Qualitative Data Analysis
: An Introduction
Carol Grbich
Chapter. 7
Phenomenology
Phenomenology
Phenomenology involves exploring, in depth,
experiences or texts to clarify their essences
There are several different forms of
Phenomenology:
 Classical/realistic/transcendental;
 Existential
 Hermeneutic
 Heuristic
Classical Phenomenology – Edmund
Husserl
 Seeks the structures of the world and how people
act and react to them, eg. the structure of
consciousness, intentionality and essences in an
external world
 how objects are constituted in pure
consciousness
and how these constitutions can be identified
through processes of phenomenological
reduction.
Phenomenological reduction (bracketing)
 identify the phenomena or object
 identify a recent experience of your own of this
phenomena in terms of how it appeared to you
 take certain features of this experience and
develop variations on aspects of this bracketed
experience and then delete these from the object
 continue this process until you arrive at the
essence or essential features of the object
Bracketing detail (1)
 Ask more specific questions about your knowledge of and
attitudes (What do I think of this? What do I think this
experience would be like?)
 Move back, remove all theoretical perspectives, symbols and
constructs and your preconceived ideas, experiences and
feelings re the topic under research
 Prepare to confront the phenomenon with a blank sheet,
rather like taking the position of an alien from a distant
planet
 Focus on the phenomenon and become open and passive
 Set reasoning aside
 Listen carefully and allow yourself to be drawn in, in a
sustained and receptive manner
Bracketing detail (2)
 Document answers to the question: what does
the experience appear to be now?
 Examine this description, : Does it arise from my
own experiences or from past knowledge or my
reading? All aspects which can be seen to have
come from other sources must be abandoned.
 Locate the experiences’ essence and identify and
critique the essences’ elements. Ask yourself the
question: Would the phenomenon still stand
without any of these?
 Negotiate the essences’ elements with those
observed/interviewed.
Data collection
 Interview with open ended questions seeking
experiences. Return several times to seek
clarification of issues or to explore potential aspects
which are becoming illuminated
 Observe (bathe in the experience as it occurs –
observing the human experiences both of yourself
and of others)
 Include documentation e.g. literature, poetry,
biography, material culture etc. (seek perspectives of
others regarding these texts, meanwhile recording
your own understandings and experiences)
 Identify and deconstruct discourses
Data analysis
 Bracket out your own experiences
 Enter a dialogue with individual participants (or
engage with an existing text)
 Reflect on what you have gained through reading and
journaling your thoughts
 Identify the major themes from the narratives/texts
using processes of preliminary data analysis and/or
thematic analysis
Data analysis detail (1)
 Stage 1: ideographic mode (the gathering of closely
connected ideas, words or concepts)
 construct a ‘research key’ of categories from each transcript
and subcategories related to the research question. This key
will be expanded as more transcripts are perused.
 isolate ‘natural meaning units’ – phrases with a single
meaning and number these according to categories in the
research key
 select themes which are central to the experiences of
participants - write a phenomenological comment on each
central theme
 write a succinct sub narrative of the individual’s experience of
the phenomenon and relate it to the interpretive themes
selected.
Data analysis detail (2)
Stage 2; nomothetic mode (the search for abstract principles)
 collate sub -narratives and interpretive themes and use concept
maps to to indicate interconnections around the phenomenon
being researched
 rank interpretive themes in order of importance (frequency x
intensity) and group meta themes and subthemes
 identify explicative themes (those which appear to have a primary
referential character) using bracketing of your own thoughts and
biases followed by creative writing through ‘free variation’ to
multiply possibilities
 creatively write using your own embodied experience of the
phenomena together with information from the literature to
enhance phenomenological description of interpretive themes key
to the phenomena.
 (adapted from Devinish, 2002: 5-6)
Existential Phenomenology; Sartre,
Heidegger, Merleau Ponty.
 Consciousness is a separate entity
 People are immersed in their life worlds
 Phenomenological reduction is not desired
 Movement from abstract to the real – the
meanings for being must be uncovered first
 Husserl’s movement in classical phenomenology
is from the real to the abstract.
Hermeneutic Phenomenology : Heidegger,
Gadamer, Ricoeur & Van Manen
Investigates the interpretive structures of experiences of individuals or
texts
 The interpretive focus is from the outside - from the perspective of
the ‘objective’ researcher, or from the inside - with a focus on
interaction between the interpreter and text
 The integration of part and whole in terms of overall interpretation
is essential. ‘being’ (existence) is the overarching hidden aspect
which becomes evident via the activities of ‘beings’ (individuals).

Bracketing does not occur but a reflective journal is kept
 Co-construction of the data between researcher and respondent
occurs and that the outcome involves a continuous conversation.
Heuristic Phenomenology : Moutsakas 1.
1.
Become one with the research question through self awareness
and self knowledge involving;
self dialogue ( ones own experiences),
tacit knowing (that which lies beneath intuition),
intuition (that which is between explicit and tacit
knowledge),
indwelling (going inwards for a deeper understanding),
focusing (on the central meaning of the experience ) and
examination of the internal reference frames (created from
knowledge and experience).
Heuristic Phenomenology : Moutsakas 2.
2. Immersion: the researcher becomes totally involved in
the world of data
3. Incubation: intense concentration on knowledge
expansion through increased awareness, intuitive or tacit
insights and understanding
4. Illumination: active knowing to expand understanding of
the experience through a breakthrough
5. Explication: reflective actions and comprehensive
depiction of core themes
6. Creative synthesis: bring together and display data
creatively to show patterns and relationships