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 researcher 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, 4th
Ed. NY: Teacher's College Press.
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