Phenomenology

A topic in research methodology

The phenomenological approach leads to an investigation of the constitution of everyday life-practice.

Habermas, 1967/1998

Phenomenology is a tern used to describe both a theoretical perspective and the methodology developed according to it: "a philosophy of knowledge and qualitative research approach" (Østergaard, Dahlin & Hugo, 2008: 94).

"Historically, phenomenology as a concept or a research practice has existed for about two centuries. Hegel's Phänomenologie des Geistes, which appeared 1807, is perhaps the first well-known use of the term, even though Edmund Husserl is generally considered to be the inaugurator of phenomenology as a modern philosophy and research methodology (see for instance Husserl, 1931). Husserl's ideas were taken up by many thinkers, of whom Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre and Maurice Merleau-Ponty are some of the most well known. Each of them developed Husserl's basic ideas in their own ways…".

Østergaard, Dahlin & Hugo, 2008: 94

Using phenomenology in educational research: an example

In a study exploring students' experiences of studying, Greasley and Ashworth (2007) employed "a heuristic due to Husserl … which distinguishes between the 'noema', the subjective object of awareness, and the 'noesis', the manner of mental activity in which the object is grasped…elucidating what the intentional object–the thing to be studied in its lifeworldly context–is for the participant (the noema) and how students are mentally oriented to the learning (noesis)."

Greasley and Ashworth (2007) describe their methodology, both in terms of data collection:

"During the interview process the research participant is encouraged to describe their experiences in terms of how they felt and acted in regard to these experiences… All interviews were tape-recorded and transcribed…. All the participants were interviewed three times over the course of the academic year…Each interview took approximately two hours; thus, participants provided up to six hours of detailed information in regard to their approach to learning."

Greasley and Ashworth, 2007: 833

and analysis:

"The analytic procedure was designed to thoroughly explore and reflect the participants' individual meaning of learning from the context of their lifeworld. The ultimate aim of this process is to understand what an approach to learning means to each of the students and to present as full a description as possible of these meanings and experiences. To achieve this depth of understanding the analysis was conducted in three main stages."

Greasley and Ashworth, 2007: 834

These were:

"The first stage occurred after every interview; an opportunity to reflect on what was said by the learner.
The second stage involved a more detailed analysis whereby a descriptive profile of the individual was formed, and
the third and final stage was an analysis of the noetic and noematic distinctions which resulted in a summary of the meaning of learning for each of the participants… intended to provide a profile of the meaning of approaches to learning for each student."

Greasley and Ashworth (2007) tell their readers that "During the entire process the researcher was careful to question presuppositions and interpretations, and to set aside those which were not expressly warranted by the student's own account" (p.834).

Sources cited:

• Greasley, K., & Ashworth, P. (2007). The phenomenology of 'approach to studying': the university student's studies within the lifeworld. British Educational Research Journal, 33(6), 819-843. doi:10.1080/01411920701656977.
• Habermas, J. (1967/1988). On the logic of the social sciences (S. W. Nicholason & J. A. Stark, Trans.). Cambridge: Polity Press.
• Østergaard, E., Dahlin, B., & Hugo, A. (2008). Doing phenomenology in science education: a research review. Studies in Science Education, 44(2), 93-121. doi:10.1080/03057260802264081