Difficulties encountered in the application of the phenomenological method in the social sciences

 

 

Amedeo Giorgi

 

 

---

ABSTRACT

While it is heartening to see that more researchers in the field of the social sciences are using some version of the phenomenological method, it is also disappointing to see that very often some of the steps employed do not follow phenomenological logic. In this paper, several dissertations are reviewed in order to point out some of the difficulties that are encountered in attempting to use some version of the phenomenological method. Difficulties encountered centred on the phenomenological reduction, the use of imaginative variation and the feedback to subjects.

---

 

 

“Full text available only in PDF format”

 

 

References

Arminio, J. (2001). Exploring the nature of race-related guilt. Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 29, 239-252.         [ Links ]

Colaizzi, P. (1978). Psychological research as the phenomenologist views it. In R. Valle & M. King (Eds.), Existential-phenomenological alternatives for psychology (pp. 48-71). New York: Oxford University Press.         [ Links ]

Creswell, J. (1998). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.         [ Links ]

Driscoll, J. W. (2004). The experience of women living with bipolar II disorder. Unpublished PhD dissertation, University of Connecticut, Storr, CT.         [ Links ]

Friedeberg, B. (2002). From countertransference to empathy: A phenomenological investigation into psychotherapeutic process. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Saybrook Graduate School, San Francisco, CA.         [ Links ]

Garcia, M. K. (1996). The lived experience of mothers and children with asthma. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Texas Woman's University, Denton, TX.         [ Links ]

Geertz, C. (1983). Local knowledge: Further essays in interpretive anthropology. New York: Basic Books.         [ Links ]

Giorgi, A. (1985a). Sketch of a psychological phenomenological method. In A. Giorgi (Ed.), Phenomenology and psychological research (pp. 8-22). Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.         [ Links ]

Giorgi, A. (Ed.). (1985b). Phenomenology and psychological research. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.         [ Links ]

Giorgi, Barbro (2006). Can an empirical psychology be derived from Husserl's philosophy? In P. D. Ashworth & M. C. Chung (Eds.), Phenomenology and psychological science: Historical and philosophical perspectives (pp. 69-88). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Press.         [ Links ]

Grant, K. S. (2004). Japanese experience of deciding to enter psychotherapy: A phenomenological study. John F. Kennedy University, Pleasant Hill, CA.         [ Links ]

Husserl, E. (1962). Ideas: General introduction to pure phenomenology (W. R. Boyce Gibson, Trans.). New York: Collier Books. (Original work published 1913)        [ Links ]

Husserl, E. (1965). Philosophy as a rigorous science. In Q. Lauer (Ed. & Trans.), Phenomenology and the crisis of philosophy (pp. 71-147). New York: Harper and Row. (Original work published 1910-1911)        [ Links ]

Husserl, E. (1983). Ideas pertaining to a pure phenomenology and to a phenomenological philosophy. First book (F. Kersten, Trans.). The Hague: M. Nijhoff. (Original work published 1913)        [ Links ]

Keen, E. (1975). Doing research phenomenologically: Methodological considerations. Unpublished manuscript, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA.         [ Links ]

Kvale, S. (1996). InterViews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. London: Sage.         [ Links ]

MacRenato, S. W. (1995). Experiences of moral commitment: A phenomenological study. University of San Diego, San Diego, CA.         [ Links ]

May, R. (1965). Intentionality, the heart of human will. The Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 5, 202-209.         [ Links ]

Merleau-Ponty, M. (1964). Phenomenology and the sciences of man (J. Wild, Trans.). In J. Edie (Ed.), The primacy of perception (pp. 43-95). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. (Original work published 1961)        [ Links ]

Moustakas, C. (1994). Phenomenological research methods. London: Sage.         [ Links ]

Polkinghorne, D. E. (1989). Phenomenological research methods. In R. S. Valle & S. Halling (Eds.), Existential-phenomenological perspectives in psychology: Exploring the breadth of human experience (pp. 41-60). New York: Plenum Press.         [ Links ]

Schütz, A. (1967). The phenomenology of the social world (G. Welsh & F. Lehnert, Trans.). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. (Original work published 1932)        [ Links ]

Spiegelberg, H. (1960). The phenomenological movement: A historical introduction (3rd ed., Vol. 2). The Hague: M. Nijhoff.         [ Links ]

Trumbull, M. (1993). The experience of undergoing coronary artery bypass: A phenomenological investigation. Unpublished PhD dissertation, The Graduate School of the Union Institute, Cincinnati, OH.         [ Links ]