Table 1
Description of three contemporary approaches to phenomenology
|
Phenomenological approach |
Description |
Key figures |
|---|---|---|
|
Lifeworld research |
A blended approach that explores how daily experiences manifest in the lifeworld of individuals through consideration of selfhood, sociality, embodiment, temporality, and spatiality [8] |
Peter Ashworth, Karin Dahlberg |
|
Post-intentional phenomenology |
A blended approach that treats the phenomenon as the unit of analysis but asserts that phenomena are multiple, partial, contextual, and in flux; being simultaneously produced and producing [9] |
Mark Vagle |
|
Interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) |
A blended approach that aims to provide detailed examination of the lived experience of a phenomenon through participant’s personal experiences and personal perception of objects and events. In contrast to other approaches, in IPA the researcher performs an active role in the interpretive process [10] |
Jonathan Smith |
Table 2
Comparison of transcendental and hermeneutic phenomenology
|
Transcendental (descriptive) phenomenology |
Hermeneutic (interpretive) phenomenology | |
|---|---|---|
|
Philosophical origins |
Husserl |
Heidegger Gadamer |
|
Ontological assumptions |
Reality is internal to the knower; what appears in their consciousness |
Lived experience is an interpretive process situated in an individual’s lifeworld |
|
Epistemological assumptions |
Observer must separate him/herself from the world including his/her own physical being to reach the state of the transcendental I; bias-free; understands phenomena by descriptive means |
Observer is part of the world and not bias free; understands phenomenon by interpretive means |
|
Researcher role in data collection |
Bracket researcher subjectivity during data collection and analysis |
Reflects on essential themes of participant experience with the phenomenon while simultaneously reflection on own experience |
|
Researcher role in data analysis/writing |
Consider phenomena from different perspectives, identify units of meaning and cluster into themes to form textural description (the what of the phenomenon). Use imaginative variation to create structural (the how) description. Combine these descriptions to form the essence of the phenomenon |
Iterative cycles of capturing and writing reflections towards a robust and nuanced analysis; consider how the data (or parts) contributed to evolving understanding of the phenomena (whole) |
|
Methodological texts |
Polkinghorne [28] Moustakas [18] Giorgi [27] |
Van Manen [12] |
|
Examples |
Takavol [32] |
Bynum [2] |