Phenomenology

Kirsten Casey Anne Arundel Community College

Introduction

 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

 What is the essential meaning of an experience?

 That which it is, and without which it could not be (van Manen)  For example:   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

   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    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    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

  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

Participant 1 Researcher Participant 2

Characteristics of Phenomenology

   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 …

   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 …

 the researcher is willing to become closely entwined with the research

Phenomenology is not useful for

    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

    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