Phenomenological Interviewing: Philosophy

Phenomenology is actually a philosophical approach to interviewing. Different researchers have slightly different methods and views for what they call phenomenology, I will be talking about the view set forth by Seidman (2013). Phenomenology is interested in the experience of participants and the meaning they make of it; this view stresses the transitory nature of human experience. As Seidman states (p. 16) "in human experience, the 'will be' becomes the 'is' and then the 'was' in an instant." Therefore as interviewers, we are interested in the participant's "is"- recognizing that it may change in the future. 

Consider that in most of life we are seeing the world from our point of view, which may be quite different from how others view it. In phenomenological interviewing, the goal of researchers is to set our own beliefs about the world aside and understand the world from the interviewee's viewpoint. We will never fully understand their view, but we must strive to come as close as we can. 

Researchers emphasize that a phenomenological approach focuses on the "lived experience" of others. What does "lived experience" mean? It means that both the interviewer and interviewee step back and reflect on the reconstruction of what the interviewee felt during the phenomenon of interest. Interviewers strive to guide the interviewee to recreate mentally their lived experience- trying to make the "was" into the "is." 

Finally, a phenomenological approach emphasizes the meaning of experiences. A basic assumption is that the meaning people make of their experience affects how they live that experience.  By asking participants to reconstruct their experience and reflect on it, researchers are asking people to give meaning to it. It is the context of the experience: their feelings, rationale, and thoughts about the experience, which gives it meaning. Therefore, understanding the person's words that he or she chooses to use become very important; clarity of meaning is the goal. As an interviewer, you must put the experience into the wider context of the person's life. For example, knowing a woman is currently a dissertation student only becomes understood when you understand what that means to her in the context of her life. 

Next time I will consider doing a three interview series for phenomenological interviewing.  Do you have an issue or a question that you would like me to discuss in a future post? Would you like to be a guest writer? Send me your ideas! leann.stadtlander@waldenu.edu 

Seidman, I. (2013). Interviewing as qualitative research, 4^th Ed. NY: Teacher's College Press.