that prioritise depth, nuance, emotion, and the language a participant uses to make sense of what they have lived through.
Your best friend in an IPA analysis is patience. You might spend weeks - or in some cases months - immersing yourself in a case, sitting with the complexity of it. You need to learn to be okay with not figuring things out immediately. IPA really does give you an appreciation of the richness and depth of the human experience!
So, if you want a magnifying-glass analysis of meaning, IPA may be the better fit.
A simple way to see the difference
Imagine you are studying the experience of returning to work after maternity leave.
With RTA, you might ask: how do women describe and navigate returning to work, and what patterns appear across the dataset? You would likely build themes across participants that capture recurring pressures, adaptations, tensions, and forms of support.
With IPA, you might ask: how does this particular transition reshape identity for an individual, and how do they make sense of it within their life story? You would stay close to one case at a time, building a detailed interpretation before carefully considering connections across participants.
The difference is not just depth. It is what the depth is in service of.
Researcher role and reflexivity
Both methods value reflexivity, but the emphasis is different.
In RTA, reflexivity is closely tied to how you are actively constructing themes. You make your analytic choices visible, including how your assumptions, theoretical lens, and positionality shaped what you noticed and prioritised.
In IPA, reflexivity is closely tied to the double hermeneutic. You are interpreting how the participant is interpreting their world. The work involves staying grounded in the participant’s meaning while being honest about how your own perspective shapes the interpretation.
Both are rigorous. They are just rigorous in different ways.
Sample size and what it implies
RTA can be used with smaller or larger samples because it is designed to explore patterns across a dataset. It is often used with ten, fifteen, twenty or more participants, depending on the study.
IPA is deliberately small. At PhD level, it often sits in the region of three to six participants, sometimes slightly more, because the analysis is intensive and case-based. The question is not “how many can I include?” but “how deep can I go?”
If you have already collected a larger dataset, IPA is usually not the best match.
What the analysis process actually feels like
With RTA, you will move through stages that begin with familiarisation and coding, then shift into theme development, refinement, naming, and writing. You are building an interpretive story that answers your research question across the dataset.
With IPA, you will spend a long time with one transcript at a time. You will note what is said, how it is said, and what might be going on beneath the surface. You will develop case themes before looking across cases, and your write-up will often include richer individual accounts.
If you are someone who enjoys staying close to individual lives and language, IPA can be deeply satisfying. If you prefer to work with patterns and construct a thematic map of a group experience, RTA can feel clearer.
How to choose between RTA and IPA
If you are torn, start with the research question.
If you are trying to understand patterns across a group, RTA is usually a strong fit.
If you are trying to understand how individuals make sense of a specific lived experience, IPA is usually a stronger fit.
Then look at your dataset.
If you have a larger sample, RTA is likely to be more realistic and defensible.
If you have a small, fairly homogeneous sample and you want to go deep, IPA may suit.
Finally, consider the level of philosophical engagement you want.
RTA can be theoretically informed and conceptually sophisticated without requiring you to work explicitly with phenomenology.
IPA requires you to engage more directly with phenomenology, hermeneutics, and idiography in both the methodology and the analysis.
There is no “better” option. There is only the one that fits what you are trying to do.
Next step if you are leaning toward RTA
If you are leaning toward Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis and you want a clear, defensible process you can explain confidently in your thesis, my Braun and Clarke RTA guide walks you through the full approach step by step, with worksheets to help you move from early coding to robust themes and a coherent write-up.
It is designed for the stage where you are doing the analysis, not just reading about it.
You can explore the guide here.
Structured support in making this make sense
My Methodology, Data Collection and Analysis PhD Survival Guide helps you navigate your way through this phase of the doctoral journey more broadly. From justifying your choices to writing up your analysis in a way that another human being can understand - because sometimes, what goes on in our heads during qualitative research defies easy translation into a well-structured chapter - this helps you figure out what to do next.
You can learn more here.
From “I’m not sure this makes sense” to a clear, defensible research design.
If your qualitative methodology, data collection, or analysis feels unclear, disconnected, or harder than it should, this guide will help you make sense of your decisions - and explain them with confidence.
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