Phenomenology
Kirsten Casey
Anne Arundel Community College
Introduction
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Originated by philosophers such as
Husserl, Schutz and Merleu-Ponty
A framework for providing a qualitative
understanding of human experience
Focuses on the meaning of human
experiences (phenomenon)
Research Questions
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What is the essential meaning of an
experience?
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That which it is, and without which it could
not be (van Manen)
For example:
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What is the essence of being a mother?
What is the essential structure of a caring
nurse-client interaction ?
Goal
To produce a brief statement that
succinctly evokes the phenomenon
Assumptions
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Phenomenologists assume that human
experience is inherently subjective
Within these subjective experiences are
essential structures that characterize
the experience
The way to gain access to these
structures is through description of
experiences
Stages in a Phenomenological Study
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Researcher chooses phenomenon and
selects appropriate models,
frameworks, or theories to guide data
collection
Participants interviewed; researcher
brackets own experiences.
A description is written that fully
describes the experience.
Stages in a Phenomenological Study
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Descriptions of the participants’
experiences (possibly including
researcher) are reduced to themes
These themes are reduced to a
statement that summarizes the
essential meaning
Researcher returns to participants to
check validity of analysis
Role of Researcher
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Researcher’s own experiences with a
phenomenon are included as a part of
the study.
Since the essence is universal, meaning
must be true for researcher as well as
participants
Researcher
Participant 1
Participant 2
Characteristics of Phenomenology
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Use of subjective data to describe an
objective truth
Researcher’s own experiences
integrated into the study
Focus on finding the common thread in
phenomenon
Phenomenology is useful when …
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researcher wants to understand human
experience
the goal is to understand a universal
meaning of an experience
the reduction of context specific
information to a more general
understanding of the phenomenon is
desired
Phenomenology is useful when …
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the researcher is willing to become
closely entwined with the research
Phenomenology is not useful for
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understanding differences in students
performance
evaluating the effectiveness of
particular curricular change
describing the the implementation of a
curricular change
answering questions about the cognitive
domain (misconceptions, spatial ability)
When would it be useful in
chemistry education?
Laboratory
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A part of the curriculum that is valued
for the experience it provides students
There is disagreement about the
meaning of the laboratory
An experience we share with our
students
Finding a common essence might lend
ammunition for reform efforts