Seite - 86 - in Coaching im digitalen Wandel

Deniers86 turing this aspect by coining the term of »double hermeneutic« (Pietkiewicz & Smith, 2014, p. 8): the participants create their interpretation of their personal experience while, at the same time, the researcher interprets this account. This admittance and constant reflection (Smith et al., 1999) of the researcher’s active involvement in the creation of the participants’ narrative has been critiqued as possibly devaluing the validity and generalisability of the research outcome (Brocki & Wearden, 2006; Pringle, Drummond, McLafferty, & Hendry, 2011), yet for this study, it is seen as an enabling and enriching proposition: with the researcher being a coach employing Skype coaching herself, the acknowledg- ment and constructive self-reflection of her role in the account of the experi- ence under investigation was found to be essential. Finally, IPA adheres to the principle of ideography, allowing for an »in-depth analysis of single cases and examining individual perspectives of study partici- pants in their unique contexts« (Pietkiewicz & Smith, 2014, p. 8). This principle fits in with the study’s aim to give detailed analyses of a small number of peo- ple’s real experience in Skype coaching. Participants and sampling The study adheres to the Code of Human Research Ethics prescribed by the British Psychological Society (2010). Informed consent was insured and confi- dentiality and the right to withdraw at any time guaranteed. All participants met the defined pre-requisites, being: Ȥ adults Ȥ with an excellent command of English Ȥ having received coaching in a career-related context Ȥ having conducted their coaching relationship exclusively or predominantly over Skype Ȥ prepared to conduct an interview about their experience using Skype. The sample was not purposive in terms of gender, age, nationality or location. Of the eleven participants, five were female and six male, ranging in age from early twenties to late fifties. They were of British, Chinese, Venezuelan, South African and Bosnian nationality and resided in the UK, Singapore, Vietnam, Belgium, Germany and China at the time of the interviews. This demographic and geographic variety serves as an indication of the heterogeneity of clients deciding to be coached via Skype. The interviews lasted between 50 and 75 minutes, were audio-recorded, tran- scribed verbatim and analysed consecutively. Key themes were identified and Open-Access-Publikation im Sinne der CC-Lizenz BY-NC-ND 4.0