Phenomenological Studies

Question 1

What are the two main types of phenomenological studies?

Answer 1

1. Descriptive Phenomenology: Focuses on capturing people’s descriptions of their experiences and bracketing the researcher’s biases to understand the essence of the phenomenon.
2. Interpretive Phenomenology: Goes beyond description to interpret the meanings of the experiences, acknowledging that interpretation requires prior understanding.

Question 2

What are the steps in phenomenological research?

Answer 2

1. Identifying the Phenomenon of Interest: Choosing a specific phenomenon to study.
2. Bracketing: Setting aside preconceived notions to focus on the participants’ experiences.
3. Data Collection: Using methods such as interviews, conversations, and participant observation to gather data.
4. Data Analysis: Analyzing the data to identify significant statements, formulate meanings, and organize these meanings into themes.
5. Describing the Phenomenon: Providing a comprehensive description of the phenomenon based on the analysis.

Question 3

What is Colaizzi’s Approach?

Answer 3

Involves reading descriptions, extracting significant statements, formulating meanings, organizing these meanings into theme clusters, and validating the descriptions with participants.

Question 4

What is Moustakas’ Approach?

Answer 4

Focuses on textural description (what participants experienced) and structural description (how they experienced it), leading to a composite description.

Question 5

What is Van Manen’s Approach?

Answer 5

Combines descriptive and interpretive phenomenology, using holistic, selective, and detailed approaches to identify thematic structures.