Notes
Phenomenological inquiry refers to the way a therapist or researcher engages engaging dialogue and asks questions. The aim of phenomenological inquiry is to ask questions that enable clients/participants to describe their own meanings and find their own way through their specific life situation. This form of inquiry is geared to self-discovery as well as exploration. Phenomenological inquiry requires the therapist’s/researcher’s genuine interest, curiosity and care. (Finlay, s.d.)
It begins with the assumption, says Erskine (2001), that “I know nothing about this client’s [or participant’s] experience.” None of our past experiences, understandings, theories, or even our observations tells us enough about what it’s like to live in another person’s skin. Here, therapists “exercise an expertise in asking questions from a position of ‘not knowing’ rather than asking questions that are informed by method and that demand specific answers” (Anderson & Goolishian 1992, p.28). It’s about constantly focusing on the client’s experience rather than on their observable behavior alone. It’s about seeing them as a person in their life context rather than as a problem to be ‘solved’ or, in research terms, as a object of study. (Finlay, s.d.)
To engage in a phenomenological inquiry, Erskine recommends using questions or statements that focus on the person’s experience. It often begins by asking the person to talk about a concrete experience – to go to that ‘place’ and to describe what it is like. The inquiry can focus on a range of dimensions: bodily ones (“What’s happening in your body just now?”), cognitive ones (“What sense do you make of that?”), affective ones (“What are you feeling?”), and/or relational ones (“What’s it like to be sitting here telling me that story?”). (Finlay, s.d.)
[Phenomenological description] must stick close to experience, and yet not limit itself to the empirical but restore to each experience the ontological cipher which marks it internally. (Merleau-Ponty, 1960/1964:157 cited in Finlay, s.d.)
Research methods
- Discovering a topic and question rooted in autobiographical meanings and values, as well as involving social meanings and significance;
- Conducting a comprehensive review of the professional and research literature;
- Constructing a set of criteria to locate appropriate co-researchers;
- Providing co-researchers with instructions on the nature and purpose of the investigation, and developing an agreement that includes obtaining informed consent, insuring confidentiality, and delineating the responsibilities of the primary researcher and research participant, consistent with ethical principles of research;
- Developing a set of questions or topics to guide the interview process;
- Conducting and recording a lengthy person-to-person interview that focuses on a bracketed topic and question. A follow-up interview may also be needed;
- Organizing and analyzing the data to facilitate development of individual textural and structural descriptions, a composite textural description, a composite structural description, and a synthesis of textural and structural meanings and essences.
(Moustakas, 1994: 89)
Formulating the Question
The first challenge of the researcher, in preparing to conduct a phenomenological investigation, is to arrive at a topic and question that have both social meaning and personal significance. The question must be stated in clear and concrete terms. The key words of the question should be defined, discussed, and clarified so that the intent and purpose of the investigation are evident. The position of each key word, or focus, of the question determines what is primary in pursuing the topic and what data will be collected.
In phenomenological research, the question grows out of an intense interest in a particular problem or topic. The researcher’s excitement and curiosity inspire the search. Personal history brings the core of the problem into focus. As the fullness of the topic emerges, strands and tangents of it may complicate an articulation of a manageable and specific question. Yet this process of permitting aspects of the topic to enter into awareness is essential in the formulation of a core question that will remain viable and alive throughout the investigation. A human science research question has definite characteristics:
1. It seeks to reveal more fully the essences and meanings of human experience;
2. It seeks to uncover the qualitative rather than the quantitative factors in behavior and experience;
3. It engages the total self of the research participant, and sustains personal and passionate involvement;
4. It does not seek to predict or to determine causal relationships;
5. It is illuminated through careful, comprehensive descriptions, vivid and accurate renderings of the experience, rather than measurements, ratings, or scores.
(Moustakas, 1994: 89-90)
References
Finlay, L (s.d.) Phenomenology At: https://www.lindafinlay.co.uk/phenomenology/ (Accessed 14/06/26)
Moustakas, C (1994) ‘Methods and Practices for Conducting Human Science Research’ In: Moustakas, C. Phenomenological Research Methods London: Sage