TPC Journal-Vol 10- Issue 2-FULL ISSUE

272 The Professional Counselor | Volume 10, Issue 2 toward the group goal, and finalize what building would occur for the remainder of the session. Each session would close with a checkout in which the group reflected on how they felt having completed the work, and what changes or additions they wanted to make during the following session. Exploratory activities were also used to allow students to reflect on environments that make them comfortable, spark conversation, and work toward studio completion. As a signature assignment, the teacher pulled from the HHSWT framework and offered students the chance to create a “Where I’m From” song to support students in exploring who they are and what makes them comfortable, to ultimately inform their studio design decisions. Once the studio was developed, students requested assistance in learning how to use studio equipment for recording purposes. Advocating for students’ requests, the teacher asked the PI (as a stand-in for the school counselor) to visit and work with students to support their preparation toward recording their lyrics and teach other students how to record their peers. Data Analysis The qualitative data collected in the present study were analyzed using the IPA framework, a qualitative research approach designed to facilitate understanding of the participants’ worlds and subjective experiences, typically as they relate to a specific event or phenomenon common to all participants being interviewed (Chapman & Smith, 2002). The recorded focus group was transcribed verbatim using InqScribe technology (Inquirium, LLC, 2013). To begin the analysis, the PI read and re-read the focus group interview transcript to build familiarity with the data. Once familiar with the transcript, the PI started with microanalysis, which included making descriptive, linguistic, and conceptual comments in the right margin of the transcripts (J. A. Smith et al., 2009). J. A. Smith et al. (2009) suggested that descriptive comments are those that are focused on the content of the communication, and linguistic comments are those that consider the tone and use of language throughout the transcript. Conceptual comments are interpreted first through a descriptive lens, and linguistic comments are then considered together alongside the interpretation of the transcript by the researcher. Once microanalysis was completed for the entire transcript, the PI reviewed the notations that had been made to identify initial emergent themes throughout the interview, which were noted in the left margin of the document. The initial emergent themes for each interview were then compared across individual participants to identify the lower-order themes, which were then combined to inform the identification of the higher-order themes (J. A. Smith et al., 2009). In the final stages of data analysis, emergent themes that represented the lived experiences of participants in the group were situated within the extant literature to offer an interpretation of the experiences through existing theoretical frameworks, a hallmark process of IPA research (J. A. Smith et al., 2009). Transcripts were then sent to the second author, who had not been involved in the data collection, to audit identified themes. When discrepancies existed (e.g., different themes were found), researchers engaged in discussion until consensus was reached. Trustworthiness To safeguard the trustworthiness of the data, authors engaged in two intentional strategies identified as important for improving the credibility and reliability of the data (Morrow, 2005). First, to ensure the credibility of the data, prior to engaging in data analysis, the PI who conducted the interview engaged in a reflexive process to examine preconceptions about the data in order to bracket those ideas and focus on understanding the lived experiences of the participants. Additionally, to allow for transferability of the research process and results, the authors provided a rich description of the research processes (i.e., methods) as well as the findings that emerged through data analysis (i.e., results). To improve the dependability of the results, two strategies were employed. First, to improve recall for the participants, they were encouraged to review the video montage of their work building the