How do phenomenological researchers attempt to understand the universal nature of an experience?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aYRlNrO6oA&t=807s

April 1, 2018

Retrieved October 17, 2019

by Holiday 575

Presented by: Timothy Gates, Nathan Goad, and Teranne Williams

Phenomenology is when researchers attempt to gain insight into a universal feeling or experience (also known as/or phenomenon). This is a qualitative research method.

Characteristics of Qualitative research:

1. Small sample sizes

2. Data is gathered from surveys, interviews, pictures/charts/graphs, observations, 

3. data is emergent because is it is helping to develop a narrative of experience that transitions from an abstract understanding to conceptual. 

4. Looks in-depth at non-numerical data (notes and transcripts of interviews

The qualitative approach is intuitive in nature and expands the scope of research to find out the why and how of things that happened in addition to the what, where and when things happened. This characteristic of qualitative research causes the variable sampling for this type of study to be much smaller to work with than the larger and more complex samples used in quantitative researches. 

Let's explore the phenomenological research approach in greater depth. 

Phenomenological design: definition, advantages, limitations

Phenomenological research involves trying to understand the essence of the phenomenon by examining the views of people who have experienced that phenomenon.

Think of the word phenomenon and you'll be able to remember phenomenology. 

A phenomenon could be almost anything.

Phenomenology is interested in the individual experiences of people. It usually involves long in-depth interviews with subjects and sometimes researchers will interview the same subjects several times to get a full picture of their experience with the phenomenon.

After the interviews are done, the researcher will look back through the interviews to search for patterns.

Essentially, phenomenological research is looking for the universal nature of experience.

There are several strengths of phenomenological research.

1. It provides a very rich and detailed description of the human experience.

2. The results emerge from the data instead of being imposed by structured statistical analysis. With phenomenology, a researcher will be able to look at the big picture and notice trends emerging from the data. he doesn't have to pick a statistical analysis and run it. He can just look at the content of the interviews and see what emerges.

Limitations

1. it depends upon the subjects being articulate about their experiences.

2. it requires the researcher interpretation which could lead to mistakes or false conclusions

Essence in Phenomenology

The essence of the phenomenon is the commonality of feeling in the experience.

Phenomenology seeks to understand the essence and enable us to explore solutions.

The underlying idea of essence is that uniform reasons help to support why we act in certain ways in response to certain phenomenon.

These patterns are what researchers are seeking to find to better understand and explain a phenomenon or event.

Phenomenological research goes through four typical steps:

1. Bracketing

(Having a colleague interview the researcher to determine their experience with the phenomenon to uncover researcher bias).

Bracketing can be one of the most challenging steps in the research process as it affects not only validity but also all other areas of this study.

Reflexibility - in qualitative research, reflexibility is an ability to evaluate oneself.

Reflexibility is important for reflecting on biases and preconceptions so that the researcher doesn't end up twisting around research data and making biased interpretations about that data.

Bracketing is the process of setting aside personal experiences, biases, preconceived notions about the research topic.

Being reflexive and conducting bracketing is vital in qualitative research because we want to understand the views of the participants instead of manipulating their views and making their views fit into our own views.

Also bracketing is not just the researcher setting aside biases and experiences, it's also setting aside previous research findings, theories, and personal knowledge about the research topic at hand.

2. Intuiting

(A researcher holds himself open to multiple meanings of different experiences.)

3. Analyzing

(After gathering interview data from multiple sources, the researcher will search for patterns or commonalities in the reports)

4. Describing

(A researcher understands and defines the phenomenon in a conceptual way)

Ravi was a novice, finding it difficult to select the right research design for his study. He joined a program to improve his understanding of research. As a part of his assignment, he was asked to work with a phenomenological research design. To execute good practices in his work, Ravi studied examples of phenomenological research. This let him understand what approaches he needed and areas he could apply the phenomenological method.

2. Phenomenological Research Method

3. Examples Of Phenomenological Research

What Is Phenomenological Research?

A qualitative research approach that helps in describing the lived experiences of an individual is known as phenomenological research. The phenomenological method focuses on studying the phenomena that have impacted an individual. This approach highlights the specifics and identifies a phenomenon as perceived by an individual in a situation. It can also be used to study the commonality in the behaviors of a group of people. 

Phenomenological research has its roots in psychology, education and philosophy. Its aim is to extract the purest data that hasn’t been attained before. Sometimes researchers record personal notes about what they learn from the subjects. This adds to the credibility of data, allowing researchers to remove these influences to produce unbiased narratives. Through this method, researchers attempt to answer two major questions:

• What are the subject’s experiences related to the phenomenon?
• What factors have influenced the experience of the phenomenon?

A researcher may also use observations, art and documents to construct a universal meaning of experiences as they establish an understanding of the phenomenon. The richness of the data obtained in phenomenological research opens up opportunities for further inquiry.

Now that we know what is phenomenological research, let’s look at some methods and examples.

Phenomenological Research Method

Phenomenological research can be based on single case studies or a pool of samples. Single case studies identify system failures and discrepancies. Data from multiple samples highlights many possible situations. In either case, these are the methods a researcher can use:

• The researcher can observe the subject or access written records, such as texts, journals, poetry, music or diaries
• They can conduct conversations and interviews with open-ended questions, which allow researchers to make subjects comfortable enough to open up
• Action research and focus workshops are great ways to put at ease candidates who have psychological barriers

To mine deep information, a researcher must show empathy and establish a friendly rapport with participants. These kinds of phenomenological research methods require researchers to focus on the subject and avoid getting influenced.

Examples Of Phenomenological Research

Phenomenological research is a way to understand individual situations in detail. The theories are developed transparently, with the evidence available for a reader to access. We can use this methodology in situations such as:

• The experiences of every war survivor or war veteran are unique. Research can illuminate their mental states and survival strategies in a new world.
• Losing family members to Covid-19 hasn’t been easy. A detailed study of survivors and people who’ve lost loved ones can help understand coping mechanisms and long-term traumas.
• What’s it like to be diagnosed with a terminal disease when a person becomes a parent? The conflict of birth and death can’t be generalized, but research can record emotions and experiences.

Phenomenological research is a powerful way to understand personal experiences. It provides insights into individual actions and motivations by examining long-held assumptions. New theories, policies and responses can be developed on this basis. But, the phenomenological research design will be ineffective if subjects are unable to communicate due to language, age, cognition or other barriers. Managers must be alert to such limitations and sharp to interpret results without bias.

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Explore Harappa Diaries to learn more about topics such as What Are The Objectives Of Research, Fallacy Meaning, Kolb Learning Styles and How to Learn Unlearn And Relearn to upgrade your knowledge and skills.

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