Qualitative Data Analysis : An Introduction

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Qualitative Data Analysis An Introduction

• Carol Grbich
• Chapter. 7 Phenomenology

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Phenomenology

• Phenomenology involves exploring, in depth,
  experiences or texts to clarify their essences
• There are several different forms of
  Phenomenology
• Classical/realistic/transcendental
• Existential
• Hermeneutic
• Heuristic

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Classical Phenomenology Edmund Husserl

• Seeks the structures of the world and how people
  act and react to them, eg. the structure of
  consciousness, intentionality and essences in an
  external world
• how objects are constituted in pure consciousness
  
• and how these constitutions can be identified
  through processes of phenomenological reduction.

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Phenomenological reduction (bracketing)

• identify the phenomena or object
• identify a recent experience of your own of this
  phenomena in terms of how it appeared to you
• take certain features of this experience and
  develop variations on aspects of this bracketed
  experience and then delete these from the object
• continue this process until you arrive at the
  essence or essential features of the object

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Bracketing detail (1)

• Ask more specific questions about your knowledge
  of and attitudes (What do I think of this? What
  do I think this experience would be like?)
• Move back, remove all theoretical perspectives,
  symbols and constructs and your preconceived
  ideas, experiences and feelings re the topic
  under research
• Prepare to confront the phenomenon with a blank
  sheet, rather like taking the position of an
  alien from a distant planet
• Focus on the phenomenon and become open and
  passive
• Set reasoning aside
• Listen carefully and allow yourself to be drawn
  in, in a sustained and receptive manner

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Bracketing detail (2)

• Document answers to the question what does the
  experience appear to be now?
• Examine this description, Does it arise from my
  own experiences or from past knowledge or my
  reading? All aspects which can be seen to have
  come from other sources must be abandoned.
• Locate the experiences essence and identify and
  critique the essences elements. Ask yourself the
  question Would the phenomenon still stand
  without any of these?
• Negotiate the essences elements with those
  observed/interviewed.
• (Adapted from Crotty, 1996158-159

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Data collection

• Interview with open ended questions seeking
  experiences. Return several times to seek
  clarification of issues or to explore potential
  aspects which are becoming illuminated
• Observe (bathe in the experience as it occurs
  observing the human experiences both of yourself
  and of others)
• Include documentation e.g. literature, poetry,
  biography, material culture etc. (seek
  perspectives of others regarding these texts,
  meanwhile recording your own understandings and
  experiences)
• Identify and deconstruct discourses

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Data analysis

• Bracket out your own experiences
• Enter a dialogue with individual participants
  (or engage with an existing text)
• Reflect on what you have gained through reading
  and journaling your thoughts
• Identify the major themes from the
  narratives/texts using processes of preliminary
  data analysis and/or thematic analysis

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Data analysis detail (1)

• Stage 1 ideographic mode (the gathering of
  closely connected ideas, words or concepts)
• construct a research key of categories from
  each transcript and subcategories related to the
  research question. This key will be expanded as
  more transcripts are perused.
• isolate natural meaning units phrases with a
  single meaning and number these according to
  categories in the research key
• select themes which are central to the
  experiences of participants - write a
  phenomenological comment on each central theme
• write a succinct sub narrative of the
  individuals experience of the phenomenon and
  relate it to the interpretive themes selected.
•  

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Data analysis detail (2)

• Stage 2 nomothetic mode (the search for abstract
  principles)
• collate sub -narratives and interpretive themes
  and use concept maps to to indicate
  interconnections around the phenomenon being
  researched
• rank interpretive themes in order of importance
  (frequency x intensity) and group meta themes
  and subthemes
• identify explicative themes (those which appear
  to have a primary referential character) using
  bracketing of your own thoughts and biases
  followed by creative writing through free
  variation to multiply possibilities
• creatively write using your own embodied
  experience of the phenomena together with
  information from the literature to enhance
  phenomenological description of interpretive
  themes key to the phenomena.
• (adapted from Devinish, 2002 5-6)

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Existential Phenomenology Sartre, Heidegger,
Merleau Ponty.

• Consciousness is a separate entity
• People are immersed in their life worlds
• Phenomenological reduction is not desired
• Movement from abstract to the real the meanings
  for being must be uncovered first
• Husserls movement in classical phenomenology is
  from the real to the abstract.

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Hermeneutic Phenomenology Heidegger, Gadamer,
Ricoeur Van Manen

• Investigates the interpretive structures of
  experiences of individuals or texts
• The interpretive focus is from the outside - from
  the perspective of the objective researcher, or
  from the inside - with a focus on interaction
  between the interpreter and text
• The integration of part and whole in terms of
  overall interpretation is essential. being
  (existence) is the overarching hidden aspect
  which becomes evident via the activities of
  beings (individuals).
• Bracketing does not occur but a reflective
  journal is kept
• Co-construction of the data between researcher
  and respondent occurs and that the outcome
  involves a continuous conversation.

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Heuristic Phenomenology Moutsakas 1.

• 1. Become one with the research question through
  self awareness and self knowledge involving
• self dialogue ( ones own experiences),
• tacit knowing (that which lies beneath
  intuition),
• intuition (that which is between explicit and
  tacit knowledge),
• indwelling (going inwards for a deeper
  understanding),
• focusing (on the central meaning of the
  experience ) and
• examination of the internal reference frames
  (created from knowledge and experience).

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Heuristic Phenomenology Moutsakas 2.

• 2. Immersion the researcher becomes totally
  involved in the world of data
• 3. Incubation intense concentration on knowledge
  expansion through increased awareness, intuitive
  or tacit insights and understanding
• 4. Illumination active knowing to expand
  understanding of the experience through a
  breakthrough
• 5. Explication reflective actions and
  comprehensive depiction of core themes
• 6. Creative synthesis bring together and display
  data creatively to show patterns and
  relationships