Resources for Phenomenology and Phenomenography
Doing phenomenology in science education: A research review
Edvin Østergaard, Bo Dahlin, Aksel Hugo
Studies in Science Education (2008) 44(2): 93-121
Abstract: This article is a review of applications of phenomenology, as a philosophy of knowledge and qualitative research approach, to the field of science education (SE). The purpose is to give an overview of work that has been done as well as to assess it and discuss its possibilities of future development. We ask: what attempts for connecting phenomenology and SE do we find in the research literature, and what possible effects could such connections have for teaching and learning? In approaching this field we distinguish between three sources of phenomenological SE: (1) Goethe’s phenomenology of nature; (2) philosophical phenomenology; and (3) anthropological phenomenology. Existing research based on phenomenological approaches is categorised as phenomenology of SE, phenomenology in SE, and phenomenology and SE integrated. Research examples from each category are critically evaluated and discussed. Finally we discuss the question of the relevance of phenomenology to science teaching. Our review indicates that phenomenology has considerable potential as a method for investigating science learning as a holistic process. It also seems that phenomenology and SE meet most fruitfully when phenomenology is done in the classroom, that is, when it is turned into actual efforts for promoting learning.
A phenomenological research design illustrated
Thomas Groenewald
International Journal of Qualitative Methods (2004) 3(1): 42-55
Abstract: This article distills the core principles of a phenomenological research design and, by means of a specific study, illustrates the phenomenological methodology. After a brief overview of the developments of phenomenology, the research paradigm of the specific study follows. Thereafter the location of the data, the data-gathering the data-storage methods are explained. Unstructured in-depth phenomenological interviews supplemented by memoing, essays by participants, a focus group discussion and field notes were used. The data explicitation, by means of a simplified version of Hycner's (1999) process, is further explained. The article finally contains commentary about the validity and truthfulness measures, as well as a synopsis of the findings of the study.
Variation and commonality in phenomenographic research methods
Gerlese S. Åkerlind
Higher Education Research & Development (2005) 24(4): 321-334
Abstract: This paper focuses on the data analysis stage of phenomenographic research, elucidating what is involved in terms of both commonality and variation in accepted practice. The analysis stage of phenomenographic research is often not well understood. This paper helps to clarify the process, initially by collecting together in one location the more concrete of the existing descriptions of phenomenographic analysis. The analytic process is then further elucidated by a unique analysis of variation in practice, based on the principles underlying that practice. This work was inspired by the ongoing efforts of John Bowden to clarify the nature and rigour of phenomenographic research methods, commencing in particular with Bowden and Walsh's volume in 1994.
Phenomenography — a “good‐for‐nothing brother” of phenomenology? Outline of an analysis
Biörn Hasselgren, Dennis Beach
Higher Education Research & Development (1997) 16(2): 191-202
Abstract: This article will argue that five different ways of doing phenomenography can be found amongst the works of Gothenburg phenomenographers: Discursive, Experimental, Naturalistic, Hermeneutic and Phenomenological. Commenting on an earlier version of phenomenography, Jacob Needleman stated that it was “a ‘good‐for‐nothing’ brother of phenomenology”. We will argue that it is not. It is productive research, even if at times the degree of methodological reflection applied by phenomenographers to their work is found wanting. Two of five forms of Gothenburg phenomenography can be developed by recourse to phenomenology.
Jan Larssona, Inger Holmströmb
International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-Being (2007) 2(1): 55-64
Abstract: Phenomenography is a research approach developed from an educational framework. However, practised in other areas this research approach can be misunderstood as seems to be the case in some reports on allegedly phenomenographic studies. In this article, the authors show how the phenomenographic approach differs from a phenomenological one, using as an example an interview study on anaesthesiologists’ understanding of work. Having performed both a phenomenographic and a phenomenological analysis of the same transcripts, the researchers compared the results from the two approaches. The result of the phenomenographic study was four ways of understanding work: (a) monitoring and controlling the patient’s vital functions; (b) guiding the patient safely through the operation; (c) serving patients, other doctors and nurses; (d) leading the operating theatre and team. The phenomenological analysis showed the essence of being an anaesthesiologist: Carrying the responsibility for the patient’s vital functions; always being alert, watching carefully over the patient’s body, ready to act whenever the patient’s life is in danger, however difficult the circumstances. The authors discuss the differences between the two research approaches, stressing the value of phenomenographic studies in educational settings as well as its limited value in research on patients’ experiences of illness.
Learning computer science and engineering in context
Shirley Booth
Computer Science Education (2001) 11(3): 169-188
Abstract: The growing tendency away from transmissive pedagogy to a broadly constructivist pedagogy in higher education is characterised as a cultural change which lacks a strong theoretical foundation within the culture. In this paper, learning is considered from a phenomenographic perspective, which teachers can ground in their own experience of teaching and work with to gain insights into their students' experience of learning. Thereby the theoretical foundation of the culture can successively be strengthened. The message is illustrated with the results of empirical research into students' experience of learning in groups in a project-focused induction course to a computer science and engineering programme.
Choose your method: a comparison of phenomenology, discourse analysis, and grounded theory
Helene Starks, Susan Brown Trinidad
Qualitative Health Research (2007) 17(10): 1372-1380
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to compare three qualitative approaches that can be used in health research: phenomenology, discourse analysis, and grounded theory. The authors include a model that summarizes similarities and differences among the approaches, with attention to their historical development, goals, methods, audience, and products. They then illustrate how these approaches differ by applying them to the same data set. The goal in phenomenology is to study how people make meaning of their lived experience; discourse analysis examines how language is used to accomplish personal, social, and political projects; and grounded theory develops explanatory theories of basic social processes studied in context. The authors argue that by familiarizing themselves with the origins and details of these approaches, researchers can make better matches between their research question(s) and the goals and products of the study.
Experiencing nursing education research: narrative inquiry and interpretive phenomenology
Gail M. Lindsay
Nurse Researcher (2006) 13(4): 30-47
Abstract: Narrative inquiry is emerging from higher education curriculum studies into nursing, and interpretive phenomenology is established in nursing education research. These two research methods are compared by subject matter, agent, method, data and outcome, using examples from nursing education research. This comparison facilitates a researcher’s choice of method by showing what is revealed by each type of inquiry and how they differ.