Reflective & Empirical
Methods
Norm Friesen
March, 2006
Reflective & Empirical
Methods
• Reflection: thinking about the question
and the phenomenon in a way that
opens up its various aspects and
dimensions.
• Empirical: sources of vicarious
experience
(from: Max van Manen,
www.phenomenologyonline.com)
Reflective & Empirical
• Reflective:
– Thematic, Guided Existential,
Collaborative, Linguistic, Exegetical,
Hermeneutic Interview
• Empirical:
– Describing, Gathering, Interviewing,
Observing, Fictional, Imaginal
(from: Max van Manen, www.phenomenologyonline.com)
Thematic Reflection
Themes:
• the constellations that make up the universes
of meaning we live through. By the patterns
and light of these themes we can navigate
and explore such universes.
• Themes are heuristic. They are means "to get
at" the phenomenon we are addressing.
(from: Max van Manen, www.phenomenologyonline.com)
Reflection: Guided Existential
• Lived Time: speeds up, slows down; e.g. of
bank machine experience
• Lived Space: we are the space we’re in; e.g.
of different architectural spaces
• Lived Body: Body as anchorage, way of
being, as “object” of observation
• Lived Relation: relational “distance,”
atmosphere, intensity, disconnection
(from: Max van Manen, www.phenomenologyonline.com)
Linguistic Reflection
• Etymological: histories of words often
have rich, life-world significances
(experiential residue)
• Conceptual: understanding differences
in meaning in words & expressions.
• E.g. “Dog”
• (from: Max van Manen, www.phenomenologyonline.com)
Dog-eat dog, underdog,
Top dog, bottom dog
lap dog
teacher's pet
Cur, pariah, bitch, dogsbody
"you dirty dog,” flea bag
mongrel, mutt, gone to the dogs
Dog tired
Exegetical
• critical, sensitive, and creative reading of
related texts:
– Prevailing theories and constructions as a “foil” for
what you are searching for in phenomenological
research
– Prevailing theories and constructions can also
point to phenomenological insights
• Creative, Accidental, Serendipitious sources
(video example)
(from: Max van Manen, www.phenomenologyonline.com)
Other forms of Reflection
• Collaborative: as in this session, with
others working together
• Insight-cultivating: from philosophy and
other sources
(from: Max van Manen, www.phenomenologyonline.com)
Phenomenological Interview
• an interpretive conversation wherein
both partners reflectively orient
themselves to the interpersonal or
collective ground that brings the
significance of the phenomenological
question into view
• Keep the question open
(from: Max van Manen, www.phenomenologyonline.com)
Phenomenological Interview
• Not structured; can list general questions
or beginning script
• Close to the phenomenon, if possible
• Ask for reminiscences & speculation
• Steer away from explanation
• ASK: “what did you feel” not “what did you
think”
• Comfortable location; follow-up interviews
Empirical Methods: Describing
• start with your own experience
• the patterns of meaning of one's own
experiences are also the possible
experiences of others, and therefore
may be recognizable by others
(from: Max van Manen,
www.phenomenologyonline.com)
Gathering
• Describe the experience as much as possible
as you live(d) through it.
• Describe the experience from the inside, as it
were-almost like a state of mind
• Focus on a particular example or incident of
the object of experience
• Try to focus on an example of the experience
which stands out for its vividness, or as it was
the first time
(from: Max van Manen, www.phenomenologyonline.com)
Observing
• Close and participatory observation
• E.g. participate in the child’s world
• Similar to the attitude of the author who
is always on the look-out for stories to
tell, incidents to remember
(from: Max van Manen, www.phenomenologyonline.com)
Imaginal experiences
• Non-discursive artistic material as
transformed experience
• E.g. experience of space in nature
(from: Max van Manen,
www.phenomenologyonline.com)