Phenomenology focuses on human experiences concerning specific situations or experiences and tries to describe them. It is a widely accepted philosophical and psychological qualitative research method. Hermeneutic phenomenology is interpreting texts to explore lived experience (“Phenomenology Research Overview”). Transcendental phenomenology focuses on meanings of lived experiences of concepts or phenomena for people (“Phenomenology Research Overview”). Its purpose is to describe the essence, the nature of experiencing a phenomenon. Thus, phenomenology is a specific attempt to investigate and describe phenomena as lived by people who experience them directly.
I agree that phenomenology is a bright example of the qualitative research method as it strives to describe unique and subjective experiences of people. I can apply the author’s idea to my own writing, and it can help me to analyze my personal experience more deeply and thoroughly than usually. I can extract more information about my experience by analyzing a number of my texts within the framework of one research problem. Having an opportunity to study plenty of material can help to notice and define specific information that is not obvious within the framework of only one text. However, I agree with the author that staying unprejudiced and unbiased is very important for applying this research method. In this respect, one question remained unanswered for me after reading the material. It is unclear how to define for sure whether a researcher succeeded in staying neutral and objective in the course of investigating. Phenomenology is a qualitative research method and it deals with rather complex abstract categories of human experience and knowledge. Therefore, a question concerning the criteria of staying unprejudiced and unbiased remains.
Much useful information can be found in credible online encyclopedias. For instance, Britannica provides clarification that phenomenology strives to investigate experience without addressing theories relating to its causal explanation (Spiegelberg and Walter, “Phenomenology”). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines phenomenology in an interesting way as the investigation of reflections of things in human consciousness (“Phenomenology”). Thus, phenomenology is a striving to study human consciousness and objects reflected in it directly, without applying preceding knowledge.
Works Cited
“Phenomenology.” Plato, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology/. Accessed 30 March 2020.
“Phenomenology Research Overview.” Cirt, https://cirt.gcu.edu/research/developmentresources/research_ready/phenomenology/phen_overview. Accessed 30 March 2020.
Spiegelberg, Herbert, and Walter Biemel. “Phenomenology.” Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/topic/phenomenology. Accessed 30 March 2020.
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