Phenomenology Karen K. Johnson, Ed.D Associate Faculty, URM, RMG Leader, CEITR Ryan Rominger, Ph.D., LCPC-PIT Assoc. University Research Chair of CLSER, RMG Leader Diana Hart, Ed.D., University of Phoenix Alumni Agenda ❏ Introductions ❏ Context/Thought Leaders ❏ Ontology of two types of Phenomenology ❏ Transcendental/Classical/Descriptive (Husserl) ❏ Hermeneutical/Interpretive (Heidegger) ❏ Examples of Problem, Purpose, RQ and Interview questions ❏ Some differences between PRM and other research designs ❏ Using phenomenology with other cultures. ❏ Q&A ❏ References Phenomenology: A philosophy and a research design. Embedded in the language of thought leaders Husserl and Heidegger Resources that we have used to draw our comments from include: Davidsen, A. S. (2013). Phenomenological Approaches in Psychology and Health Sciences. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 10(3), 318–339. http://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2011.608466 Giorgi, A. (2007). Concerning the phenomenological methods of Husserl and Heidegger and their application in psychology. Collection du Cirp, 1 63-78. Introduction to Phenomenology • German philosophical roots • Husserl • • • • Heidegger • • • Looking at consciousness, intentionality of consciousness in the world, difference of actual ‘thing’ in the world and our understanding of that ‘thing’ Can only experience our conscious experience of the ‘thing’ Can we get to the core essence of what that ‘thing’ is? Followed Husserl, but offered a challenge in that there is a layer of interpretation of the ‘thing’ Can not get at core essence due to our lenses (culture, language, etc.) or ‘thrownness’ Into research methods • • A. Giorgi - brought Husserlian phenomenology into research in the West - called ‘pure’, descriptive or transcendental phenomenology, among other things (Husserl [G], MerleauPonty, Sartre[F]) Objective stance, full bracketing, can get at the essence of the ‘thing’ itself Terms Phenomenological Reduction: [related to epoché - process of epoché leads to phenom. reduction] “the term for our thematization of the correlation between subjectivity and world (Zahavi 2003)” (Davidsen, 2013) Epoché: “suspend our acceptance of the natural attitude and bracket its validity” (Davidsen, 2013) [Bracketing] (one area of much debate) Horizontalization: “trying to understand all phenomena at the same level by not prioritizing phenomena (Langdridge 2007)” Eidetic variation: “attempting to imagine the object being different from how it currently is (Zahavi 2003)” Synthesizing: bringing the descriptions, conclusions all together (van Manen, 2016) Hermeneutical Phenomenological Research Methods ● ● Also called interpretative phenom. analysis and existential phenom. analysis. Dasein: ○ ○ ● ● ● ● German word - “being there” or “there being” - how humans are and understand themselves in the world. Focus is on the structure of understanding (epistemology). Inherently an ‘Interpretive’ process - as an ‘event’ (reality) is covered/disguised, our understand is through interpretation rather than direct knowing (Davidson, 2013; Heidegger as in Inwood, 1997) All description involves interpretation (lenses through which we see the world, reciprocally influenced by culture, language, time) I.e., what Heidegger called “Thrownness” No pure objectivity Hermeneutical Phenomenological Research Methods ● Thus, the interpretive process ITSELF is part of the focus ○ ● (how we understand and make meaning of an event - not necessarily the event itself) This changes the process of ○ BRACKETING - becomes self-reflexive ■ ● ● (meditating and reflecting on one’s own lenses/’thrownness’/understanding and specifically naming these lenses) And thus, bracketing becomes cyclical (as noted in Smith et al.’s IPA) HP leads to: ○ ○ ○ Gadamer - hermeneutics and influence of language Ricouer - language, linguistic phenomenology, textual & language analysis Polkinghorne - narrative (moves into narrative research methods) HPRM - Topics ● ● ● ● Captures the essence of the ○ (NOT about others experiences) Time limited Examples: ○ A Nurse’s experience of helping elderly person who is dying ○ A Teacher’s experience of discrimination within public schools ○ A leader’s experience of deciding what type of leader to be in an organization (the ‘decision point’) Notice → Focus is on a person, and that person’s experience HPRM - Problem Statements ● ● What is the problem the study addresses? What is the GAP? Examples: ○ Lack of in-depth understanding ■ how a nurse copes with emotions while dealing with functional aspects of monitoring and helping with death of an elderly person ○ Lack of specific description of experiences ■ of teachers who have been discriminated against by administrators in public schools ○ Lack of understanding regarding the meaning making process ■ of a leader who assumes a temporary leadership role and who must decide what type of leader to be within the organization. HPRM - Purpose Statement ● ● The purpose of the study is to fill the GAP. The purpose statement tells this purpose in clear, direct language. Examples: ○ The purpose of this HP study is to understand ■ ○ The purpose of this HP study is the gather descriptions ■ ○ how a nurse who is working with an elderly patient who is dying deals with her emotions while focusing on necessary tasks. of instances of discrimination toward teachers within public schools in order to further understand the impact they have on the teachers who experience them The purpose of this HP study is to gather rich description of the decision making moment ■ of leaders who assume temporary leadership roles in order to better understand the decision and meaning making process of the leader making the decision HPRM – Research Questions • The research question is the main question or questions of the study. These are NOT the interview questions. The interview questions will attempt to collect data from participants in order to answer the research questions. • Examples: • What is the lived experience of providing care for a dying elderly patient while managing one’s own emotions and still completing necessary tasks? • What is it like for school teachers to experience discrimination from administrators within public schools? • What is the decision making process like for leaders who assume a temporary leadership role in an organization? (What is the lived experience of deciding what type of leader to be, when a leader assumes a temporary leadership role in an organization?) A few intro references Davidsen, A. S. (2013). Phenomenological Approaches in Psychology and Health Sciences. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 10(3), 318–339. http://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2011.608466 Smith, J. A., Flowers, P., & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method, and research. Los Angeles, CA: Sage. Wertz, F. J., Charmaz, K., McMullen, L. M., Josselson, R., Anderson, R., & McSpadden, E. (2011). Five ways of doing qualitative analysis: Phenomenological psychology, grounded theory, discourse analysis, narrative research, and intuitive inquiry. New York, NY: The Guilford Press. BUT... You will need to read the original texts to become proficient, if you choose this as your method. These texts will include: ● Philosophy texts ○ Husserl (Logical investigations) ○ Heiddeger (such as Inwood’s Heidegger: A very short introduction or Heiddeger’s Being in Time) ○ Gadamer, Ricoeur ● Research methods texts ○ Giorgi (Phenomenology and psychological research; The descriptive phenomenological method in psychology: A modified Husserlian approach) ○ Others such as: Valle, Straus, Wertz, Aanstoos, Churchill, Polkinghorn Transcendental Phenomenology When I think of this type of phenomenology, I think of a Zen moment because there is a lot of reflecting in transcendental phenomenology. ● ● ● ● ● Transcendental allows the researcher to reflect on what participants said (Moustakas, 1994). Epoche and bracketing are used to gain a fresh perspective on what was said (Husserl 1931; Moustakas, 1994; Solowski, 2000) Uses more intuition and imagination to form pictures of the phenomenon. See experiences through the participant’s eyes, to understand what it was like for participants. Want to look for the “wholeness of the experience” rather than the smaller parts (Moustakas, p. 22). Transcendental Purpose Statement ● ● ● ● ● As Ryan stated, the purpose of the study it to fill the GAP. The purpose statement tells the purpose in a clear, direct manner. Examples: The purpose of this transcendental study is to develop a deeper understanding of the emotions associated with the personal commitment of rural volunteer firefighters. The purpose of this transcendental study is to understand the daily-lived experiences of young leaders, ages 20-40 who supervise mature employees, and ages 50-75. The purpose of this transcendental study is to explore the lived experiences of employees who were victims of cyberbullying in the workplace. Transcendental Topics ● ● ● Moving beyond the everyday experience to a place where one can find a fresh perspective, or for the first time. Setting aside prejudice or preconceived ideas about the phenomenon. Transcendental phenomenology allows the individual to stand away from the experience and reflect on what has been said (Moustakas, 1994). Trans. - Research Questions ● ● The research question is the main question or questions of the study. These are NOT the interview questions. The interview questions will attempt to collect data from participants in order to answer the research questions. Examples: ○ Sample research questions might be: ■ What is the lived experience of Muslim students matriculating universities in the United States? ■ How do women addicted to drugs make sense of their experiences with addiction? ■ How do students experience and understand academic advising? Tips for working with other cultures Culture can be defined in many ways. When we enter a group that we have no experience with, we have to be careful. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Be respectful-- do not approach a group like you’re going to fix them. Learn about the culture before you enter into it. Let go of bias as much as possible. Develop trust before you start the study. Realize you may be looked at with suspicion or scrutiny -- don’t be offended. Be flexible using the “rules” of research -- they are set up by dominant culture and do not always fit every group. Phenomenology: Multiple interviews and Probing questions Typically, a PRM researcher uses only a few initiating questions, with each followed by probing questions that are based on the participant’s response. Because I have personal interest in knowing more about Parkinson’s Disease, I’ve thought about some questions that I might use if I were to conduct a phenomenological study of the lived experiences of members of a local Parkinson’s support group. Initial Question 1: What is it like living with Parkinson’s Disease? Initial Question 2: What changes do you experience as your Parkinson’s progresses? Phenomenology: Multiple interviews and Probing questions (cont.) For each response given, probing questions could be Can you tell me more about that? What is an example of how that happens? You mentioned XXX, how do you feel when that happens? Both researcher and participant can benefit from time to reflect on previous questions and answers and then having follow-up interviews to ask additional probing questions. A researcher might ask, In our first interview you mentioned an instance of xxx, have you thought of any more examples of that? Probing questions can be directive or non-directive. Learn more at: https://www.coursera.org/lecture/qualitativ e-methods/4-5-probing-and-prompting5PRrm Some differences between PRM and other qualitative designs: Multiple sources of data are used in case studies. In PRM studies, multiple interviews of the same participants are used. Sources of data in other qualitative designs can be interviews/focus groups, documentation, direct observations, participant observation, and physical artifacts. Face to face interviews with the person who experienced the phenomenon is the primary data collection method in PRM. (Diaries and other personal texts are sometimes used in hermeneutical phenomenology but this restricts the researcher’s ability to follow up with probing questions.) In some qualitative designs, a goal of data collection is saturation. In PRM the focus is more on getting deep, rich data from a small group of (3-8) participants by interviewing each person two or more times. Participants describe their own experiences andincrease their own awareness of their feelings about the lived experience. Some differences between PRM and other qualitative designs: (continued) Narrative Inquiry A narrative inquiry study is more about gathering participants’ stories about their experiences, while the focus of a PRM study is how the experience has shaped their views or the meaning they assign to the phenomenon. Delphi Case Studies In Delphi studies the participants are experts on the phenomenon of interest. PRM requires only that the participants had the lived experience. In case studies, one works with a bounded system and collects at least 3 types of artifacts (sets of data) such as interviews, policy manuals, outcome measures, etcetera. PRM works with a specific experience. Hermeneutics A hermeneutical study focuses on interviewing a larger set of participants (12-16+) regarding an experience, with textual analysis of the transcripts to come up with underlying meaning (often expressed as themes). It also uses the hermeneutical ‘turn’ or cycle. Can ALSO be purely text based. Phenomenology Resources/References Davidsen, A. S. (2013). Phenomenological Approaches in Psychology and Health Sciences. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 10(3), 318–339. http://doi.org/10.1080/14780887.2011.608466 Giorgi, A. (2007). Concerning the phenomenological methods of Husserl and Heidegger and their application in psychology. Collection du Cirp, 1 63-78. Husserl, E. (1931). Ideas: General introduction to pure phenomenology (Gibson, W. Trans.). New York: Collier. Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Peduti, D. F. (2009). “Heidegger’s later phenomenology: Allowing the subtle appearance to emerge through the din” in Phenomenology 2010, Volume 5. Villejuif Cedex, FR: Zeta Books, 2009. Retrieved from ProQuest elibrary, http://site.ebrary.com.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/lib/apollolib/reader.action?docID=10574253&ppg=183 Pereira, H. R. (2012). Rigour in phenomenological research: Reflections of a novice nurse researcher. Nurse Researcher, 19(3), 16-9. doi:10.7748/nr2012.04.19.3.16.c9054 Phillips-Pula, L., Strunk, J., and Pickler, R.H.(2011). Understanding phenomenological approaches to data analysis. Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 25(1), 67-71. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pedhc.2010.09.004 Phenomenology Resources/References (cont.) Saldana, J. (2013). The coding manual for qualitative researchers (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Seidman, I. (2013). Interviewing as qualitative research. New York, NY: Teacher’s College. Smith, J. A., Flowers, P., & Larkin, M. (2009). Interpretative phenomenological analysis: Theory, method, and research. Los Angeles, CA: Sage. Sokolowski, R. (2000). Introduction to phenomenology. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. Tufford, L., and Newman, P. (2010). Bracketing in qualitative research. Qualitative Social Work, 11(1), 80-96. DOI: 10.1177/1473325010368316 Van Manen, M. (1990). Researching lived experience: Human science for an action sensitive pedagogy. Albany, NY: The State University of New York. Wertz, F. J., Charmaz, K., McMullen, L. M., Josselson, R., Anderson, R., & McSpadden, E. (2011). Five ways of doing qualitative analysis: Phenomenological psychology, grounded theory, discourse analysis, narrative research, and intuitive inquiry. New York, NY: The Guilford Press. Willis, J. W. (2007). Foundations of qualitative research: Interpretive and critical approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Xu, M. A., & Storr, G. B. (2012). Learning the concept of researcher as instrument in qualitative research. The Qualitative Report, 17(21), 1-18. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1504088587?accountid=458 Questions? Next webinar Auto Ethnography August 16, 2018 4 PM Phoenix time, 6 PM Central, 7 PM Eastern Dr. Jim Lane will share his expertise and experience with this research design.
