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PDQ 32 vs PDQ 36

• June 29, 2015

I suspect it is fairly common thinking that a larger boat is better than a smaller one. This is probably justified in many cases as it seems as if manufactures often begin by building smaller yachts and then as time goes on, increase their designs in size. That was not exactly the case with PDQ Yachts though. The original PDQ cat, a 34′ model, was introduced in 1987. This was eventually lengthened to 36′ and was very popular. In 1994, PDQ introduced a second design, a 32′ long model. While shorter in length, the newer yacht had both a higher bridge deck clearance ( the distance from the surface of the water to the underside of the boat ), and higher freeboard ( the distance from the water’s surface to deck level ). In fact, if you look at the image below which shows ZTC on the left rafted up to a PDQ 36 on the right, it almost appears as if our PDQ 32 is the larger boat!

Which boat looks larger?

Rebecca and I had a real treat the last few days. We had the opportunity to spend some time with David Slater , the son of Alan Slater , PDQ’s chief engineer and designer. David shared his thoughts on the catamaran’s designs. He explained that when PDQ Yachts first introduced the 34/36, they had no idea that the catamaran owners would load so much “ stuff ” onto their boats. When they designed the newer model, keeping in mind what they had learned from their initial offering, they began with the bridge deck clearance that they wanted and then went from there. In his words, completely unsolicited, the 32 is really a better boat for cruising the tropics! Obviously, we are biased but, having been on board both models, we tend to agree. And we’re not the only ones. ZTC’s previous owner told us that when they were shopping for a cat, they looked at both the 32 and the 36 and chose the slightly shorter boat as they felt that is was a better design. Food for thought if you’re looking to purchase an awesome small catamaran!

Sailing yesterday with David Slater and friends from LTD Sailing .

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Hi Mike, We’re not quite ready for moving to grenada but if you can deliver to florida or bahamas we might make a deal. Brian

Hi Brian. A delivery skipper can do that trip in 10 days. I happen to know two professionals who do trips like that for a living. Contact me by email if you’d like to make an offer.

There are 3 things about the 32 that I find delightful in warm weather:

* With the slider open the salon and cockpit become one. * The all-around view from the salon is delightful. Sailing is an outdoor activity–you shouldn’t live in a cave. * Since the tramp is high enough above the water to be dry in fair weather, it is often the best seat in the house; it has put a lot of guests to sleep while underway!

Excellent points! I love all of those things.

I don’t think you could go wrong with either the PDQ 36 or PDQ 32 s they are quality built catamarans. We owned a 36’er and have been on a few 32’ers and they both have their pros and cons. We decided on the PDQ 36 as the extra length and beam meant for a more seakindly motion. We also liked the ventilation that the 36’er has over the bunks which is unmatched by any catamaran that we have owned. Given that, we have always been jealous of the bridgedeck clearance of the PDQ32 and the fact it would take less $’s and time to maintain. Did you ask David why he chose the PDQ 36 as his personal vessel? He seems to have it really tricked out with daggerboard’s etc. I hope he’s enjoying his new Outremer 45!

I agree AJ. I’m sure we’d be pretty happy on a 36 too!

While I haven’t seen it, it sounds as if David’s 36 is pretty unlike most of the other. As you mentioned, it has daggerboards. He also said that it has no stanchions and lifelines. Sounds as if it’s pretty tricked out for racing, or at least sailing fast.

I think he likes the Outremer too. That is what we were sailing on this past Sunday.

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example of phenomenology qualitative research design

What is phenomenology in qualitative research.

Last updated

7 February 2023

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Take a closer look at this type of qualitative research along with characteristics, examples, uses, and potential disadvantages.

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• What is phenomenological qualitative research?

Phenomenological research is a qualitative research approach that builds on the assumption that the universal essence of anything ultimately depends on how its audience experiences it .

Phenomenological researchers record and analyze the beliefs, feelings, and perceptions of the audience they’re looking to study in relation to the thing being studied. Only the audience’s views matter—the people who have experienced the phenomenon. The researcher’s personal assumptions and perceptions about the phenomenon should be irrelevant.

Phenomenology is a type of qualitative research as it requires an in-depth understanding of the audience’s thoughts and perceptions of the phenomenon you’re researching. It goes deep rather than broad, unlike quantitative research . Finding the lived experience of the phenomenon in question depends on your interpretation and analysis.

• What is the purpose of phenomenological research?

The primary aim of phenomenological research is to gain insight into the experiences and feelings of a specific audience in relation to the phenomenon you’re studying. These narratives are the reality in the audience’s eyes. They allow you to draw conclusions about the phenomenon that may add to or even contradict what you thought you knew about it from an internal perspective.

• How is phenomenology research design used?

Phenomenological research design is especially useful for topics in which the researcher needs to go deep into the audience’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

It’s a valuable tool to gain audience insights, generate awareness about the item being studied, and develop new theories about audience experience in a specific, controlled situation.

• Examples of phenomenological research

Phenomenological research is common in sociology, where researchers aim to better understand the audiences they study.

An example would be a study of the thoughts and experiences of family members waiting for a loved one who is undergoing major surgery. This could provide insights into the nature of the event from the broader family perspective.

However, phenomenological research is also common and beneficial in business situations. For example, the technique is commonly used in branding research. Here, audience perceptions of the brand matter more than the business’s perception of itself.

In branding-related market research, researchers look at how the audience experiences the brand and its products to gain insights into how they feel about them. The resulting information can be used to adjust messaging and business strategy to evoke more positive or stronger feelings about the brand in the future.

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• The 4 characteristics of phenomenological research design

The exact nature of phenomenological research depends on the subject to be studied. However, every research design should include the following four main tenets to ensure insightful and actionable outcomes:

A focus on the audience’s interpretation of something . The focus is always on what an experience or event means to a strictly defined audience and how they interpret its meaning.

A lack of researcher bias or prior influence . The researcher has to set aside all prior prejudices and assumptions. They should focus only on how the audience interprets and experiences the event.

Connecting objectivity with lived experiences . Researchers need to describe their observations of how the audience experienced the event as well as how the audience interpreted their experience themselves.

• Types of phenomenological research design

Each type of phenomenological research shares the characteristics described above. Social scientists distinguish the following three types:

Existential phenomenology —focuses on understanding the audience’s experiences through their perspective. 

Hermeneutic phenomenology —focuses on creating meaning from experiences through the audience’s perspective.

Transcendental phenomenology —focuses on how the phenomenon appears in one consciousness on a broader, scientific scale.

Existential phenomenology is the most common type used in a business context. It’s most valuable to help you better understand your audience.

You can use hermeneutic phenomenology to gain a deeper understanding of how your audience perceives experiences related to your business.

Transcendental phenomenology is largely reserved for non-business scientific applications.

• Data collection methods in phenomenological research

Phenomenological research draws from many of the most common qualitative research techniques to understand the audience’s perspective.

Here are some of the most common tools to collect data in this type of research study:

Observing participants as they experience the phenomenon

Interviewing participants before, during, and after the experience

Focus groups where participants experience the phenomenon and discuss it afterward

Recording conversations between participants related to the phenomenon

Analyzing personal texts and observations from participants related to the phenomenon

You might not use these methods in isolation. Most phenomenological research includes multiple data collection methods. This ensures enough overlap to draw satisfactory conclusions from the audience and the phenomenon studied.

Get started collecting, analyzing, and understanding qualitative data with help from quickstart research templates.

• Limitations of phenomenological research

Phenomenological research can be beneficial for many reasons, but its downsides are just as important to discuss.

This type of research is not a solve-all tool to gain audience insights. You should keep the following limitations in mind before you design your research study and during the design process:

These audience studies are typically very small. This results in a small data set that can make it difficult for you to draw complete conclusions about the phenomenon.

Researcher bias is difficult to avoid, even if you try to remove your own experiences and prejudices from the equation. Bias can contaminate the entire outcome.

Phenomenology relies on audience experiences, so its accuracy depends entirely on how well the audience can express those experiences and feelings.

The results of a phenomenological study can be difficult to summarize and present due to its qualitative nature. Conclusions typically need to include qualifiers and cautions.

This type of study can be time-consuming. Interpreting the data can take days and weeks.

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Qualitative study design: Phenomenology

• Qualitative study design

Phenomenology

• Grounded theory
• Ethnography
• Narrative inquiry
• Action research
• Case Studies
• Field research
• Focus groups
• Observation
• Surveys & questionnaires
• Study Designs Home

Used to describe the lived experience of individuals.

• Now called Descriptive Phenomenology, this study design is one of the most commonly used methodologies in qualitative research within the social and health sciences.
• Used to describe how human beings experience a certain phenomenon. The researcher asks, “What is this experience like?’, ‘What does this experience mean?’ or ‘How does this ‘lived experience’ present itself to the participant?’
• Attempts to set aside biases and preconceived assumptions about human experiences, feelings, and responses to a particular situation.
• Experience may involve perception, thought, memory, imagination, and emotion or feeling.
• Usually (but not always) involves a small sample of participants (approx. 10-15).
• Analysis includes an attempt to identify themes or, if possible, make generalizations in relation to how a particular phenomenon is perceived or experienced.

Methods used include:

• participant observation
• in-depth interviews with open-ended questions
• conversations and focus workshops. 

Researchers may also examine written records of experiences such as diaries, journals, art, poetry and music.

Descriptive phenomenology is a powerful way to understand subjective experience and to gain insights around people’s actions and motivations, cutting through long-held assumptions and challenging conventional wisdom.  It may contribute to the development of new theories, changes in policies, or changes in responses.

Limitations

• Does not suit all health research questions.  For example, an evaluation of a health service may be better carried out by means of a descriptive qualitative design, where highly structured questions aim to garner participant’s views, rather than their lived experience.
• Participants may not be able to express themselves articulately enough due to language barriers, cognition, age, or other factors.
• Gathering data and data analysis may be time consuming and laborious.
• Results require interpretation without researcher bias.
• Does not produce easily generalisable data.

Example questions

• How do cancer patients cope with a terminal diagnosis?
• What is it like to survive a plane crash?
• What are the experiences of long-term carers of family members with a serious illness or disability?
• What is it like to be trapped in a natural disaster, such as a flood or earthquake? 

Example studies

• The patient-body relationship and the "lived experience" of a facial burn injury: a phenomenological inquiry of early psychosocial adjustment . Individual interviews were carried out for this study.
• The use of group descriptive phenomenology within a mixed methods study to understand the experience of music therapy for women with breast cancer . Example of a study in which focus group interviews were carried out.
• Understanding the experience of midlife women taking part in a work-life balance career coaching programme: An interpretative phenomenological analysis . Example of a study using action research.
• Holloway, I. & Galvin, K. (2017). Qualitative research in nursing and healthcare (Fourth ed.): John Wiley & Sons Inc.
• Rodriguez, A., & Smith, J. (2018). Phenomenology as a healthcare research method . Journal of Evidence Based Nursing , 21(4), 96-98. doi: 10.1136/eb-2018-102990
• << Previous: Methodologies
• Next: Grounded theory >>
• Last Updated: Jul 3, 2024 11:46 AM
• URL: https://deakin.libguides.com/qualitative-study-designs

Phenomenological Research: Methods And Examples

Ravi was a novice, finding it difficult to select the right research design for his study. He joined a program…

Ravi was a novice, finding it difficult to select the right research design for his study. He joined a program to improve his understanding of research. As a part of his assignment, he was asked to work with a phenomenological research design. To execute good practices in his work, Ravi studied examples of phenomenological research. This let him understand what approaches he needed and areas he could apply the phenomenological method.

What Is Phenomenological Research?

Phenomenological research method, examples of phenomenological research.

A qualitative research approach that helps in describing the lived experiences of an individual is known as phenomenological research. The phenomenological method focuses on studying the phenomena that have impacted an individual. This approach highlights the specifics and identifies a phenomenon as perceived by an individual in a situation. It can also be used to study the commonality in the behaviors of a group of people.  

Phenomenological research has its roots in psychology, education and philosophy. Its aim is to extract the purest data that hasn’t been attained before. Sometimes researchers record personal notes about what they learn from the subjects. This adds to the credibility of data, allowing researchers to remove these influences to produce unbiased narratives. Through this method, researchers attempt to answer two major questions:

• What are the subject’s experiences related to the phenomenon?
• What factors have influenced the experience of the phenomenon?

A researcher may also use observations, art and documents to construct a universal meaning of experiences as they establish an understanding of the phenomenon. The richness of the data obtained in phenomenological research opens up opportunities for further inquiry.

Now that we know what is phenomenological research , let’s look at some methods and examples.

Phenomenological research can be based on single case studies or a pool of samples. Single case studies identify system failures and discrepancies. Data from multiple samples highlights many possible situations. In either case, these are the methods a researcher can use:

• The researcher can observe the subject or access written records, such as texts, journals, poetry, music or diaries
• They can conduct conversations and interviews with open-ended questions, which allow researchers to make subjects comfortable enough to open up
• Action research and focus workshops are great ways to put at ease candidates who have psychological barriers

To mine deep information, a researcher must show empathy and establish a friendly rapport with participants. These kinds of phenomenological research methods require researchers to focus on the subject and avoid getting influenced.

Phenomenological research is a way to understand individual situations in detail. The theories are developed transparently, with the evidence available for a reader to access. We can use this methodology in situations such as:

• The experiences of every war survivor or war veteran are unique. Research can illuminate their mental states and survival strategies in a new world.
• Losing family members to Covid-19 hasn’t been easy. A detailed study of survivors and people who’ve lost loved ones can help understand coping mechanisms and long-term traumas.
• What’s it like to be diagnosed with a terminal disease when a person becomes a parent? The conflict of birth and death can’t be generalized, but research can record emotions and experiences.

Phenomenological research is a powerful way to understand personal experiences. It provides insights into individual actions and motivations by examining long-held assumptions. New theories, policies and responses can be developed on this basis. But, the phenomenological research design will be ineffective if subjects are unable to communicate due to language, age, cognition or other barriers. Managers must be alert to such limitations and sharp to interpret results without bias.

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Phenomenology In Qualitative Research

Saul Mcleod, PhD

Editor-in-Chief for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MRes, PhD, University of Manchester

Saul Mcleod, PhD., is a qualified psychology teacher with over 18 years of experience in further and higher education. He has been published in peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Clinical Psychology.

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Olivia Guy-Evans, MSc

Associate Editor for Simply Psychology

BSc (Hons) Psychology, MSc Psychology of Education

Olivia Guy-Evans is a writer and associate editor for Simply Psychology. She has previously worked in healthcare and educational sectors.

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What is phenomenology?

Phenomenology in qualitative research is characterized by a focus on understanding the meaning of lived experience from the perspective of the individual.

Instead of testing hypotheses or seeking to generalize findings to a larger population, phenomenological research aims to illuminate the specific and to challenge structural or normative assumptions by revealing the subjective experiences and perceptions of individuals.

This approach is particularly valuable for gaining insights into people’s motivations and actions, and for cutting through taken-for-granted assumptions and conventional wisdom.

Aim of Phenomenological Research

The aim of phenomenological research is to arrive at phenomenal understandings and insights into the meaning of lived experience.

These insights should be “impressively unique” and “primordially meaningful”, illuminating the specific experience being studied.

Phenomenological research attempts to uncover the meaning in lived experiences that are often overlooked in daily life. In other words, phenomenology asks the basic question: “What is this (primal) experience like?

To do this, phenomenological research examines experience as it appears to consciousness, seeking to avoid any preconceptions or assumptions.

Rather than simply describing what participants say, phenomenological research seeks to go deeper, to uncover implicit meanings and reveal the participant’s lifeworld.

This is not a matter of making generalized statements, but of understanding the experience from the individual’s perspective.

The aim is not to provide causal explanations or to theorize about the experience, but to “restore to each experience the ontological cipher which marks it internally.

Characteristics of Phenomenology

Phenomenology is best understood as a radical, anti-traditional style of philosophising that emphasizes describing phenomena as they appear to consciousness. It is not a set of dogmas or a system, but rather a practice of doing philosophy.

Here are some key characteristics of phenomenology:

• Focus on Experience: Phenomenology is concerned with the “phenomena,” which refers to anything that appears in the way that it appears to consciousness. This includes experiences, perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and meanings.
• First-Person Perspective: Phenomenology emphasizes the importance of the first-person, subjective experience. It seeks to understand the world as it is lived and experienced by individuals.
• Intentionality: A central concept in phenomenology is intentionality, which refers to the directedness of consciousness toward an object. This means that consciousness is always consciousness of something, and this directedness shapes how we experience the world.
• Bracketing (Epoche): Phenomenological research often involves “bracketing” or setting aside preconceived notions and assumptions about the world. This allows researchers to approach phenomena with an open mind and focus on how they appear in experience.
• Descriptive Emphasis: Phenomenology prioritizes description over explanation or interpretation. The aim is to provide a rich and nuanced account of experience as it is lived, without imposing theoretical frameworks or seeking to explain it in terms of external factors.
• Search for Essences: Phenomenology is interested in uncovering the essential structures and meanings of experience. This involves going beyond the particularities of individual experiences to grasp the shared features that make them what they are.
• Holistic Approach: Phenomenology seeks to understand experience in a holistic way , recognizing the interconnectedness of mind, body, and world. It rejects reductionist approaches that attempt to explain experience solely in terms of its parts.
• Use of Examples: Phenomenological researchers often use concrete examples to illustrate and explore the meaning of experience. These examples can be drawn from personal narratives, literature, or other sources that provide rich descriptions of lived experience.

Is phenomenology an epistemology or ontology?

Phenomenology straddles or undermines the traditional distinction between epistemology and ontology. Traditionally, epistemology is understood as the study of how we come to understand and have knowledge of the world, while ontology is the study of the nature of reality itself.

• Phenomenology investigates both how we understand the world and the nature of reality through its focus on phenomena . By examining how things appear to us, phenomenology analyzes our way of experiencing and understanding the world, simultaneously addressing questions about the objects themselves and their modes of appearance.
• Heidegger suggests that ontology is only possible through phenomenology . According to this view, analyzing our being-in-the-world is key to understanding the nature of reality itself.

Instead of separating subject and object, or the knower and the known, phenomenology highlights their interrelation, arguing that the mind is essentially open to the world, and reality is essentially capable of manifesting itself to us.

Exploring Phenomenology: Three Key Perspectives

1. husserl’s transcendental phenomenology.

Edmund Husserl viewed phenomenology as the “science of the essence of consciousness”, emphasizing the intentional structure of conscious acts. Central for phenomenological psychology was phenomenological philosopher Husserl’s understanding of “intentionality,” the idea that whenever we are conscious we are conscious of something, making the job of the researcher to better understand people’s experiences of things “in their appearing” (Langdridge, 2007, p. 13).

• Intentionality: This key concept describes consciousness’s directedness towards objects—our experiences are always about something. This “aboutness” isn’t limited to physical objects and encompasses mental acts like remembering, imagining, or even fearing.
• Essence over Existence: Husserl’s phenomenology focuses on uncovering the invariant structures of consciousness, aiming to reveal the essence of experiences like perception, thought, or emotion. It is not concerned with whether the object of an experience actually exists in the world.
• Transcendental Reduction: To grasp these essences, Husserl introduces the “epoché,” a methodological tool to bracket our natural attitude towards the world. This doesn’t mean denying the world’s existence; it’s about shifting focus from the objects themselves to how they appear in our consciousness.
• Example: When perceiving a table, we experience it through different profiles or perspectives. We can’t see all sides simultaneously, yet we grasp the table as a unified object. Transcendental phenomenology investigates the structures of consciousness that enable this constitution of objects from a multitude of appearances.

2. Heidegger’s Hermeneutical Phenomenology:

Martin Heidegger, while influenced by Husserl, diverged by emphasizing the importance of hermeneutics—the art of interpretation—in phenomenological inquiry.

• Being-in-the-World: Unlike Husserl’s focus on pure consciousness, Heidegger grounds his phenomenology in the concrete existence of Dasein—a term he uses to describe human existence’s inherent being-in-the-world.
• Facticity and Historicity: Heidegger recognizes that our understanding of the world is shaped by our historical and cultural contexts. We don’t encounter the world as a neutral observer, but through a lens of pre-existing interpretations and practices.
• Self-Concealing Nature of Phenomena: Heidegger contends that things don’t always reveal themselves fully. Our understanding is often clouded by biases, assumptions, or simply the inherent ambiguity of existence. Phenomenology, therefore, becomes a process of uncovering hidden meanings and questioning taken-for-granted assumptions.
• Example: Consider the act of using a hammer. For Heidegger, this isn’t just a neutral interaction with an object. It reveals a whole network of meanings related to our practical engagement with the world, our understanding of “for-the-sake-of-which” (building something), and our shared cultural practices.

3. Merleau-Ponty’s Idea of Perception

Maurice Merleau-Ponty further developed phenomenology by emphasizing the centrality of embodiment in our experience of the world.

• The Primacy of Perception: Merleau-Ponty challenges the traditional view of perception as a passive reception of sensory data. He argues that perception is an active and embodied engagement with the world.
• Body-Subject: Merleau-Ponty rejects the Cartesian mind-body dualism. For him, our body is not just an object in the world, but the very medium through which we experience and understand the world. The body is the “vehicle of being-in-the-world”.
• Perception as Foundation: Merleau-Ponty places perception at the heart of his phenomenology. He sees it as the foundation for all other cognitive activities, including thought, language, and intersubjectivity.
• Example: Consider the experience of touching a piece of velvet. It’s not simply that we receive tactile sensations. Our hand actively explores the fabric, and the perceived texture emerges from the dynamic interplay between our moving hand and the resistant surface. This experience can’t be reduced to purely mental representations or objective properties of the velvet; it arises from the embodied engagement between the perceiving subject and the world.

Data Collection in Phenomenological Research

Phenomenological research focuses on understanding lived experience, and therefore relies on qualitative data that can illuminate the subjective experiences of individuals.

Because phenomenology aims to examine experience on its own terms, it is wary of imposing pre-defined categories or structures on the data.

Many phenomenological philosophers and researchers avoid using the term “method” in favor of talking about the phenomenological “approach.”

Interviews are a common method for collecting data in phenomenological research.

Researchers typically use semi-structured or unstructured interviews, which prioritize open-ended questions and allow participants to describe their experiences in their own words.

These interviews aim to elicit detailed, concrete descriptions of specific experiences rather than abstract generalizations.

For instance, instead of asking “What does friendship mean to you?”, a researcher might ask: “Can you describe a time you felt particularly connected to a friend?”.

This shift from the abstract to the concrete helps researchers access the pre-reflective, lived experience of the phenomenon, revealing its texture and nuanc

Researchers may also use follow-up questions to clarify or gain a deeper understanding of participants’ responses.

Phenomenological interviews often explore experiences across multiple dimensions:

• Bodily sensations:  The interviewer might ask: “What was happening in your body during that experience?” or “How did that situation make you feel physically?” These questions help uncover the embodied aspects of experience often overlooked in more cognitively-focused approaches.
• Thoughts and cognitions:  Questions like “What sense did you make of that experience?” or “What thoughts went through your head?” help explore the cognitive interpretations participants make about their experiences.
• Emotional responses:  The interviewer may ask: “What feelings were present during that time?” or “How did that situation make you feel emotionally?” Allowing participants to articulate their feelings without judgment or interpretation is crucial.
• Relational dynamics:  When exploring interpersonal experiences, interviewers might ask: “What was it like to be with that person during that event?” or “How did your relationship with that person shape your experience?” Recognizing that experiences are not confined to the individual but are shaped by social and relational contexts is central to phenomenological inquiry

Beyond interviews, phenomenological research may draw upon a variety of other methods, including :

• Discussions: Open-ended discussions among participants who share an experience can shed light on commonalities and differences in how the phenomenon is lived.
• Participant observation: This method involves the researcher immersing themselves in a particular setting or community to gain firsthand experience of the phenomenon being studied.
• Analysis of personal texts: Participants’ diaries, letters, or other written accounts of their experiences can provide valuable insights into their subjective lifeworlds.
• Creative media: Researchers may use art, dance, literature, photography, or other creative media to encourage participants to express their experiences in non-verbal ways.

“Examples” are particularly important in phenomenological research. Rather than treating individual experiences as mere illustrations of general concepts, phenomenology understands examples as offering a unique window into the essence of a phenomenon.

Researchers carefully select and analyze examples to uncover and articulate the essential features of a lived experience.

Number of Participants in Phenomenological Studies

There is no prescribed number of participants required for a phenomenological study. Some researchers may choose to include a larger number of participants.

Phenomenological research emphasizes in-depth understanding of lived experiences rather than statistical generalization.

Therefore, sample size is less important than the richness and depth of the data obtained from the participants.

However, phenomenological studies that include more than a handful of participants risk being superficial and may miss the spirit of phenomenology.

Here are some examples of approaches to the number of participants in a phenomenological study:

• Three to six participants are considered to give sufficient variation.
• One participant can be used for a case study.
• Researchers can also use autobiographical reflection .
• Single-case studies can identify issues that illustrate discrepancies and system failures and illuminate or draw attention to “different” situations, but positive inferences are less easy to make without a small sample of participants.
• The strength of inference increases rapidly once factors start to recur with more than one participant .

Analyzing Data in Phenomenological Research

There are a variety of approaches to conducting phenomenological research and analyzing data.

The variety of approaches within phenomenological research can make it challenging for students to navigate, as there are no fixed rules or procedures

The specific analytic strategies used in a phenomenological study depend on the researcher’s chosen approach and the nature of the phenomenon being investigated.

Some researchers advocate for a more orthodox approach to phenomenological research that prioritizes rigorous description and aims to uncover essential structures of experience.

Descriptive Phenomenology

This approach, exemplified by the work of Giorgi and Wertz, emphasizes a rigorous, descriptive approach to capturing the essential structures of experience. It involves bracketing assumptions, focusing on pre-reflective experience, and seeking generalizable insight

For example, Giorgi’s descriptive phenomenological method involves a multi-step procedure for analyzing descriptions of lived experience:

• Read the entire description to gain a holistic understanding.
• Divide the description into smaller units of meaning.
• Explicate the psychological significance of each meaning unit.

Hermeneutic Phenomenology

Other researchers, while still grounding their work in phenomenological philosophy, emphasize the importance of interpretation in understanding the unique, lived experience of individuals.

This approach, embraced by researchers like van Manen, prioritizes interpretation and dialogue in understanding the unique, lived experience of individuals.

For example, van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenology emphasizes the role of interpretation and reflection in uncovering meaning in lived experience.

It acknowledges the researcher’s role in shaping interpretations and emphasizes the transition from pre-reflective experience to conceptual understanding.

Van Manen suggests that researchers should explicate their own assumptions and biases in order to better understand how they might be shaping their interpretations of the data.

His approach also highlights the importance of understanding the transition from pre-reflective experience to conceptual understanding.

• Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

If you are learning phenomenology, struggling with the material is expected.

Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) has become popular because it offers novice researchers a concrete structure, but its set structures may cause researchers to get caught up in method and lose the essence of the phenomenon being studied.

Developed by Jonathan Smith, IPA is a qualitative research method designed to gain an in-depth understanding of how individuals experience and make sense of specific situations.

It focuses on individual experiences and interpretations rather than aiming to uncover universal essences. IPA draws on a broader range of phenomenological thinkers than just Husserl.

It differs from descriptive phenomenology by incorporating an interpretive component, acknowledging that individuals are inherently engaged in meaning-making processes.

Critical Phenomenology

Critical phenomenology expands upon traditional phenomenology by examining the impact of social structures on lived experiences of power and oppression.

Critical phenomenology acknowledges that societal structures like capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy shape our lifeworlds and cannot be fully put aside

A key goal of critical phenomenology is to identify practical strategies for challenging oppressive structures and fostering liberatory ways of being in the world.

In psychology, phenomenology is linked with a critical realist epistemology; here, the real world exists, but it cannot be fully discovered because our experiences of it are always mediated (Shaw, 2019).

Regardless of the specific approach, several key principles should guide data analysis in phenomenological research:

• Focus on description : Phenomenological research aims to describe the lived experience of a phenomenon, rather than explain or theorize about it.
• Attend to pre-reflective experience : Researchers should strive to move beyond participants’ initial, surface-level descriptions to uncover the deeper, often implicit, meanings embedded in their experiences.
• Adopt a holistic perspective : A thorough analysis considers various aspects of experience, including embodiment, intersubjectivity, and the influence of social and cultural factors.

Reflexivity in Phenomenological Research

Phenomenological research acknowledges that researchers are active participants who bring their own perspectives and experiences to the research process.

It’s important for researchers to practice reflexivity by setting aside their own assumptions and previous knowledge in order to see the world anew through the lens of the participants’ lived experiences.

This process, known as bracketing , is an attempt to approach the research with “fresh eyes,” free from contaminating assumptions. It involves:

• Adopting a self-critical, reflexive meta-awareness: This means questioning “common sense” and taken-for-granted assumptions to reveal more about the nature of subjectivity.
• Abstaining from judgments about the truth or reality of objects in the world: For example, if a participant mentions seeing a ghost, the researcher focuses on what the ghost means to the person and how they experienced it subjectively rather than questioning the existence of ghosts.
• Recognizing the impossibility of completely removing subjectivity: Rather than trying to eliminate subjectivity, researchers should actively recognize its impact and engage with their own (inter-)subjectivity to better understand the other.

Bracketing is an ongoing process that requires mindfulness, curiosity, compassion, and a “genuinely unknowing stance” to remain open to new understandings and avoid imposing the researcher’s own biases on the data.

This is essential for rigorous phenomenological research, as subjectivity is central to the investigation.

However, different schools of thought within phenomenology emphasize different aspects of bracketing:

• Descriptive phenomenologists focus on reflexively setting aside previous understandings to prioritize the participant’s perspective.
• Hermeneutic phenomenologists strive for transparency in their interpretations.
• Critical phenomenology acknowledges that societal structures like capitalism, colonialism, and patriarchy shape our lifeworlds and cannot be fully put aside.

By acknowledging the researcher’s role and emphasizing reflexivity, phenomenological research aims to ensure that findings remain grounded in the participants’ lived experiences, avoiding the imposition of the researcher’s own assumptions or biases.

Pitfalls of Phenomenology Research

A common pitfall of phenomenology research is failing to fully grasp the nuances of phenomenological philosophy.

For example, some studies that use Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) do not adequately acknowledge their hermeneutic foundations or the need to engage in the Epoché, which helps limit the researcher’s pre-understandings.

Without this philosophical anchoring, the research is merely thematic analysis instead of phenomenology.

Other pitfalls in phenomenology research include:

• Missing the Phenomenon: Researchers should not solely focus on what is observed or said, or merely reproduce participant statements. Instead, they must uncover implicit meanings and insights into the participant’s lifeworld, providing an idiographic or general description of the phenomenon. Focusing too heavily on analysis can obscure the phenomenon, while excessive thematic structures can result in presenting “results” rather than phenomenological description.
• Misunderstanding the Phenomenological Attitude: Husserl’s bracketing is often misinterpreted as striving for objectivity, when in reality it is a profoundly subjective act to perceive the world from a fresh perspective. The focus should not be on judging reality, but on exploring experiential appearances and uncovering taken-for-granted aspects of experience. Reproducing participants’ words without going beyond their taken-for-granted understandings can cause research to get stuck in the “natural attitude”.
• Presenting an Insufficiently Holistic Account: Phenomenological studies should not just explore one aspect of consciousness or experience without considering intersubjectivity. A study that only examines an individual’s thoughts or feelings without considering the body or social context misses the point of phenomenology. Good analysis acknowledges existential being and lifeworldly dimensions like embodiment, relationships, time, and space.
• Seeing Subjectivity as Located Within an Individual: Ascribing cognition or emotion solely within individuals perpetuates the dualisms that phenomenology aims to dismantle, such as individual/social, body/mind, self/other, and internal/external. Phenomenology emphasizes a worldly matrix of meaning formed through relationships, shared language, and cultural history, highlighting the interconnectedness of individuals and the world.
• Killing the Phenomenon in Trying to be Scientifically Rigorous: Phenomenological studies that include a large number of participants in a misguided attempt to generalize findings risk being superficial and missing the essence of phenomenology. Similarly, reports that use overly intellectualized language or a detached “scientific” voice compromise the description of the lived experience.

Convincing phenomenological research should:

• Provide a rich and evocative description of the phenomenon.
• Focus on pre-reflective experience and consciousness rather than reproducing participant statements or researcher assumptions.
• Be grounded in phenomenological philosophy.
• Engage with the layered complexity and ambiguity of embodied, intersubjective, and lifeworldly meanings.

Despite ongoing debates among scholars about the best way to apply phenomenology, they share a commitment to an approach of openness and wonder.

This requires discipline, practice, and patience throughout the research process. Phenomenology has the potential to reveal new insights into the nature of lived experience.

Further Information

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• Held, K. Husserl’s Phenomenology of the Life-World. In D. Welton (Ed.), The New Husserl: A Critical Reader (pp. 32–62). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
• Nenon, T. (2015). Husserl and Heidegger on the Social Dimensions of the Life-World. In L. Učník, I. Chvatík, & A. Williams (Eds.), The Phenomenological Critique of Mathematisation and the Question of Responsibility (pp. 175–184). Heidelberg: Springer.
• Dillon, M. C. (1997). Merleau-Ponty’s Ontology . 2nd edition. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
• Overgaard, S. (2007). Wittgenstein and Other Minds: Rethinking Subjectivity and Intersubjectivity with Wittgenstein, Levinas, and Husserl . New York and London: Routledge.
• Steinbock, A. (1995). Home and Beyond: Generative Phenomenology after Husserl . Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
• Theunissen, M. (1986). The Other: Studies in the Social Ontology of Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre and Buber , trans. C. Macann. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Berger, P. L., & Luckmann, T. (1991). The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge . Harmondsworth: Penguin.
• Ferguson, H. (2006). Phenomenological Sociology: Insight and Experience in Modern Society . London: SAGE Publications.
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• Schutz, A. (1972). The Problem of Social Reality: Collected Papers I . The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
• Broome, M. R., Harland, R., Owen, G. S., & Stringaris, A. (Eds.). (2012). The Maudsley Reader in Phenomenological Psychiatry . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Finlay, L. (2009). Debating phenomenological research methods. Phenomenology & Practice , 3 (1), 6–25.
• Gallagher, S., & Zahavi, D. (2012). The Phenomenological Mind . 2nd edition. London: Routledge.
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• Gadamer, H. (1991). Truth and method (J. Weinsheimer & D. Marshall, Trans.; 2nd ed.). New York: Crossroads. (Original work published 1975)
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• Landridge D. (2007). Phenomenological Psychology . Harlow, UK: Pearson Education.

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• Volume 21, Issue 4
• Phenomenology as a healthcare research method
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• Alison Rodriguez ,
• Joanna Smith
• School of Healthcare , School of Healthcare, University of Leeds , Leeds , UK
• Correspondence to Dr Joanna Smith, School of Healthcare, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9UT, UK; j.e.smith1{at}leeds.ac.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/eb-2018-102990

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Qualitative research methodologies focus on meaning and although use similar methods have differing epistemological and ontological underpinnings, with each approach offering a different lens to explore, interpret or explain phenomena in real-world contexts and settings. In this article, we provide a brief overview of phenomenology and outline the main phenomenological approaches relevant for undertaking healthcare research.

Edmund Husserl (1859–1938), a philosopher, established the discipline of phenomenology. In Husserl’s approach to phenomenology, now labelled descriptive phenomenology , experiences are described and researcher perceptions are set aside or ‘bracketed’ in order to enter into the life world of the research participant without any presuppositions. 1 Experience is recognised to involve perception, thought, memory, imagination and emotion, each involving ‘intentionality’, as the individual focuses their gaze on a specific ‘thing’ or event. 1 Martin Heidegger (1889–1976), a student of Husserl, rejected the theory of knowledge or ‘epistemology’ that influenced Husserl’s work, and instead adopted ‘ontology’, the science of being. In relation to research, ‘epistemology’ is concerned with what constitutes valid knowledge, and how knowledge is gained with a distinction between justified belief and opinion, while ‘ontology’ ‘is more concerned with the nature of reality and now we understand what exists and is experienced.

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Key differences between Husserl’s and Heidegger’s approaches to phenomenology

What is phenomenological research?

The philosophy of phenomenology resides within the naturalistic paradigm; phenomenological research asks: ‘ What is this experience like? ’, ‘ What does this experience mean? ’, and ‘ How does the lived world present itself to the participant or to me as the researcher? ’ Not all health research questions that seek to describe patient or professional experiences will be best met by a phenomenological approach; for example, service evaluations may be more suited to a descriptive qualitative design, where highly structured questions aim to find out participant’s views, rather than their lived experience.

Building on the work of Husserl and Heidegger, different approaches and applications of phenomenological to research have been developed. Table 2 , adapted from Rodriguez, 2 highlights the differences between the main traditions of phenomenology.

Comparison of the main phenomenological traditions

Is phenomenology an appropriate approach to undertaking healthcare research?

We will use a study that explored the lived experience of parenting a child with a life-limiting condition to outline the application of van Manen’s approach to phenomenology, 3 and the relevance of the findings to health professionals. The life expectancy of children with life-limiting conditions has increased because of medical and technical advances, with care primarily delivered at home by parents. Evidence suggests that caregiving demands can have a significant impact on parents’ physical, emotional and social well-being. 4 While both qualitative and quantitative research designs can be useful to explore the quality of life for parents living with a child with a life-limiting conditions, a phenomenological approach offers a way to begin to understand the range of factors that can effect parents, from their perspective and experience, revealing meanings that can be ‘hidden’, rather than making inferences. van Manen’s approach was chosen because the associated methods do not ‘break down’ the experience being studied into disconnected parts, but provides rich narrative descriptions and interpretations that describe what it means to be a person in their particular life-world. The phenomenological aim was to develop a ‘pathic’ understanding; the researcher was therefore committed to understanding the experience of the phenomena as a whole, rather than parts of that experience. In addition, van Manen’s approach was chosen because it offers a flexibility to data collection, where there is more of an emphasis on the facilitation of participants to share their views in a non-coercive way and the production of meaning between the researcher and researched compared to other phenomenological approaches ( table 2 ).

Central to data analysis is how the researcher develops a dialogue with the text, rather than using a structured coding approach. Phenomenological themes are derived but are also understood as the structures of experience that contribute to the whole experience. van Manen’s approach draws on a dynamic interplay of six activities, that assist in gaining a deeper understanding of the nature of meaning of everyday experience:

Turning to a phenomenon, a commitment by the researcher to understanding that world.

Investigating experience as we live it rather than as we conceptualise it.

Reflecting on the essential themes, which characterise the phenomenon.

Describing the phenomenon through the art of writing and rewriting.

Maintaining a strong and oriented relation to the phenomenon.

Balancing the research context by considering the parts and the whole. 8

These activities guide the researcher, alongside drawing on the four-life world existentials ( table 2 ), as lenses to explore the data and unveil meanings.

Ten parents of children with life-limiting conditions were interviewed with the aim of gathering lived experiences and generating thick descriptions of what it is like to be a parent of a child with a life-limiting condition. The essential meaning of the phenomenon ‘the lived experience of parenting a child with a life limiting condition’ can be understood as a full-time emotional struggle involving six continuous constituents, presented in figure 1 . Health professional supporting families where a child has a life limiting condition need to be aware of the isolation faced by parents and the strain of constant care demands. Parents innate parental love and commitment to their child can make it challenging to admit they are struggling; support and the way care and services are delivered should be considerate of the holistic needs of these families ( figure 1 ). 

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Lived experience of parenting a child with a life-limiting condition. 

In summary, in Husserlian (or descriptive)derived approaches, the researcher from the outset has a concrete ‘example’ of the phenomenon being investigated, presuppositions are bracketed and the researcher imaginatively explores the phenomena; a ‘pure’ description of the phenomena’s essential features as it is experienced can then be unveiled. While in Heideggerian, hermeneutic (or interpretive) approaches, the researcher’s perspectives, experiences and interpretations of the data are interwoven, allowing the phenomenologist to provide an ‘interpretation’ rather than just a description of the phenomena as it is experienced. In all phenomenological approaches, the researcher’s role in self-reflection and the co-creativity (between researcher and researched) is required to produce detailed descriptions and interpretations of a participant’s lived experience and are acknowledged throughout the researcher’s journey and the research process. These reflections are deliberated to a greater degree in heuristic and relational approaches, as the self and relational dialogue are considered crucial to the generated understanding of the phenomena being explored.

We will provide more specific details of interpretative phenomenological analysis in the next Research Made Simple series.

• Rodriguez A
• Rodriguez A ,
• Cheater F ,
• Moustakas C
• van Manen M
• Flowers P ,
• Larkin M , et al
• Langridge D

Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Competing interests None declared.

Patient consent Not required.

Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

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Conceptual analysis article.

Phenomenological qualitative methods applied to the analysis of cross-cultural experience in novel educational social contexts.

• 1 Education Department, Jazan University, Jazan, Saudi Arabia
• 2 Cognition in Action Unit, PhiLab, University of Milan, Milan, Italy

The qualitative method of phenomenology provides a theoretical tool for educational research as it allows researchers to engage in flexible activities that can describe and help to understand complex phenomena, such as various aspects of human social experience. This article explains how to apply the framework of phenomenological qualitative analysis to educational research. The discussion within this article is relevant to those researchers interested in doing cross-cultural qualitative research and in adapting phenomenological investigations to understand students’ cross-cultural lived experiences in different social educational contexts.

Introduction: The Qualitative Method in Educational Research

Many scholars in phenomenology hold the view that human beings extract meaning from the world through personal experience ( Husserl, 1931 ; Hycner, 1985 ; Koopmans, 2015 ; Hourigan and Edgar, 2020 ; Gasparyan, 2021 ). Investigating the experience of individuals is a highly complex phenomenon ( Jarvis, 1987 ): annotating and clarifying human experience can be a challenging task not only because of the complexity of human nature, but also because an individual’s experience is a multidimensional phenomenon, that is, psychologically oriented, culturally driven, and socially structured. Hence, much uncertainty and ambiguity are surrounding the description and exploration of an individual’s experience. Such uncertainty is due to the multidimensional aspects that constitute and form an individual’s experiences, including ongoing and “mediated” behaviour ( Karpov and Haywood, 1998 ), feelings, and cognition. In all these respects, the complexity of experience becomes especially evident in certain investigative contexts such as the one we decided to explore, that is the study of the cross-cultural interactions of individuals who experience a transition from their own cultural and educational social context to a different one. In this article, it is argued that a hybrid phenomenological qualitative approach that, as shall be illustrated, brings together aspects of descriptive phenomenology, and aspects of interpretative phenomenology ( Moustakas, 1994 ; Lopez and Willis, 2004 ), could assist researchers in navigating through the complexity of cross-cultural experiences encountered by individuals in novel social educational contexts. Descriptive phenomenology was derived mainly from the philosophical work of Husserl and particularly from the idea of transcendental phenomenology ( Moustakas, 1994 ; Lopez and Willis, 2004 ; Giorgi, 2010 ). In contrast, an interpretive phenomenological methodology was derived from the works of scholars like Merleau-Ponty (1962) , Gadamer (2000) , and Gadamer and Linge (2008) . These two approaches overlap in the research methods and activities and are deployed to assist the research by promoting engagement with responsive and improvised activities rather than with mechanical procedures. The general qualitative methodology of social science research has shaped phenomenology as a methodological approach just as reliable as quantitative and experimental methods, as recently discussed by Høffding et al. (2022) , who stressed the advantages of phenomenology in qualitative research (see also Zahavi, 2019a , b ). Since we are interested in cross-cultural experiences, in the past, for example, we used such phenomenological qualitative type of investigation to find out what it is like for Saudi international students to transition from a gender-segregated society to a mixed-gender environment while studying and living as international students ( Alhazmi and Nyland, 2013 , 2015 ). We were interested in further understanding the phenomenon of transitioning itself rather than collecting students’ opinions and perspectives about the experience of transitioning. The investigation was conducted to capture and describe essential aspects of the participants’ experience, to understand the experience encountered by students in their novel social educational context. Besides this specific study case, the same hybrid methodology, as shall be suggested, may be applied to the study of similar types of social environments and groups. We refer to our past work on cross-cultural transitioning experience to help the reader translate how the phenomenological qualitative methodology can be applied in relatable scenarios in educational research.

As Giorgi (1985) , Van Manen (1990) , Moustakas (1994) , and other phenomenologists have stated, interviewing individuals who experience specific phenomena is the foundation source that phenomenological investigation relies on to understand the phenomenon. Accordingly, aspects that are core to the interviews are the following: (1) general attributes of the conducted interviews, (2) criteria of selection for potential participants, (3) ethical considerations of dealing with human participants, and (4) the interviewing procedures and some examples (these will be presented in section “Practising Phenomenology: Methods and Activities”).

To design a phenomenologically based qualitative investigation, we suggest considering three aspects: (1) the aim of the investigation; (2) the philosophical assumptions about the sought knowledge; and (3) the investigative strategies. These three aspects of the investigation shall be approached while keeping in mind the two following rationals: (1) looking for essence and (2) flexible methods and activities.

1. The researcher’s aim is that of identifying the essential and invariant structure (i.e., the essence ) of the lived experience as this is described by the participants ( Moustakas, 1994 ; Crotty, 1998 ; Cresswell, 2008 ). This allows the researcher to ‘return to the concrete aspect of the experience’ ( Moustakas, 1994 , p. 26) by offering a systematic attempt to present the experience as it appears in consciousness ( Polkinghorne, 1989 ) and to focus on the importance of the individuals and their respective views about the lived experience ( Lodico et al., 2006 ). It is essential to keep this aim (i.e., identifying the essence of lived experience ) in mind when conducting a phenomenological qualitative investigation as this is the core aim of phenomenology. According to Finlay (2006 , 2008 ), exploring and understanding the essential structure and themes of the lived experience encountered by individuals is critical. Researchers adopting these perspectives ‘borrow’ the participants’ experience and their reflections on their experience to get a deeper understanding and to grasp the deeper meaning of the investigated experience ( Van Manen, 1990 , p. 62). This is what Finlay (2006 , 2008 ) calls ‘dancing’ between two approaches, and it is also the approach that we endorse. As pointed out by Høffding and Martiny (2016) , in this explorative process the interviewer needs to understand the relation between the interviewee’s experience and their description of it, since the interview constitutes a second person perspective in which one directly encounters another subjectivity and shall not elicit closed answers such as “yes” or “no” (see section “Attributes of the Conducted Interviews”). This feature is useful when exploring an experience that has not been sufficiently explored and discussed.

2. The suggested phenomenological qualitative approach offers a strategy that ‘sharpen the level on ongoing practices in phenomenologically inspired qualitative research’ ( Giorgi, 2006a , p. 306). Methods and activities for data collection are flexible, and the analysis is designed to be aligned with the theoretical and philosophical assumptions underlying qualitative research. The present strategy allows a researcher to dialogue with both the participants and the data to produce a multi-layered description of the experience. This feature is academically important in terms of conducting a rigorous qualitative study that provides trustworthy knowledge ( Crotty, 1998 ; Denzin and Lincoln, 2003 ; Creswell, 2007 , 2009 ; Bryman, 2008 ).

The three core aspects of the investigation (1) the aim of the investigation; (2) the philosophical assumptions about the sought knowledge; and (3) the investigative strategies, informed by these two rationals , are essential to developing a phenomenologically oriented qualitative method to examine the lived experience and for identifying its essence.

Aim and Method

Thinking about the actual object of our investigation, that is, the lived experience of individuals is an essential aspect of phenomenological qualitative research. The researchers need to identify their aim very carefully by focusing on the lived experience of the subject being interviewed and on the structure of such experience rather than on the opinion of the participants about the experience.

In our previous studies, we were interested in describing the cross-cultural experience lived by Saudi students transitioning from their home country to another. Call the experience of transitioning ‘experience X’ and call Saudi students ‘group Y’. The research sought to examine the major question and the supplementary questions around which the study revolved, which was the following: “ What does the experience X look like for the individuals belonging to group Y? ”

As the question is broad in scope and quite complex, we decided to address it from a particular angle to grasp the essence of the students’ experience rather than providing a superficial description or a personal reflection of the experience. The efforts were directed to identify the most prominent overt display of the students’ experience; the focus was on investigating the most invariant and essential aspect of their experience. From this viewpoint, the research was directed to the quest of ‘what’ individuals encounter and ‘how’ they encounter it. This aim is characterised by the research design as exploratory (e.g., Blumer, 1986 ; Stebbins, 2001 ; Ritchie and Lewis, 2003 ). Exploratory research design allows researchers to “taste” and experience social phenomena and provides a journey of discovery that consists of adventure ( Willig, 2008 ) and surprise. The researcher, guided by the research inquiry, may arrive to discover an unanticipated phenomenon.

In particular, the study of cross-cultural experience involves two aspects: first is what we can call a “transitioning experience” between two cultures. The second is the potential impact that “transitioning experience” has upon the identity of those individuals who lived the experience. The conceptualisation of the phenomenon (i.e., cross-cultural experience) must be addressed, and the theoretical perspective informing its conceptualisation should be considered while developing such a phenomenological approach.

Two theoretical perspectives can allow understanding the phenomenon of cross-cultural transition: the first one is the sociocultural theory, which has been developed from Vygotsky’s works (e.g., Vygotsky, 1978 ; Doelling and Goldschmidt, 1981 ; Cole, 1995 ; Wertsch et al., 1995 ); and the second one is symbolic interactionism theory, which draws on the works of Mead, Blumer, and others (e.g., Kuhn, 1964 ; Mead, 1967 ; Blumer, 1986 ; Denzin, 1992 ; Clammer et al., 2004 ; Urrieta, 2007 ). These two perspectives informed the conceptualisation of the research phenomenon and how the phenomenon has been approached methodologically. For what concerns Vygotsky and neo-Vygotskian authors (and their sociocultural perspectives), they facilitate our understanding of the phenomenon of cross-cultural transition and its investigation. For example, Vygotsky and neo-Vygotskian authors conceptualise the individual ability to adjust to the new culture. The assumption that underlies the investigation is that individuals can acquire new cognitive developmental patterns of thought employing what these authors call “mediational assistance of tools, signs, and other cultures” ( Kozulin, 2018 ).

For what concerns instead, the symbolic interactionism approach, this latter allows researchers to understand cross-cultural experienced phenomena by taking into consideration the role of symbolic meanings in forming individuals’ experience. The core assumption developed from this perspective is that symbolic meanings are developed, while individuals acquire their understanding of both their internal and external world.

To analyse cultural identity and this transitioning experience, another relevant aspect to consider is that symbolic interactionists assume that the definition of individual self and identity are both constructed in and played out through interaction with the environment and the other selves surrounding us. As stated by Hollander et al. (2011) , the most basic requisite for symbolic interaction is the existence of social selves who come together to share information, emotions, and goods—the full range of human activities. The conceptions that people have of themselves, and others shape how they present themselves. In turn, how they present themselves allows others to infer what actors privately think of themselves and others (p. 123). Another aspect to be noted is that in the context of cross-cultural transitioning, cultural identity reflects how individuals think and feel about belonging to their culture and to the larger society from which they come from; it is in the essence of their experiences, the sense of belonging to, or attachment with, either or both cultural groupings. To fully appreciate this, we need to “borrow” from different authors’ arguments, ideas, and theoretical perspectives and adopt the hybrid perspective that we mentioned.

With this in mind, we present an overview of our research aims and the attributes that they involve: exploration and philosophical assumptions about sought knowledge.

Exploration

The study process is not a recipe to follow but rather a journey to take, and as Willig (2008 , p. 2) pointed out, the concept of research ‘has moved from a mechanical (how-to-apply-appropriate-techniques-to-the-subject-matter) to a creative (how-can-I-find-out?) mode’.

A study should be designed to maintain the subjective approach of the researcher towards the exploration of the phenomenon being investigated, as well as to appreciate the inter-subjective nature of the approach involved in the investigation of the phenomenon itself. A phenomenological qualitative method allows to track empathy and recognition of both the researcher’s and the participant’s subjectivity in relation to the phenomenon being explored.

The design is aimed to provide the researcher and the audience, with an opportunity to test and experience the phenomenon through descriptions of the essence of the experience. By concentrating on exploration as an essential aim, we evoke flexibility—the type of flexibility that allows researchers to shift between lines of inquiry and move from one activity to another to uncover the structure of the experience. The direction and proposal concerning the activities should be open enough to accommodate the complexity and ambiguity that surrounds any examined phenomenon. Flexibility consists of merging the exploratory research with phenomenological and qualitative practices.

Philosophical Assumptions About Sought Knowledge

We consider ontological assumptions, that is, specific beliefs about some aspect of reality, and epistemological assumptions, that is, specific beliefs about some aspect of knowledge, that constitutes the phenomenon being the object of the investigation. Ontological and epistemological assumptions are considered an essential part of the research design. Therefore, researchers should identify these assumptions while engaging with the research process, as they will play a significant role in framing the research questions and justifying the research methodology, on the one hand, and the methods and activities, on the other hand ( Guba, 1990 ; Guba and Lincoln, 1994 ; Crotty, 1998 ; Denzin and Lincoln, 2003 ; Creswell, 2009 ; Høffding and Martiny, 2016 ; Martiny et al., 2021 ; Høffding et al., 2022 ).

Ontological Assumptions of the Phenomenological Investigation

Ontological assumptions are, here, propositions about the nature of social reality—that is, what exists in a social context ( Crotty, 1998 ; Blaikie, 2000 ). They relate to questions about reality: for example, what reality does exist? Does it have an external existence or is it internally constructed? However, not all phenomenologists consider ontological issues a real concern for designing and practising qualitative inquiry. That is because the ideas of phenomenology appeared as a reaction to the scientific positivist philosophical view of knowledge that dominated the philosophy of science. The phenomenological arguments, when they first appeared, were not concerned with ontological questions but rather they focussed on providing an alternative epistemological approach about how we can access knowledge that tends to be subjective and internally mediated. In other words, phenomenology, in its original form, is an attempt to explore the relationship between the knower and the known, which is an epistemological issue in philosophy rather than an ontological position. The main issue that concerns phenomenology, from these perspectives, is whether we assume or not that reality exists outside of human consciousness, i.e., before or independently of whether we think and reason about it. The epistemological question needs to be answered from both positions. The epistemological question is the real dilemma, and this concerns who is invested in the study of human consciousness. From this perspective, what is provided by human consciousness is our social reality, regardless of its internal existence, before we think about it. Knowledge is what research usually attempts to provide, therefore, it is what should concern a researcher. According to Spinelli (2005 , p. 15), “We have no idea whether ‘things in themselves’ truly exist. All we can say is that, as human beings, we are biased towards interpretations that are centred upon an object-based or ‘thing-based’ world”. In addition, ontological assumptions should be identified clearly before one practice phenomenological research. This perspective has relied on Heidegger’s thesis, which moved the discussions concerning phenomenology to the ontological level when he discussed the philosophy of existence and being from a phenomenological perspective ( Laverty, 2003 ; Tarozzi and Mortari, 2010 ).

The basic philosophical assumption underlying a phenomenological investigation is that truth can be found and can exist within the individual lived experience ( Spiegelberg and Schuhmann, 1982 ). Our study is based on arguments about the existence of a social world as internally mediated, which means that as humans, we must interact with this existence and construct meanings based on our culture and beliefs, historical development, and linguistic symbols.

In our work, we considered an internal reality that was ‘built up from the perception of social actors’ ( Bryman, 2008 , p. 18) and that was consistent with the subjective experiences of the external world ( Blanche and Durrheim, 1999 ). This assumption was supported by Dilthey (1979 , p. 161) who said that ‘undistorted reality only exists for us in the facts of consciousness given by inner experience (, and) the analysis of these facts is the core of the human studies’.

The meanings emerged from the research methods and activities, and from this systematic interaction with the participants in this research and from sharing their experience, for example, about our work on students transitioning from their home country to the novel educational social context. These meanings should be considered a central part of the social reality that a study should report upon. This assumption underlies and merges implicitly with the second level of assumptions, the epistemological assumptions of phenomenology.

Epistemological Assumptions of the Phenomenological Investigation

In qualitative research, the researcher can be considered the subject who acts to know the phenomenon that is considered as the object. Accordingly, the phenomenon of cross-cultural transition between two cultures can be seen as an (object) for the deed of the investigator who is seen as (subject). Identifying the relationship between subject and object is essential to developing a coherent and sound research design. The following epistemological considerations are relevant to the current investigation.

Intentional Knowledge

The first element is intentionality. This concept is at the heart of the phenomenological approach ( Moustakas, 1994 ; Crotty, 1998 ; Husserl and Hardy, 1999 ; Barnacle, 2001 ; Creswell et al., 2006 ; Tarozzi and Mortari, 2010 ). The original idea of phenomenology was built on this concept, introduced by Brentano (1874) . Intentionality is the direction of the content of a mental state. This is a pervasive feature of many different mental states: beliefs, hopes, judgements, intentions, love, and hatred. According to Brentano, intentionality is the mark of the mental: all and only mental states exhibit intentionality. To say that a mental state has intentionality is to say that it is a mental representation and that it has content. Husserl, who was Brentano’s student, assumed that this essential property of intentionality, the directedness of mental states onto something, is not contingent upon whether some real physical target exists independently of the intentional act itself. This is regardless of whether the appearance of the thing is an appearance of the thing itself or an appearance of a mediated thing. Such consciousness and knowledge of the thing amount to perspectival understanding. Therefore, a person’s understanding is an understanding of a thing or an aspect of a thing (object). The key epistemological assumption, derived from Husserl’s concept of intentionality, is that the phenomenon is not present to itself; it is present to a conscious subject ( Barnacle, 2001 ). Therefore, the knowledge that an individual hold about the phenomenon is mediated and one cannot have ‘pure or unmediated access’ which is other than a subjective mediated knowledge ( Barnacle, 2001 , p. 7). We have access only to the world that is presented to us. We have an intention to act, to know what is out there, and we only can have access to an intentional knowledge that the knower can consciously act towards ( Hughes and Sharrock, 1997 ). Therefore, the assumption held here is that knowledge is the outcome of a conscious act towards the thing to be known ( Hughes and Sharrock, 1997 ).

Subjectively Mediated Knowledge

The second epistemological assumption is related to the previous one, that of intentionality. It is that we either assume that the social world and a phenomenon do exist outside of our consciousness (see, for example, Vygotsky, 1962 ; Burge, 1979 , 1986 ), or that they do not, but we are able only, as individuals, to interact with it and produce meaning for it through a conscious act. Consciousness is the ‘medium of access to whatever is given to awareness’ ( Giorgi, 1997 , p. 236); therefore, epistemologically, only subjective knowledge can be known about the experienced world. This assumption leads to the next epistemological assumption held in this investigation, which claims that knowing other people’s experiences is the outcome of constructed and dialogical knowledge.

Constructed Dialogical Knowledge

By stating that the knowledge obtained from a phenomenological study is constructed dialogically, we differentiated between philosophical knowledge on life experiences, and the knowledge provided by certain research practices that explore and understand other people’s descriptions of their lived experience ( Giorgi, 2006a , b ; Finlay, 2008 ).

From a phenomenological perspective, we assume that knowledge provided through the research activities is a result of the researcher’s and participants’ interactions with the phenomenon that is subject to the investigation. The essence of the argument here is that the ‘experience’ is best known and represented only through dialogical interaction: an interpretative methodology that analyses (spoken or written) utterances or actions for their embedded communicative significance ( Linell, 2009 ). For what concerns us, interaction occurred between two inseparable domains: between the conscience of the researcher and the participants, and between these consciousnesses and the phenomenon explored. The qualitative methodology provided a direction for this study by way of navigating through the first domain, which was the interaction between researcher and participants. The first domain had two levels of interaction, with the first being the relationship between researcher, participants, and raw data as a dialogical relationship—a dialogical relationship in the sense that the researcher is actively engaged, through dialogue (in the form of spoken or written communicative utterances or actions), in constructing reasonable and sound meanings from the data collected from the participants ( Rossman and Rallis, 2003 ; Steentoft, 2005 ). The importance of such a dialogical relationship, in phenomenological research, is supported by Rossman and Rallis (2003) .

Phenomenological Qualitative Methods and Strategies

Two forms of phenomenological methodologies can be noticed in the literature of qualitative research: descriptive phenomenology and interpretive phenomenology ( Moustakas, 1994 ; Lopez and Willis, 2004 ). Descriptive phenomenology was derived mainly from the philosophical work of Husserl and particularly from the idea of transcendental phenomenology ( Moustakas, 1994 ; Lopez and Willis, 2004 ; Giorgi, 2010 ). In contrast, an interpretive phenomenological methodology was derived from the works of scholars like Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty (1962) , Gadamer (2000) , and Gadamer and Linge (2008) .

These approaches overlap in the research methods and activities and are used to assist the research by promoting engagement with responsive and improvised activities rather than with mechanical procedures. In fact, key principles of both descriptive and interpretative phenomenology are peoples’ subjective experiences and the meanings they ascribe to their lived world and how they relate to it ( Langdridge, 2007 ). No definite line distinguishes or separates these two approaches or attitudes. Deploying both binaries is what differentiates our phenomenological qualitative approach from other qualitative approaches in the field (see, for example, Finlay, 2008 ; Langdridge, 2008 ).

Descriptive Attitude

The descriptive attitude in ‘the sense of description versus explanation’ ( Langdridge, 2008 , p. 1132; Ihde, 2012 ) occurs where the emphasis is on describing what the researcher hears, reads, and perceives when entering the participants’ description of their experience. According to Ihde (2012 , p. 19) it is that attitude that consists in ‘describe phenomena phenomenologically, rather than explain them’. The whole phenomenological qualitative approach process is not description vs. interpretation, since interpretation is inevitably involved in describing and understanding the description of other people’s lived experiences ( Langdridge, 2008 ). As presented in Figure 1 , the descriptive attitude is served by the bracketing mode and by the reduction process in order to generate a textural description of the described lived experience ( Moustakas, 1994 ; Creswell, 2007 ).

Figure 1 . The hybrid phenomenological qualitative method.

Bracketing refers to the efforts that should be made to be open to listening to and observing the described phenomenon with fresh eyes. It is an attempt to put aside any prejudgements regarding the phenomenon being investigated ( Salsberry, 1989 ; Moustakas, 1994 ; LeVasseur, 2003 ; also see a critical discussion in Zahavi, 2019a , 2020 , 2021 , and in Zahavi and Martiny, 2019 ). This mode also allows one to engage phenomenologically with the reduction process concerning the participants’ descriptions of their lived experiences. What the bracketing mode offers to a phenomenological qualitative study is: (1) temporary suspension of any prejudgements or assumptions related to the examined phenomenon that might have limited and restricted how the phenomenon appeared for the participants, while being aware that it is impossible to be completely free from any presuppositions; and (2) assistance in maintaining the involvement of previous experiences and perceptions about the phenomenon to recognise and realise what constitutes other aspects of the explored experience. According to Moustakas (1994 , p. 85) adopting a bracketing status allows that ‘whatever or whoever appears in our consciousness is approached with an openness’. The bracketing mode influences most stages of the research activities about the following aspects:

– Forming descriptive research questions free from presuppositions to guide and direct the research enquiry, leading to the achievement of a study’s aims.

– Responding to and engaging with previous works that were concerned with the same experience.

– Conducting descriptive interviews that allow participants to share and describe their lived experiences.

– Re-describing the described experience with careful treatment of the data included, maintaining the involvement of the researcher, and avoiding being selective or discriminating in the re-description of the experience.

Phenomenological Reduction

Phenomenological reduction is the process of re-describing and explicating meaning from the described experience ( Giorgi, 1985 , 2006a , b ; Moustakas, 1994 ; Crotty, 1998 ; Todres, 2005 ; Creswell, 2007 ; Finlay, 2008 ). Such strategies are used to underlie the data analysis process. For Moustakas (1994) and others (e.g., Todres, 2005 , 2007 ), the phenomenological reduction of human experience deals with two dimensions of the experience: texture and structure.

The texture is the ‘thickness’ of an experience ( Todres, 2007 , p. 47); it is a description of what the experience is like. Accordingly, the texture is an extensive description of what happened and how it appears to the researcher. The texture is the qualitative feature of the experience ( Moustakas, 1994 ; Creswell, 2007 ). The structure of the experience deals with emergent themes, and these describe the essential aspect of the experience. Such themes ‘can be grasped only through reflection’ on the textural descriptions of the participant’s experience ( Keen, 1975 , as cited in Moustakas, 1994 , p. 79).

Interpretive Attitude

The interpretive attitude is the second strategy to be used to approach the data. It is part of the phenomenological approach towards discovering the essential structure and meanings of the experience as described by the participants. The interpretive attitude is part of the methodological strategies used to search for the essence of the experience. This approach is used mainly in the final stages of the research activities when the data analysis is being conducted.

As Finlay (2008 , 2009 ) argued, ‘interpretation (in phenomenological practice) is not an additional procedure: It constitutes an inevitable and basic structure of our “being-in-the-world.” We experience a thing as something that has already been interpreted’ (p. 10). Therefore, to achieve a meaningful description and understanding of the essential aspect of an experience, we should move from the bracketing mode to an imaginative variation mode to reflect on the first step of the phenomenological reduction, which is a textural description.

Imaginative Variation Mode

In the phenomenological literature, imaginative variation is akin to the induction process in that it aims to extract themes and essential meanings that constitute the described experiences ( Klein and Westcott, 1994 ; Moustakas, 1994 ; Giorgi, 2006a , b , 2009 ; Creswell, 2009 ). It should be mentioned, however, that in the phenomenological practise, shifting from a descriptive to an interpretive attitude is ‘interpretive so far’ ( Klein and Westcott, 1994 , p. 141). It shall be noted that usually applying phenomenology within qualitative methods is seen as working with a version of ‘factual variation’ that, in comparison to ‘imaginative variation’, works with qualitative data (as described in Høffding and Martiny, 2016 ). However, since our approach is not purely fitting within the epistemological assumptions of positivism and neo-positivism, but rather it reflects the epistemological assumptions of the hermeneutical approach, we prefer to adopt ‘imaginative variation’, and remain consistent with our hybrid view that attempts to balance descriptive and interpretative methods of investigation. The imaginative variation mode enables a thematic and structural description of the ‘experience’ to be derived within the process of phenomenological reduction. This mode assists in focusing on the second aspect of the research, which requires an examination of how the experience might affect the cultural identity of the participants, that is, that part of their self-conception that is typically influenced by the cultural background of their country of origin, and that is responsible for shaping their social values and beliefs. This strategic mode can guide the researcher to shift from the descriptive to the interpretive attitude. According to Von Eckartsberg (1972 , p. 166) such a mode ‘constitutes the reflective work, looking back and thinking about this experience, discovering meaningful patterns and structures, universal features that are lived out concretely in a unique fashion’. This will be considered describing “past experience” as “mediated experience” in the final analysis. And mediation is an essential process that individuals engage with in relation to their experience. Reflecting on people’s personal experiences requires mutual and reciprocal respect between researcher and participants ( Klein and Westcott, 1994 ). This aspect allows the researcher to engage with the texture of the participant’s personal experience, to reflect on it, and to decide on possible meanings in relation to the whole context. It also allows the participants to evaluate the researcher’s reflection. This methodological mode can play a significant role in the process and activity of data analysis.

Practising Phenomenology: Methods and Activities

We provided an overview of the methodology that we endorse as hybrid since it embeds both descriptive and interpretive phenomenological attitudes. To implement and explicate this approach in the practice of the research, we can take suggestion of Moustakas (1994) about organising the phenomenological methods around three categories: (1) methods of preparation, (2) methods of collecting data and gaining descriptions about the phenomenon, and (3) methods of analysing and searching for the meaning. These categories are useful when it comes to conducting a phenomenological qualitative study because they allow for the reporting of the most significant methods and ensure that activities are conducted in a logical order.

Methods of Preparation, Activities, and Data Collection

If the nature of the study is emergent, like in most qualitative research (e.g., Creswell, 2009 ; Hays and Singh, 2011 ), the research purpose and questions are emergent too; they grew initially from personal experience and then emerge through the process of conceptualising a research topic around experience being investigated, for example, the experience of cross-cultural transition lived by individuals who move from their own cultural and educational context to a different one. In our past work, this was the transition of Saudi students, both males and females, from Saudi Arabia to Australia. These students experienced the transition from a gender-segregated, deeply religious cultural and educational social context to a different one, where gender-mixed interactions are not limited to members of one’s own family, such as in Saudi Arabia. In Australia, these students experienced life in a gender-mixed educational social context that is not built on religious pillars. The experience that we investigated consisted of: the cross-cultural transition to a different educational social context. As Giorgi (1985) , Van Manen (1990) , Moustakas (1994) , and other phenomenologists have stated, aspects that are core to the interviews are the following: (1) general attributes of the conducted interviews, (2) criteria of selection for potential participants, (3) ethical considerations of dealing with human participants, and (4) the interviewing procedures and some examples.

Attributes of the Conducted Interviews

The main attributes of the interviews may be summarised as follows:

As an interview is influenced by the mode of bracketing, prior to each of the interviews it is necessary to elicit the participant’s experience separately from any comparison with one’s own. The interviews are about what the participants want to say rather than what the main researcher wants them to say or what the main researcher expect them to say. It is important to point out that the interviews are designed in such a way to encourage discursive answers rather than affirmative or negative answers (as discussed in Høffding and Martiny, 2016 ). Engaging with the interviews has the scope of seeking new views and perspectives about the phenomenon that is being investigated, and not simply to confirm or disconfirm what is already known about that phenomenon.

Here is an example of spontaneous answers to open questions taken from our previous work: Z. talks freely about the first week of experience in the novel educational social context in Australia: “Explicitly, the first class was horrible; was very bad. It is probably because I have not been in such position [mixing with males]. So, I was silent most of the time; I did not talk with any one most of the time; and I isolated myself in corner…. Mixing [with unknown males] is difficult for me because I have to deal with foreign men and I do not know them … I do not have a problem to speak with men. But the problem for me [is that] sometimes I think what if this man cross the limits between how I can deal with such behaviour. So I preferred to stay away from the men. In the first time it was hard, I could not do anything by myself. Many times, I just cried. The life [here] was mysterious in the beginning.”

And again towards the end of the stay in Australia, Z. spontaneously shares how her worldviews about herself have been changed by being in a gender-mixed educational environment. For example, Z. stated clearly that she is now confident ‘to deal with male’—after all the ‘scariness’ and ‘horribleness’ that was felt in the beginning. She learned from her experience in a gender-mixed environment how to make her own rules that males cannot cross. Z. said: “… Being here has changed my personality completely…. The most important advantages from (being here) refined my personality in a good way, and I became more independent…. I refined my personality. Not only me, who realised that, but my family also said that: Z. has changed…. Finally, I learned how to deal with man with confidence and how to make my own rule. So When I come back to Saudi Arabia, I will be more confident.”

During the interviewing activity, is also important to share experiences with the interviewees in order to practice empathy ( Corbin and Morse, 2003 ; Dickson-Swift et al., 2006 ; August and Tuten, 2008 ; Mitchell and Irvine, 2008 ; Mallozzi, 2009 ) and be respectful for what they feel about their experiences ( Klein and Westcott, 1994 ). These techniques are outlined to show interviewees that the researcher is interested in hearing detailed accounts ( Hays and Singh, 2011 ) about their experiences. As Hays and Singh (2011) have suggested, such involvement during an interview activity may encourage participants to share their experiences more freely, if they feel they are in a friendly situation. The advantages of this technique can be reflected in the descriptions of the answers provided and in the participants’ helpfulness in reviewing the transcribed interviews and adding or correcting data.

Selection of the Participants

A purposive sampling method can be used to select the participants. This is a type of nonprobability sample. The main objective of a purposive sample is to produce a sample that can be logically assumed to be representative of the population. This is often accomplished by applying expert knowledge of the population to select in a nonrandom manner a sample of elements that represents a cross-section of the population. For example, in our past work, such expertise was given by the author being a Saudi citizen who went to study in Australia. Such methods are considered fitting for most investigations if one wants ‘to discover, understand, and gain insight … from which the most can be learned’. Another reason to use a purposive sampling method is that in qualitative, particularly in phenomenological inquiry, the aim is not to generalise findings to a population but to develop insights and in-depth exploration of an under-researched phenomenon ( Onwuegbuzie and Leech, 2007 ). The concern is not about the number of participants. Rather, the focus should be on the intensity of participation and the diversity of the participants. Moustakas (1994) suggested that the number of participants in a phenomenological study can be from 1 to 20, depending on the time frame (see, Halldórsdóttir, 2000 ; Morse, 2000 ; Starks and Trinidad, 2007 ; Jones and Lavallee, 2009 ).

This section describes how the data and reports on the activity conducted can be treated to generate findings from the interviews. The following series of processes is indicative of the path followed to arrive at the findings for this research, which relied heavily on the works of Hycner (1985) , Moustakas (1994) , Giorgi (1997) , and Wertz (2005) when a plan for data treatment is developed. Warning of Hycner (1985) against using the term data analysis when engaging in a phenomenological approach has been considered. The concept of analysis involves breaking things into parts, while phenomenology is about potting parts of any experience (phenomenon) together to get a sense of the whole, to get into phenomenological “reduction.” We are looking for “the essence.” This requires getting a sense of the whole rather than of the part. Therefore, we prefer to use “explication.” Explication usually points to the process of being explicit about the constituents of the whole phenomenon. Using a popular term like analysis may be inconsistent with how the data are treated because the term analysis usually implies a process of breaking things into parts. Therefore, to avoid misleading uses of terminology, the suggestion is to use the term data explication, which Groenewald (2004) suggested. Explication usually points to the process of being explicit about the constituents of the whole phenomenon ( Hycner, 1985 ; Groenewald, 2004 ).

The Interviewing Procedure

In order to capture and explicate the essence and the structures constituting the experience encountered by the participants nine steps can be followed: (a) transcribing participants’ interviews, (b) developing a sense of the whole, (c) developing meaning units for each participant’s experience (horizontalisation), (d) clustering relevant units of meanings, (e) translating the meaning units, (f) developing textural (i.e., narrative) descriptions for each individual, (g) searching for essential structures that could express the entire textural description, (h) evaluating the textural description, and (i) synthesising the structure from all participants’ accounts. Each step is addressed in further detail in the remainder of the paper.

Transcription

After the interviews are conducted with all the participants, the interview recordings are transcribed. After having confirmed the privacy and confidentiality statements that are provided by the third-party transcribers are confirmed, verbally and by email, interviews are sent to the transcribers, and records should be deleted after the completion of the transcription process.

Developing a Sense of the Whole

Following the transcription process, the second step consists in developing a general sense for each participant’s description. This involves listening to all the recordings several times as well as reading the transcripts several times. Repeating the procedure is useful to make sure the content of the interviews is carefully approached: In fact, this process helps the investigator to become familiar with the context of the units of meaning and themes that they sought to extract in the next step. At this stage, the goal is to get a general sense of what participants had told the investigator about their experience. This sense provides a foundation for the following process of data explication. Engaging in this activity helps the investigator to switch on and keep the focus on the phenomenon itself, which appear within the descriptions of the participants.

It is essential to the phenomenological attitude to pay full attention to both the spoken and written forms of the data. Developing a sense of the wholeness and of the entirety of what everyone had expressed regarding their experience is necessary because the goal of the investigation is to find the essential meanings of the experience as encountered by the participants ( Hycner, 1985 ; Moustakas, 1994 ). Each transcript and record should be read and listened to separately and at different times. This step allows getting an overall sense of the data.

Developing Meaning Units for Each Participant’s Experience (Horizontalisation)

After transcribing the interviews, and once a general sense of the whole description of the phenomenon has been gained, it is possible to formally engage with the data treatment in order to extract the invariant meaning units and themes that constitute the experience encountered by the participants. Every statement, phrase, sentence, and paragraph in each transcript is examined to elicit statements relevant to the experience. At this stage, the attitude is to go through the transcripts with an open-minded attitude, as much as possible ( Hycner, 1985 ). This means to stay in the bracketing mode and be as descriptive as possible. Moustakas (1994) called this stage of data treatment ‘horizontalisation’, as this is where the descriptions of each individual turn to a horizon. The horizon, in the discussion of the phenomenological data treatment, refers to the context from which an experienced phenomenon could appear; it is the source that comprises the core themes and meanings of the experienced phenomenon. The notion of phenomenological ‘horizon’ has been conceptualised differently according to which philosophical perspective is adopted. For example, the term can appear in Nietzsche, Husserl, and Heidegger, wherein it has been used to refer to very different concepts ( Scott, 1988 ; Von Eckartsberg, 1989 ; Husserl and Hardy, 1999 ; Heidegger and Dahlstrom, 2005 ; Christofi and Thompson, 2007 ). Therefore, to avoid confusion around the term ‘horizon’, the term is presently substituted by the expression ‘meaning units’, as this term refers directly to what is being achieved at this stage of data explication. Invariant meaning units are the non-repetitive or overlapping statements that explicitly or implicitly capture a moment, or several moments, of what has been experienced (i.e., the texture of the experience). To develop the meaning units from the participants’ accounts, the following sub-steps come next: listing all statements relevant to the experience , and going through the list of statements by checking each statement against two criteria suggested by Moustakas (1994 , p. 121): (1) Is the statement essential for understanding the phenomenon being studied? (2) Can it be abstracted and labelled? Any statement that conforms to these criteria was included as an invariant meaning unit. The statements that did not meet these criteria—those that are repetitive, overlapping, or unclear—are eliminated.

This process is difficult as well as the most critical one ( Wertz, 1985 ) because the entire investigation depends on these units of meaning. It takes time to be confident in eliminating some statements that do not meet the relevancy requirement.

Clustering Relevant Units of Meaning Into Groups

After developing the list of relevant meaning units, it is necessary to go through them several times in the mode of imaginative variation to identify a significant theme that could be clustered as a possible unit of meaning. Turning the attention to imaginative variation is useful in examining identified meaning units reflectively, adding the dimension that allows subjective judgements. To avoid inappropriate subjective judgements, it is important to keep bracketing one’s own presuppositions to see what might possibly emerge ( Von Eckartsberg, 1972 ; Moustakas, 1994 ). However, it should be acknowledged that the researcher’s prior experience cannot be completely isolated, as the researcher must use their constituted mind ( Al-Jabri, 2011b ) to understand and to identify the emerging themes. To minimise this necessary risk, it is recommended to ask external reviewers to be independent judges and check for consistency under the themes that are selected. At this stage, each case is still being treated individually to identify the unique experience of each participant. This approach is also useful for obtaining an in-depth understanding of the data, rather than rushing into the whole. These clusters are the core themes to use in organising the invariant meaning units (here referred to as “the core themes of the experience” of the phenomenon; Moustakas, 1994 , p. 121), before revisiting them to develop the textural description of the participant’s experience. This step helps organise the textural description of the experience ( Moustakas, 1994 ).

Translating the Meaning Units

In previous stages, the data explication can be kept, as much as possible, to what is expressed by the participants. This should all be done in the primary language spoken by the participants (i.e., native language or most used language, since native language is not always the best know language—especially in individuals who grew up or were educated in a language other than the language of the family of origin) to allow participants to express their experience by using their ‘tools’ ( Vygotsky, 1962 ). This is important for getting a deeper description of the experience because language interacts with thinking and consciousness dialectically. The underlying assumption is that language, as a mediating tool, shapes participants’ experience, and it is also a result of experience, and a significant constituent of the epistemological system of a given cultural group. Furthermore, like Burkitt (2011 , p. 269), we maintain that sociocultural theory and symbolic interactionism theory promote an assumption ‘that language does not express thoughts that already exist but provides the tools to bring thoughts into existence’.

In our previous work, the preferred language during the interviews was Arabic, spoken both by the researcher and the participants. Subsequently, the interviews were translated into English to be accessible to the scientific community internationally.

Developing a Textural Description for Each Individual

The sixth step consists in constructing a description of the texture of the experience from the clustered meaning units. This step provides rich, thick descriptions of each individual’s experience. The textural description, which is by now translated in the language in which the study is conducted (if different from the language in which the participants expressed themselves during the interviews), presents what is experienced by each participant to provide this thick description, it is important to ask the following question for every invariant meaning unit: what can possibly appear as the texture of the participant’s experience?

It should be indicated that as part of the process at this stage, some of the texture can appear in different meaning units, which means there is still some repetition and/or overlapping of the meaning units that are not eliminated in the fourth step.

Searching for Essential Structures That Could Express the Entire Textural Description

After constructing textural descriptions for each participant, it is time to deploy the imaginative variation mode again to search for essential structures that could encompass the entire textural description of the participant: a possible theme that could be the essential structure of the experience of this participant—essential in the sense that the experience could not be described without this theme, or themes. At this stage, the interpretive attitude comes into play to help the investigator to identify the structure of the textual description. The interpretive attitude is important during this process because it involves deep contemplation and reflection on the textural description to capture the structural meaning.

Evaluating the Textural Description and Structural Theme of Each Participant’s Experience

Once the textural and structural descriptions are ready, we have reached the evaluation step. In this step, we suggest adopting the following criteria from phenomenological guidelines of Hycner (1985) : Do the participants agree with the identified textures and structures to represent what they had described in the interview? Did the investigator miss any other essential aspect of the participants’ experiences that the participants would like to add?

Synthesising the Structures From All the Participants’ Accounts

The final step consists in synthesising the structures of the material gathered from all participants’ accounts to ‘communicate the most general meaning of the phenomenon ( Giorgi, 1985 , p. 20). Because this activity is the final activity in terms of the data treatment, the main research question of the study must be addressed directly.

The discussion over the structures that emerge from all participants’ interviews should take the form of writing a composite summary to describe how the experienced phenomenon is seen by the participants ( Giorgi, 1985 ; Hycner, 1985 ; Van Manen, 1990 ; Moustakas, 1994 ). In this summary, it is important to concentrate on the common aspects of the experience as an essence of the phenomenon. At the same time, it is crucial not to ignore the unique and different views of the participants.

In this article, we have presented a hybrid phenomenological method embedded in qualitative analysis that we suggest should be deployed in educational research. Our analysis is relevant to those researchers interested in doing qualitative research and in those interested in adapting phenomenological investigation to understand experiences in different educational groups and social contexts, such as cross-cultural transitions, as we have shown. A phenomenological qualitative method provides a theoretical tool for educational research as it allows researchers to engage in flexible activities that can describe and help to understand complex phenomena, such as various aspects of human social experience.

Author Contributions

All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note

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Alhazmi, A. A., and Nyland, B. (2013). The Saudi Arabian international student experience: from a gender-segregated society to studying in a mixed-gender environment. Compare 43, 346–365. doi: 10.1080/03057925.2012.722347

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Keywords: qualitative research, phenomenology, cross-cultural analysis, educational research, experience

Citation: Alhazmi AA and Kaufmann A (2022) Phenomenological Qualitative Methods Applied to the Analysis of Cross-Cultural Experience in Novel Educational Social Contexts. Front. Psychol . 13:785134. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.785134

Received: 28 September 2021; Accepted: 10 March 2022; Published: 25 April 2022.

Reviewed by:

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*Correspondence: Ahmed Ali Alhazmi, [email protected] ; [email protected]

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Chapter 6: Phenomenology

Darshini Ayton

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of this chapter, you should be able to:

• Identify the key terms, concepts and approaches used in phenomenology.
• Explain the data collection methods and analysis for phenomenology.
• Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of phenomenological research.

What is phenomenology ?

The key concept in phenomenological studies is the individual .

Phenomenology is a method and a philosophical approach, influenced by different paradigms and disciplines. 1

Phenomenology is the everyday world from the viewpoint of the person. In this viewpoint, the emphasis is on how the individual constructs their lifeworld and seeks to understand the ‘taken for granted-ness’ of life and experiences. 2,3 Phenomenology is a practice that seeks to understand, describe and interpret human behaviour and the meaning individuals make of their experiences; it focuses on what was experienced and how it was experienced. 4 Phenomenology deals with perceptions or meanings, attitudes and beliefs, as well as feelings and emotions. The emphasis is on the lived experience and the sense an individual makes of those experiences. Since the primary source of data is the experience of the individual being studied, in-depth interviews are the most common means of data collection (see Chapter 13). Depending on the aim and research questions of the study, the method of analysis is either thematic or interpretive phenomenological analysis (Section 4).

Types of phenomenology

Descriptive phenomenology (also known as ‘transcendental phenomenology’) was founded by Edmund Husserl (1859–1938). It focuses on phenomena as perceived by the individual. 4 When reflecting on the recent phenomenon of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear that there is a collective experience of the pandemic and an individual experience, in which each person’s experience is influenced by their life circumstances, such as their living situation, employment, education, prior experiences with infectious diseases and health status. In addition, an individual’s life circumstances, personality, coping skills, culture, family of origin, where they live in the world and the politics of their society also influence their experience of the pandemic. Hence, the objectiveness of the pandemic is intertwined with the subjectiveness of the individual living in the pandemic.

Husserl states that descriptive phenomenological inquiry should be free of assumption and theory, to enable phenomenological reduction (or phenomenological intuiting). 1 Phenomenological reduction means putting aside all judgements or beliefs about the external world and taking nothing for granted in everyday reality. 5 This concept gave rise to a practice called ‘bracketing’ — a method of acknowledging the researcher’s preconceptions, assumptions, experiences and ‘knowing’ of a phenomenon. Bracketing is an attempt by the researcher to encounter the phenomenon in as ‘free and as unprejudiced way as possible so that it can be precisely described and understood’. 1(p132) While there is not much guidance on how to bracket, the advice provided to researchers is to record in detail the process undertaken, to provide transparency for others. Bracketing starts with reflection: a helpful practice is for the researcher to ask the following questions and write their answers as they occur, without overthinking their responses (see Box 1). This is a practice that ideally should be done multiple times during the research process: at the conception of the research idea and during design, data collection, analysis and reporting.

Box 6.1 Example s of bracketing prompts

How does my education, family background (culture), religion, politics and job relate to this topic or phenomenon?

What is my previous experience of this topic or phenomenon? Do I have negative and/or positive reactions to this topic or phenomenon? What has led to this reaction?

What have I read or understood about this topic or phenomenon?

What are my beliefs and attitudes about this topic or phenomenon? What assumptions am I making?

Interpretive or hermeneutic phenomenology was founded by Martin Heidegger (1889–1976), a junior colleague of Husserl. It focuses on the nature of being and the relationship between an individual and their lifeworld. While Heidegger’s initial work and thinking aligned with Husserl’s, he later challenged several elements of descriptive phenomenology, leading to a philosophical separation in ideas. Husserl’s descriptive phenomenology takes an epistemological (knowledge) focus while Heidegger’s interest was in ontology 4 (the nature of reality), with the key phrase ‘being-in-the-world’ referencing how humans exist, act or participate in the world. 1 In descriptive phenomenology, the practice of bracketing is endorsed and experience is stripped from context to examine and understand it.

Interpretive or hermeneutic phenomenology embraces the intertwining of an individual’s subjective experience with their social, cultural and political contexts, regardless of whether they are conscious of this influence. 4 Interpretive or hermeneutic phenomenology moves beyond description to the interpretation of the phenomenon and the study of meanings through the lifeworld of the individual. While the researcher’s knowledge, experience, assumptions and beliefs are valued, they do need to be acknowledged as part of the process of analysis. 4

For example, Singh and colleagues wanted to understand the experiences of managers involved in the implementation of quality improvement projects in an assisted living facility, and thus they conducted a hermeneutic phenomenology study. 6 The objective was to ‘understand how managers define the quality of patient care and administrative processes’, alongside an exploration of the participant’s perspectives of leadership and challenges to the implementation of quality improvement strategies. (p3) Semi-structured interviews (60–75 minutes in duration) were conducted with six managers and data was analysed using inductive thematic techniques.

New phenomenology , or American phenomenology , has initiated a transition in the focus of phenomenology from the nature and understanding of the phenomenon to the lived experience of individuals experiencing the phenomenon. This transition may seem subtle but fundamentally is related to a shift away from the philosophical approaches of Husserl and Heidegger to an applied approach to research. 1 New phenomenology does not undergo the phenomenological reductionist approach outlined by Husserl to examine and understand the essence of the phenomenon. Dowling 1 emphasises that this phenomenological reduction, which leads to an attempt to disengage the researcher from the participant, is not desired or practical in applied research such as in nursing studies. Hence, new phenomenology is aligned with interpretive phenomenology, embracing the intersubjectivity (shared subjective experiences between two or more people) of the research approach. 1

Another feature of new phenomenology is the positioning of culture in the analysis of an individual’s experience. This is not the case for the traditional phenomenological approaches 1 ;  hence, philosophical approaches by European philosophers Husserl and Heidegger can be used if the objective is to explore or understand the phenomenon itself or the object of the participant’s experience. The methods of new phenomenology, or American phenomenology, should be applied if the researcher seeks to understand a person’s experience(s) of the phenomenon. 1

See Table 6.1. for two different examples of phenomenological research.

Advantages and disadvantages of phenomenological research

Phenomenology has many advantages, including that it can present authentic accounts of complex phenomena; it is a humanistic style of research that demonstrates respect for the whole individual; and the descriptions of experiences can tell an interesting story about the phenomenon and the individuals experiencing it. 7 Criticisms of phenomenology tend to focus on the individuality of the results, which makes them non-generalisable, considered too subjective and therefore invalid. However, the reason a researcher may choose a phenomenological approach is to understand the individual, subjective experiences of an individual; thus, as with many qualitative research designs, the findings will not be generalisable to a larger population. 7,8

Table 6.1. Examples of phenomenological studies

Phenomenology focuses on understanding a phenomenon from the perspective of individual experience (descriptive and interpretive phenomenology) or from the lived experience of the phenomenon by individuals (new phenomenology). This individualised focus lends itself to in-depth interviews and small scale research projects.

• Dowling M. From Husserl to van Manen. A review of different phenomenological approaches. Int J Nurs Stud . 2007;44(1):131-42. doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2005.11.026
• Creswell J, Hanson W, Clark Plano V, Morales A. Qualitative research designs: selection and implementation. Couns Psychol . 2007;35(2):236-264. doi:10.1177/0011000006287390
• Morse JM, Field PA. Qualitative Research Methods for Health Professionals. 2nd ed. SAGE; 1995.
• Neubauer BE, Witkop CT, Varpio L. How phenomenology can help us learn from the experiences of others. Perspect Med Educ . 2019;8(2):90-97. doi:10.1007/s40037-019-0509-2
• Merleau-Ponty M, Landes D, Carman T, Lefort C. Phenomenology of Perception . 1st ed. Routledge; 2011.
• Singh J, Wiese A, Sillerud B. Using phenomenological hermeneutics to understand the experiences of managers working with quality improvement strategies in an assisted living facility. Healthcare (Basel) . 2019;7(3):87. doi:10.3390/healthcare7030087
• Liamputtong P, Ezzy D. Qualitative Research Methods: A Health Focus . Oxford University Press; 1999.
• Liamputtong P. Qualitative Research Methods . 5th ed. Oxford University Press; 2020.
• Abbaspour Z, Vasel G, Khojastehmehr R. Investigating the lived experiences of abused mothers: a phenomenological study. Journal of Qualitative Research in Health Sciences . 2021;10(2)2:108-114. doi:10.22062/JQR.2021.193653.0
• Engberink AO, Mailly M, Marco V, et al. A phenomenological study of nurses experience about their palliative approach and their use of mobile palliative care teams in medical and surgical care units in France. BMC Palliat Care . 2020;19:34. doi:10.1186/s12904-020-0536-0

Qualitative Research – a practical guide for health and social care researchers and practitioners Copyright © 2023 by Darshini Ayton is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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A Phenomenological Study of Nurses’ Experience in Caring for COVID-19 Patients

Hye-young jang.

1 School of Nursing, Research Institute of Nursing Science, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Korea; rk.ca.gnaynah@8010etihw

Jeong-Eun Yang

2 Department of Nursing, Jesus University, Jeonju-si 54989, Korea; rk.ca.susej@gnayfle

Yong-Soon Shin

Associated data.

The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author.

This study aimed to understand and describe the experiences of nurses who cared for patients with COVID-19. A descriptive phenomenological approach was used to collect data from individual in-depth interviews with 14 nurses, from 20 October 2020 to 15 January 2021. Data were analyzed using the phenomenological method of Colaizzi. Five theme clusters emerged from the analysis: (1) nurses struggling under the weight of dealing with infectious disease, (2) challenges added to difficult caring, (3) double suffering from patient care, (4) support for caring, and (5) expectations for post-COVID-19 life. The findings of this study are useful primary data for developing appropriate measures for health professionals’ wellbeing during outbreaks of infectious diseases. Specifically, as nurses in this study struggled with mental as well as physical difficulties, it is suggested that future studies develop and apply mental health recovery programs for them. To be prepared for future infectious diseases and contribute to patient care, policymakers should improve the work environment, through various means, such as nurses’ practice environment management and incentives.

1. Introduction

As the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spreads worldwide and becomes more serious, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared it a global epidemic. In Korea, the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed on 20 January 2020; as of 29 June 2021, the total number of patients was 156,167, of which 6882 were quarantined and treated, with a fatality rate of 1.29% [ 1 ].

COVID-19 is caused by a novel coronavirus—severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2)—and manifests in clinical symptoms, such as cough (74.9%), fever (68.0%) and dyspnea (60.9%) among hospitalized patients [ 2 ]. In the case of SARS-CoV-2, it has been reported that if patients are isolated within 5 days of the onset of clinical symptoms, secondary infections occur less frequently; transmission can be effectively blocked by isolating immediately after the onset of symptoms [ 3 ]. However, hospitalizations in negative pressure isolation rooms, to block airborne infections, create a more isolated environment than the general intensive care unit environment; mandate medical personnel to wear unfamiliar and uncomfortable protective equipment; prohibit family visits and outside contact. Isolation affects patients as well, as it has been reported that many patients were insufficiently informed about the isolation environment and period, and this uncertainty caused them to experience depression [ 4 ]. These circumstances increase the importance of caring for patients in isolation.

Caring is an important concept within the field of nursing, as it affects the health of the patient as a whole [ 5 ]. In particular, in the early stages of outbreaks of new infectious diseases, all aspects, such as the pathology, transmission route, and effective treatment of the disease are uncertain [ 6 ]. Even the effectiveness of protective equipment is uncertain. It has been found that healthcare providers’ anxiety and fear in such conditions affects their ability to care for patients [ 7 , 8 ]. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, many scholars predict that the time before and after the pandemic will be very different and are asking if we are ready for post- or the ‘with COVID-19 era’ [ 9 , 10 , 11 ]. Even in nursing, this change is difficult to ignore, and nursing professionals and researchers should answer whether we are preparing the ‘with COVID-19 era’. In order to identify the reality of nursing in the ‘with COVID-19 era’, it is necessary to understand what nursing and caring experiences were like for nurses who have been care professionals during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, nurses played a positive role in the rapid reorganization of the nursing system, improvement of team communication, coordination materials for emergency and continuous care, improvement of efficiency of nursing performance as a front-line caregiver, and caring for other nurses [ 12 ]. However, nurses are starting to experience burnout, having been unaware that the pandemic would soon change health professions universally [ 13 ]. For this, it is necessary to examine the experiences of nurses who have been, and are, caring for quarantined patients.

Studies on the nursing experience of patients with COVID-19 are underway in countries in various trajectories of the COVID-19 pandemic, such as Spain [ 14 ], Italy [ 15 ], Canada [ 16 ], the United States [ 17 ], and China [ 18 ], and these previous studies are focused on the lived nursing experience itself or the ethical aspect. Experiences of nursing care reported so far are summarized as providing nursing care [ 14 , 15 , 16 ], psychosocial and emotional aspects [ 14 , 15 , 18 , 19 ], resource management [ 14 , 16 ], struggling on the frontline [ 19 , 20 ], personal growth [ 18 , 19 ] and adapting to changes [ 18 , 20 ].

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Korean government responded using the K-Quarantine, also known as 3T–Test (diagnosis/confirmation), Trace (epidemiological survey/trace) and Treat (isolation/treatment) [ 21 ]. In particular, since February 2020, COVID-19 hospitals have been designated and operated for safe isolation beds for hospitalization of COVID-19 patients [ 22 ]. As patients diagnosed with COVID-19 are transferred to a designated hospital, operating a medical system that receives intensive treatment and care, the nurses at the hospitals are facing a high level of depression, anxiety, and stress [ 23 , 24 ].

However, the nursing experience of Korean nurses is only a small part of the research done in the early stage of the pandemic, and that knowledge is not enough to understand the essence of nursing in the special nursing environment of COVID-19. Therefore, this study was conducted to understand the lived nursing experience of the nurses at COVID-19-designated hospitals during the third wave [ 25 ] of the COVID-19 pandemic in Korea. The nursing experience of Korean COVID-19-dedicated hospital nurses could provide a unique opportunity to develop long-term sustainable response strategies under a long-lasting pandemic.

Phenomenological research focuses on vivid experiences, perceived or interpreted by participants, and aims to view and describe the world of their consciousness as a real world. In addition, exploring the experiences of others can discover insights that were previously unavailable, so it is considered a useful method for the purpose of this study. Particularly, Colaizzi’s [ 26 ] method focuses on deriving a collection of common attributes and themes from multiple responses, rather than individual attributes. This method will facilitate an in-depth understanding of how nurses experienced caregiving for patients with COVID-19, and further contribute to the literature, regarding high-quality nursing care for quarantined patients. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the meaning and essence of nurses’ experiences of caring for COVID-19 patients, using a phenomenological research method.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. study design.

The philosophical framework and study design of this study were guided by phenomenology. The philosophical aim of phenomenology is to provide an understanding of the participant’s lived experiences [ 27 ]. In order to reveal the true essence of the ‘living experience’, it is first necessary to minimize the preconceived ideas that researchers may have about the research phenomenon (bracketing). Through such a phenomenological attitude, the participant’s experience can be explored as it is [ 28 ]. From a phenomenological point of view, objectivity is obtained by being faithful to the phenomenon, and it can be secured by paying attention to the phenomenon itself rather than explaining what it is. As such, phenomenology seeks to reveal meaning and essences in the participant’s experiences of the participant to facilitate understanding [ 28 ].

This study is an inductive study, applying the phenomenological research method of Colaizzi [ 26 ], in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the essence of nurses’ experience in caring for COVID-19 patients, and it followed the guideline for qualitative research, established by the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research [ 29 ]. The question of this study is, “What is the meaning and essence of the care experience of nurses who directly cared for COVID-19 patients?”

2.2. Participants and Settings

Participants were nurses working at a COVID-19 Infectious Disease Hospital in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province. The COVID-19 Infectious Disease Hospital was established and is operated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, one of the central government ministries of South Korea, to respond to infectious diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is dedicated to managing infected patients.

The inclusion criteria were as follows: nurses who had directly cared for confirmed or suspected COVID-19 patients in an isolation ward for at least 1 month; could communicate well and comprehend the purpose of this study; had voluntarily consented to participate. Nurses who had cared for COVID-19 patients for less than 1 month, had not participated in direct care, or had not been released from isolation, were excluded. Fourteen nurses participated in in-depth interviews individually ( Table 1 ).

General Characteristics of Participants ( N = 14).

Note. COVID-19 = coronavirus disease-2019.

2.3. Data Collection

Data were collected through in-depth interviews from 20 October 2020 to 15 January 2021 using purposive sampling (n = 12) and snowball sampling (n = 2). The sample size was determined by data saturation [ 30 ]. Data saturation was considered achieved when no new themes were revealed in the interviews of participants. Data saturation was determined by two researchers after the fourteenth case interview. Interviews were conducted either online or face-to-face by one well-trained researcher, depending on participants’ convenience. During face-to-face interviews, we created a comfortable atmosphere by beginning with everyday conversations. Interviews began with an open-ended question: “Tell me about your experience of caring for patients with COVID-19”, so that participants could elaborately and spontaneously describe their experiences. The interviews lasted about 60–120 min, and data collection and analysis were conducted simultaneously.

2.4. Data Analysis

The interview content was transcribed verbatim within 24 h of each interview by the researcher. Transcripts of each participant’s interview and the memos were used to analyze data. Two researchers with doctoral degrees independently analyzed and discussed findings.

Data analysis was guided by Colaizzi’s seven-step descriptive phenomenological method [ 26 ]: (1) researchers read all accounts multiple times to understand the overall flow of participants’ experiences in caring for COVID-19 patients; (2) we extracted significant statements from each description, focusing on meaningful statements related to participants’ caring experiences; (3) we formulated meanings from those significant statements, trying to discover the latent meaning in the context; (4) we organized those formulated meanings into themes and theme clusters; (5) the phenomenon under study was exhaustively described by integrating all the research results; (6) we identified the fundamental structure of the phenomenon; (7) finally, we validated this study by receiving feedback from two participants.

In the entire process of data analysis, we tried to keep a distance from the researcher’s thoughts and feelings, and point of view about the phenomenon, as well as the content of the data, while being conscious of Husserl’s ‘bracketing’ [ 28 ]. In this way, we tried to avoid data distortion, reduction, and exaggeration by the researcher, and we tried to confirm and understand the perspective, attitude, and feeling of the participant as much as possible in the participant’s statement.

To ensure trustworthiness of this study, the four criteria established by Lincoln and Guba [ 31 ] were used. For enhancing truth-value, we tried to obtain a rich set of data by selecting participants who would like to express the research phenomenon well and making it as comfortable as possible for the participants to state their experiences. We showed the study results to two participants to verify whether the derived results reflected the participants’ experiences.

To ensure applicability, we provided the general characteristics of participants and tried to provide a thick description of the research phenomenon.

To establish consistency, Colaizzi’s analysis method was adhered to, and the detailed research process and original data for each theme were presented to enhance the reader’s understanding of the research results. The researcher conducted the research while taking a neutral attitude throughout the research process, excluding bias, prejudices, assumptions (bracketing), so that the participant’s experience distortion by the researcher was minimized. In other words, in order to establish neutrality, which means freedom from prejudice about research results, at the beginning of the study, the researcher explicated any assumptions that could influence data collection and analysis [ 32 ] (ex. participants will mostly have negative emotions while caring for patients without any preparation. Participants will be withdrawn from the social perspective because they are taking care of infected patients.) The other researcher reviewed data analysis to ensure that the researcher’s assumptions did not influence data interpretation.

2.6. Ethical Considerations

This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the researcher’s affiliated institution (HYUIRB-202009-009). Participants were informed about the purpose of the study, reporting of study results, and interview recordings. We obtained written informed consents from all participants before data collection. In addition, it was explained that even after consenting, participants could withdraw from the study at any time without any harm if they wished. All participants were provided with a small reward as appreciation for their participation in the study.

The essential structure of the phenomenon was identified as ‘Going beyond the double suffering tunnel of taking charge of infected patients into the future’. The essence of the phenomenon is presented as five theme clusters, and twelve themes emerged from analyzing nurses’ experiences with caring for COVID-19 patients: (1) nurses struggling under the weight of dealing with infectious disease, (2) challenges added to difficult caring, (3) double suffering from patient care, (4) support for caring, and (5) expectations for post-COVID-19 life ( Table 2 ).

Theme Clusters and Themes.

3.1. Nurses Struggling under the Weight of Dealing with Infectious Disease

Participants felt fear and anxiety while caring for COVID-19 patients, as they have remained unaware of any definitive treatments. Consumed by thoughts of contracting the disease, they reported feeling unable to remain calm and dutifully serve their patients. In particular, it was shocking, as well as saddening, for them to be unable to provide respectful end of life care toward patients who could not recover.

3.1.1. Anxiety and Fear Accompanying Patient Care

The anxiety and fear at the heart of the thought that they could also be infected became an invisible chain, binding the participants. According to them, nursing without being guaranteed safety was challenging. When facing the reality of nursing while fearing patients’ diseases, it felt unfamiliar for participants to worry about their own and their patients’ safety simultaneously, rather than completely immersing themselves in patients’ recovery. They were uncertain of whether their feelings were normal; although they tried their best to provide quality care, they found it challenging to do so while dealing with their persistent anxiety.

To be honest, that was the hardest for me. Since we were constantly exposed to the risk of infection, it was hard to care for patients due to anxiety rather than due to physical challenges while caring for the patient. (Participant J)

3.1.2. Dignity Ignored Due to the Fear of Infectious Diseases

Having to watch patients struggling alone and in isolation, without the support and comfort of their family members during their final moments, made participants feel extremely sorry and heartbroken. The most distressing aspect of caring for patients on their deathbed was that patients and nurses were faced with the reality that patients’ families would not be allowed to be with them during their moment of dying; the fact that they would pass away without receiving appropriate treatment was secondary. “Patients who died during the COVID-19 period were the most pitiful” does not just indicate the limitations of medical treatment. It highlights dignity, which is be protected even in the worst circumstances, but was disregarded due to the fear of contracting infectious diseases. Participants experienced unimaginable shock and ethical anguish as they witnessed patients being taken to crematoriums without being seen by their family members, with their bodies in bags without having their clothing changed. As these uncontrollable experiences kept repeating, participants made a paradoxical resolve to prevent patients from dying.

Patients who die while I work in the ward usually have their families come to see them and hold their hands. However, for those who die of COVID-19, families come and check their patients on the monitor. I think that’s the most heartbreaking and sad thing. (Participant L)

The post-death process was really shocking. I feel like it didn’t treat people like human beings. Thus, that hurt me the most. I think that’s hard while working in the ward. When patients die, I know how they will be treated. I am so sorry, and my heart hurts. That’s why I really want to discharge them. Seriously, I think I’m getting desperate for this kind of feeling. (Participant B)

3.2. Challenges Added to Difficult Caring

Participants struggled every day, and factors that made their lives more challenging are as follows: the personal protective equipment (PPE) that had to be worn for patient care, working in chaotic conditions without clear instructions, and being overburdened with tasks.

3.2.1. The Burden of Triple Distress for Everyone’s Safety; Wearing PPE

Participants had to endure a significant amount of pain and discomfort for safety purposes, especially while nursing patients in PPE. Less than 10 min after wearing them, the inside of the protective clothing would become warm and fill with sweat, and the eye goggles would become foggy. In these situations, participants experienced difficulties in certain activities, such as communicating with patients, securing intravenous (IV) lines, or drawing blood. Occasionally, they had to wear gloves that did not fit well due to a lack of proper supplies, making their practice more difficult.

I think the hardest thing was to wear Level D and go inside. At first, I did the intubation wearing protective clothing. At that time, my body became sluggish, and my vision became narrower because I was wearing goggles. So, even if I moved a little, it got too hot and I would sweat too much, and it was really hard to deal with something in there. Because it was too hot. (Participant D)

3.2.2. Work Loaded Solely on Nurses

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, hospitals implemented policies to minimize the number of family members and caregivers in contact with patients, which increased the burden of caregiving on participants. Blood collections and portable X-ray imaging that radiological technologists performed also became nurses’ duties. In addition, nurses had to prepare documents for the hospital transfers of patients, and were also responsible for checking, storing, and delivering parcels to patients. Nurses were gradually exhausted as most duties, especially those outside their purview, were delegated to them.

To be honest, there are not just nurses in the hospital. However, it’s a situation where we have to take on everything that other employees have done. I feel like they’re giving all their work to the nurses. We have to prepare everything that the radiology department had to do on their own before. For the meal distribution for COVID-19 patients, nurses have to do everything that the nutrition team previously did. For blood collection, we have to do all the things that the laboratory medicine department used to do. It’s overwhelming that nurses have to do most of the work. (Participant F)

3.2.3. Confusing and Uncertain Working Conditions

Participants’ routine caring for COVID-19 patients has been as uncertain as COVID-19 patients’ conditions. Due to the number of confirmed cases increasing daily and sudden confirmations of the infection in colleagues, situations such as the operation of additional negative pressure wards or temporary closures of wards occurred unexpectedly. Consequently, participants were frequently relocated, and their work schedules and wards were changed, creating confusion. In particular, unclear guidelines and insufficient training made their jobs more difficult.

It’s tough to get the work schedule on a weekly basis. Actually, I don’t know my work schedule for Tuesday even on Monday, so I don’t know which shift I will work on the next day. Hence, it’s really very stressful. (Participant E)

3.3. Double Suffering from Patient Care

Participants experienced not only physical difficulties but also mental and social challenges while caring for COVID-19 patients. They endured self-isolation along with their families, and were uncomfortable with causing their family members to experience isolation. In addition, unlike the usual positive public perception of nurses, participants felt a social disconnection from the negativity and stigma surrounding them, which was also hurtful and uncomfortable.

3.3.1. Self-Isolation: Anxiety Becomes a Reality

Participants contracted the virus while caring for patients or had to enter complete self-isolation due to coming in contact with infected colleagues. They endured the anxiety and fear of being infected and suddenly became subjects of self-isolation, leading to concerns about having their personal information exposed, and the social stigma of being confirmed COVID-19 patients. Those who tested negative felt “uncomfortable relief”, even as their colleagues were testing positive during self-isolation.

When being in self-isolation, as you know, I must contact my child’s school. I had to contact a homeroom teacher of my child. Actually I didn’t really do anything wrong, but I really, really felt bad. Wouldn’t the image appear strange to my child? Because of that thought, every time I thought about that, I thought if I should resign. (Participant N)

3.3.2. A Contrasting Perception of Nurses: Heroes of Society versus Subjects of Avoidance

Even with the “Thank you Challenge” campaign spreading among the public, to express gratitude and respect towards health care professionals who responded to COVID-19, nurses did not feel particularly gratified. In a pandemic, the true heroes fighting COVID-19 could only work efficiently in isolation from other people. Close neighbors viewed participants as dangerous sources of pollution or pathogens that threatened their safety. Unlike the warm gaze of the public to see the nurses, participants felt judged by those around them, which made their jobs more uncomfortable.

Above all, the most challenging thing is the social perspective of “these people are working in an isolation hospital now”. People close to me have this kind of perspective… When one of the nurses is reported on the news or the media as a confirmed patient, we also feel like cringing. Such social perspectives were very hard for us because we’ve become people that the public wants to avoid rather them feeling appreciation for us and thinking of us like we are working hard and trying our best. (Participant M)

3.4. Support for Caring

Sympathetic colleagues, and supportive and appreciative patients, encouraged participants to care for patients despite their difficulties. In addition, participants felt rewarded and proud of their care when they witnessed patients recovering, which further drove them to fulfill their duties.

3.4.1. Companionship and Sharing Difficulties

Participants endured difficult working routines with the support of colleagues, who best understood their struggles. In experiencing and sharing the same difficulties, participants found comfort with their colleagues. As nurses cannot quit, as that would mean additional pressures for their colleagues, they rely on each other for support.

To be honest, I think I’m being able to endure hard times thanks to my companionship. It’s hard for us all. And fortunately, all colleagues are friendly, and many colleagues are so considerate of each other. We’re not pushing each other to go in, but we are voluntarily working. Even though COVID-19 is hard for me, this companionship has helped me learn and endure with them until now. (Participant I)

3.4.2. Support and Appreciation from Patients and People

While struggling, words of support and appreciation from patients, family, and friends helped participants withstand their difficult situations.

A patient wrote a very long letter. “Thank you. Thank you so much for taking care of me, and I was moved by the hard work you did. And even in the heat, you never got annoyed”. Well, because the patient wrote a lot of appreciative words like this, I was really grateful. Somehow, apart from the money, I thought it was terrific to work. (Participant A)

3.4.3. A Sense of Satisfaction and Self-Esteem

The sense of satisfaction and self-esteem felt while caring for COVID-19 patients became an essential incentive for participants to remain in nursing. When patients hospitalized in severe conditions were able to recover, participants felt rewarded by their occupation, and their self-esteem was increased.

At first, the patient‘s condition was so bad. So, we thought the patient would actually die, but it turned out that the patient improved so much and was discharged later. We felt like we were being compensated for the hard work. I had pride that we did an excellent job in nursing. (Participant D)

3.5. Expectations for Post-COVID-19 Life

As COVID-19 keeps persisting in everyday life, expectations for life after COVID-19 are gradually blurring. Participants are unsure if there will ever be a time when they can care for their patients without protective clothing. Much of what participants wanted to accomplish after COVID-19 has been delayed for at least a year, but they have some expectations and are preparing for another future.

3.5.1. Restoring Everyday Life

Even in the current uncertain situation, participants have sincerely performed their nursing duties, while dreaming of restoring daily life. They recognized the importance of everyday social activities, such as eating together, watching movies, capturing bright smiles on camera, and realized that these activities were all they wished to do. Conversely, along with these wishes, there are also concerns about being able to return to the past sense of normalcy.

Returning to normality is what I want the most, and I think the next step is to think about it together with the management team and the government. I believe our request should be reviewed to combat physical exhaustion, and psychotherapists need to be involved and actively work on recovering. It’s not just that we get rest. Professional intervention is necessary. (Participant M)

3.5.2. Preparing for the Future

Participants encountered COVID-19, which occurred several years after the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) epidemic, as another infectious disease that was able to threaten society at any time. In addition, chaotic situations in the hospital were not promptly managed, as the effects of the virus were so severe and fast that the experience of nursing MERS patients became insignificant. The MERS experience was inadequate in training healthcare providers to respond to similar future emergencies. Accordingly, efforts have been made to incorporate the vivid nursing experiences of COVID-19 into protocols against bracing for other diseases in the future.

That’s why even though I don’t know when the COVID-19 pandemic will end, once it’s over, I think the protocol needs to be more complete. Furthermore, I think we should regularly stockpile a certain amount of items for the future. And, we need to plan a little more neatly how to manage nursing staff systematically. (Participant K)

Since we don’t know when another infectious disease will afflict us, we have to prepare a lot for response training to infectious diseases, facilities and personnel of institutions, and locations for care facilities. To reduce certain mistakes, I think we should prepare well now. (Participant M)

4. Discussion

This study was conducted to understand the meanings and essence of the experiences of nurses who cared for COVID-19 patients, using a descriptive phenomenological method. As a result of this study, 5 theme clusters and 12 themes were extracted.

The first theme cluster indicated that the nurses struggled under the weight of dealing with infectious diseases. Participants expressed anxiety and fear in the absence of a definitive treatment for COVID-19. This is similar to the results of previous studies that reported that the lack of information and knowledge about unfamiliar diseases leads to ambiguity in nursing services, resulting in nurses feeling fearful and anxious [ 33 ]. The anxiety and fear accompanying patient care may be the result of rushing to the battlefield without any preparation [ 19 ]. In addition, participants appeared to have persistent fears of unintentional exposure and of transmitting the virus to co-workers [ 34 ]. Nurses who performed shift work during COVID-19 had a significantly increased association between COVID-19-related work stressors and anxiety disorder [ 24 ]. These physiological and psychological conditions are reported to create high stress and further lead to post-traumatic stress [ 35 ]. Hence, nurses caring for COVID-19 patients require continuous evaluation and management to sustain their mental wellbeing.

In the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses are experiencing ethical anguish in the face of unique situations that they have never experienced before. In particular, watching patients pass away alone, in isolation, without the support and comfort of family members, causes unimaginable shock and anguish. Moral distress between patient dignity and infection control is a similar experience to nurses in other countries, reported in previous studies. Nurses are known to experience contradictory feelings [ 18 ] as they experience the pressure of having to coordinate their responsibilities for the prevention of COVID-19 infection, along with other moral responsibilities [ 16 ].

Therefore, we need to create an ethically supportive environment [ 36 ], not just alleviate the ethical distress experienced by nurses [ 37 ]. In addition, it is necessary to find ways to guarantee both infection control and dignified death; for instance, family members can wear protective clothing and safely participate in their relatives’ end-of-life processes. Other measures to ensure a dignified death include minimal post-mortem medical interference, and respect for and adherence to cultural customs [ 38 ].

The second theme cluster was participants’ aggravated caring difficulties. Participants in this study were uncomfortable with the heat and sweat caused by wearing sealed PPE. This seems to be a slightly different experience than the Italian nurses who raised some concerns about the lack of PPE, the inadequacy of PPE, and the lack of guidelines for proper use [ 15 ]. In Korea, where resources, such as PPE, were relatively abundant since the COVID-19 pandemic declaration, wearing PPE acted as a triple pain burden on the safety of all people rather than the problem of lack of equipment.

It is similar to a previous study, demonstrating that these devices make it difficult to communicate with patients and perform basic tasks [ 34 ]. The appropriate wearing of PPE has been reported to protect medical staff from burnout [ 39 ]. However, continuous wearing of PPE can cause tissue damage or skin reactions, and prolonged wearing of goggles has been found to increase discomfort and fatigue due to abrasive straps and visual distortion [ 38 ]. Therefore, compliance with the PPE-wearing guidelines should be monitored and shift work should be assigned, taking into account the maximum period during which nurses are allowed to wear protective equipment.

It has also been found that medical workload has been excessively delegated to nurses taking care of COVID-19 patients. Policies to minimize social contact with patients have burdened nurses with extra tasks, causing exhaustion [ 40 ]. The excessive increase in work burden is in line with the results of qualitative research on the experience of nurses in other countries. A study by Liu et al. [ 34 ], in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, reported that nurses had done a lot of work. Recent studies also reported that COVID-19 caused a lot of work for nurses [ 20 ], and the treatment characterized by many isolated patients increased the work of nurses exponentially [ 14 ]. Nurses are constantly aware of new knowledge and skills associated with evolving pandemics and viruses, and receive new training, in preparation for adapting to the situation and providing care for suspected or identified patients [ 20 ]. In addition, frequent changes of working locations and wards, changes in work schedules, and confusion over working guidelines, have made nurses’ lives uncertain.

The final theme of the challenge with difficult care was the confusing and uncertain working conditions, partly related to nursing staffing [ 14 ]. However, it was more difficult for the participants in this study to be able to predict their work schedule, rather than the shortage of nursing personnel. This may be due to the difficulty in predicting the hospitalization rates of infected patients and the problems caused by frequent and rapid relocation of nurses, depending on the number of hospitalized patients. In this study, the uncertainty in working conditions is consistent with the report by Liang et al. [ 20 ], that there was uncertainty among nurses about being transferred to the areas where the epidemic was most serious. Moreover, the ambiguity surrounding COVID-19 and whether patients have contracted it have been shown to increase nurses’ stress [ 33 ]. Even in such situations, thoroughly preparing for and predicting potential emergency situations, based on comprehensive data analysis, knowledge accumulation, and education, can reduce the uncertainty and anxiety surrounding infectious diseases.

The third theme cluster was double suffering from patient care. Despite continuing to monitor self-health to avoid infecting others, nurses contracted the virus or had to self-isolate due co-workers’ positive diagnoses. Sabetian et al. [ 41 ] found that 273 out of a total of 4854 cases contracted the virus while caring for COVID-19 patients, of which 51.3% were nurses. The fear of self-reliance approaching reality is a reflection of the situation at the time, when nurses were not allowed to return home after cohort isolation for two weeks as their colleagues were diagnosed with COVID-19 [ 19 ].

Notably, participants felt that they were subjected to dual perceptions, both as national heroes and as contagions. In Korea, the “Thank You Challenge” campaign encouraged expressing gratitude and respect to medical staff. The Korean people were deeply impressed by the situation of nurses and care protection, as they knew that they could not care for patients infected with COVID-19 without the sacrifice and compassionate mission of the nurses [ 42 ]. However, nurses have reported preferring forms of recognition and support other than hero worship [ 37 ], indicating that the campaign alone was insufficient in improving their morale. Participants also felt that their community members wanted to avoid them and considered them as dangerous contagions, threatening public safety. Previous studies reported that nurses were treated as viruses [ 19 ] or suffered from stigma [ 20 ], and conversely, were motivated to work harder through public support [ 19 ]. However, there are few research reports that nurses experience double suffering from patient care due to the coexistence of such contrasting perceptions. These experiences corroborate previous findings that disease uncertainty and social anxiety have caused nurses to be perceived as carriers and spreaders of the virus [ 33 ].

The fourth theme cluster was supporting caring. Participants endured their situations because quitting would have overburdened their colleagues. While participants found it awkward to work with nurses from different wards at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, their relationships improved and became encouraging and supportive [ 19 ]. It is worth noting that, even in situations of extreme stress and emotional exhaustion, support from colleagues and teams can positively impact recovery [ 43 ]. In addition, this study found that support and appreciation from patients and families encouraged participants to endure their difficult situations [ 19 , 35 ]. In previous studies, negative emotions, such as fatigue, helplessness, and fear of infections, prevailed in the early stages of COVID-19, but coping strategies were created with adaptation, support from others, and expressions of positive emotions [ 44 ]. International researchers reported that nurses dealt with and attempted to overcome their challenges and feelings and emotional responses by coping during the pandemic. Nurses in the United States [ 17 ] and India [ 45 ] used teamwork and peer support, and used personal coping strategies, such as relationship development, play, exercise, meditation, and distractions.

In the face of unknown diseases and unpredictable dangers, participants took responsibility and devoted themselves to their mission. Despite nurses and healthcare staff demonstrating professional devotion [ 33 , 34 ], a social atmosphere that demands sacrifice should be avoided to decrease their experiences of stress and fatigue.

The last theme cluster encompassed expectations for post-COVID-19 life. The participants had been doing their best to care for patients, while dreaming of returning to their regular lives, despite working in uncertain conditions. To instill a sense of normalcy in their lives, it is imperative to provide physical and mental health support to exhausted nurses. Even after the impact of COVID-19 has diminished, it is necessary to fully recognize the inherent stress and emotional burden experienced by nurses and support recovery with routine procedures and systems [ 44 ]. This aspect of the pandemic has been reported by Italian nurses to have obvious psychological trauma, which is quite similar to that reported in China [ 46 , 47 ]. As COVID-19 cases begin to decline, research into resilience, particularly post-traumatic stress syndrome in nursing staff, will be needed [ 48 ]. Although new epidemic outbreaks cannot be prevented, risk awareness can direct attention to emerging epidemics and promote capacity development toward disease management and control [ 19 , 49 ]. As seen from this study, experience alone did not prepare nursing staff to deal with novel disease outbreaks. Hence, specific protocols and standard operating procedures, targeting different disease risk scenarios, should be established to support nursing work, with ample resources.

Limitations of This Research

In this study, we applied a phenomenological approach to understanding nurses’ experiences of COVID-19 patient caring, and the participants were the nurses who involuntarily cared for COVID-19 patients. Accordingly, there is a limitation in that the nursing experience of the nurses who voluntarily participated in COVID-19 patient nursing could not be presented. We conducted online or face-to-face interviews, depending on the participants’ preferences, but the online interview had limitations, in that it did not fully grasp the vivid experiences contained in the non-verbal expressions of the participants and did not describe their experiences in more depth. Participants were in a vulnerable situation; not only were they at risk of infection, but were also responsible for covering the duty of their colleagues with confirmed COVID-19, and the work of other health care assistants because they were wearing PPE. Despite these limitations, it is significant that this study gained a deeper understanding of nurses’ experiences of caring for COVID-19 patients and came a little closer to the essence of nursing.

5. Conclusions

This study is significant as it explored and organized nurses’ experiences of caring for COVID-19 patients, using a descriptive phenomenological research method. The findings of this study are useful primary data for developing appropriate measures for health professionals’ wellbeing during outbreaks of infectious diseases.

A limitation of this study is that, because data were collected before the participants were vaccinated against COVID-19, negative emotional aspects, such as anxiety and fear about caring for patients, were drawn as the main results. In the future, it is necessary to balance this perspective by incorporating experiences of healthcare providers who have been vaccinated against COVID-19. In addition, as nurses in this study struggled with mental as well as physical difficulties, it is suggested that future studies develop and apply mental health recovery programs for them.

H.-Y.J., J.-E.Y. and Y.-S.S. conceived and designed the study; H.-Y.J. acquired data; H.-Y.J. and Y.-S.S. analyzed the data; H.-Y.J. and J.-E.Y. wrote the first draft. All authors contributed to revisions of the manuscript and critical discussion. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

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Phenomenology helps us to understand the meaning of people's lived experience.  A phenomenological study explores what people experienced and focuses on their experience of a phenomenon.  As phenomenology has a strong foundation in philosophy, it is recommended that you explore the writings of key thinkers such as Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty before embarking on your research. Duquesne's Simon Silverman Phenomenology Center maintains a collection of resources connected to phenomenology as well as hosting lectures, and is a good place to start your exploration.

• Simon Silverman Phenomenology Center
• Husserl, Edmund, 1859–1938
• Heidegger, Martin, 1889–1976
• Sartre, Jean Paul, 1905–1980
• Merleau-Ponty, Maurice, 1908–1961

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Phenomenological research is a qualitative research approach that focuses on exploring the subjective experiences and perspectives of individuals. Phenomenology aims to understand how people make meaning of their experiences and how they interpret the world around them.

Phenomenological research typically involves in-depth interviews or focus group discussions with individuals who have experienced a particular phenomenon or event. The data collected through these interviews or discussions are analyzed using thematic analysis. 

Today, we will learn how a scholar can successfully conduct a phenomenological study and draw inferences based on individual's experiences. This information would be especially useful for those who conduct qualitative research . Well then, let’s dive into this together!

What Is Phenomenological Research: Definition

Let’s define phenomenological research notion. It is an approach that analyzes common experiences within a selected group. With it, scholars use live evidence provided by actual witnesses. It is a widespread and old approach to collecting data on certain phenomenon. People with first-hand experience provide researchers with necessary data. This way the most up-to-date and, therefore, least distorted information can be received.  On the other hand, witnesses can be biased in their opinions. This, together with their lack of understanding about subject, can influence your study. This is why it is important to validate your results. If you aren’t sure how to validate the outcomes, feel free to contact our dissertation writers . They have proven experience in conducting different research studies, including phenomenology.

Phenomenological Research Methodology

You should use phenomenological research methods carefully, when writing an academic paper. Aside from chance of running into bias, you risk misplacing your results if you don't know what you're doing. Luckily, we're here to provide thesis help and explain what steps you should take if you want your work to be flawless!

• Form a target group. It is typically 10 to 20 people who have witnessed a certain event or process. They may have an inside knowledge of it.
• Systematically observe participants of this group. Take necessary notes.
• Conduct interviews, conversation or workshops with them. Ask them questions about the subject like ‘what was your experience with it?’, ‘what did it mean?’, ‘what did you feel about it?’, etc.
• Analyze the results to achieve understanding of the subject’s impact on the group. This should include measures to counter biases and preconceived assumptions about the subject.

Phenomenological Research: Pros and Cons

Phenomenological research has plenty of advantages. After all, when writing a paper, you can benefit from collecting information from live participants. So, here are some of the cons:

• This method brings unique insights and perspectives on a subject. It may help seeing it from an unexpected side.
• It also helps to form deeper understanding about a subject or event in question. Many details can be uncovered, which would not be obvious otherwise.
• It provides undistorted data first-hand.

But, of course, you can't omit some disadvantages of phenomenological research. Bias is obviously one of them, but they don't stop with it. Observe:

• Sometimes participants may find it hard to convey their experience correctly. This happens due to various factors, like language barriers.
• Organizing data and conducting analysis can be very time consuming.
• You can generalize the resulting data easily.
• Preparing a proper presentation of the results may be challenging.

Phenomenological Research: Questions With Examples

It is important to know what phenomenological research questions can be used for certain papers. Remember, that you should use a qualitative approach here. Use open-ended questions each time you talk with a participant. This way the participant could give you much more information than just ‘yes’ or ‘know’.  Here are a few real examples of phenomenological research questions that have been used in academic works by term paper writers .

Phenomenological Research Questions: Examples

When you're stuck with your work, you might need some examples of phenomenological research questions. They focus on retrieving as much data as possible about a certain phenomenon. Participants are encouraged to share their experiences, feelings and emotions. This way scholars could get a deeper and more detailed view of a subject.

• What was it like, when the X event occurred?
• What were you thinking about when you first saw X?
• Can you tell me an example of encountering X?
• What could you associate X with?
• What was the X’s impact on your life/your family/your health etc.?

Phenomenological Research Examples

Do you need some real examples of phenomenological research? We'll be glad to provide them here, so you could better understand the information given above. Please note that good research topics should highlight the problem. It must also indicate the way you will collect and process data during analysis.

• Understanding the role of a teacher's personality and ability to lead by example play in the overall progress of their class. A study conducted in 6 private and public high schools of Newtown.
• Perspectives of aromatherapy in treating personality disorders among middle-aged residents of the city. A mixed methods study conducted among 3 independent focus groups in Germany, France and the UK.
• View and understanding of athletic activities' roles by college students. Their impact on overall academic success. Several focus groups have been selected for this study. They underwent both online conduct surveys and offline workshops to voice their opinions on the subject.

Phenomenological Research: Final Thoughts

Phenomenological qualitative research is crucial if you must collect data from live participants. In this article, we have examined the concept of this approach. Moreover, we explained how you can collect your data. Hopefully, this will provide you with a broader perspective about phenomenological research!

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Frequently Asked Questions About Phenomenological Qualitative Research

1. what are the 4 various types of experiences in phenomenology.

Phenomenology studies the structure of various types of experience. It attempts to view a subject from many different angles. A good phenomenological research requires focusing on different ways the information can be retrieved from respondents. These can be: perception, thought, memory, imagination, emotion, desire, and volition. With them explained, a scholar can retrieve objective information, impressions, associations and assumptions about the subject.

3. What is the purpose of phenomenological research design?

Main goal of the phenomenological approach is highlighting the specific traits of a subject. This helps to identify phenomena through the perceptions of live participants. Phenomenological research design helps to formulate research statements. Questions must be asked so that the most informative replies could be received.

4. What is phenomenological research study?

A phenomenological research study explores what respondents have actually witnessed. It focuses on their unique experience of a subject in order to retrieve the most valuable and least distorted information about it. The study must include open-ended questions, target focus groups who will provide answers, and the tools to analyze the results.

2. What is hermeneutic phenomenology research?

Hermeneutic phenomenology research is a method often used in qualitative research in Education and other Human Sciences. It inspects deeper layers of respondents’ experiences by analyzing their interpretations and their level of comprehension of actual events, processes or objects. By viewing a person’s reply from different perspectives, researchers try to understand what is hidden beneath that.

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Quantitative vs. Qualitative Research Design: Understanding the Differences

As a future professional in the social and education landscape, research design is one of the most critical strategies that you will master to identify challenges, ask questions and form data-driven solutions to address problems specific to your industry. 

Many approaches to research design exist, and not all work in every circumstance. While all data-focused research methods are valid in their own right, certain research design methods are more appropriate for specific study objectives.

Unlock our resource to learn more about jump starting a career in research design — Research Design and Data Analysis for the Social Good .

We will discuss the differences between quantitative (numerical and statistics-focused) and qualitative (non-numerical and human-focused) research design methods so that you can determine which approach is most strategic given your specific area of graduate-level study. 

Understanding Social Phenomena: Qualitative Research Design

Qualitative research focuses on understanding a phenomenon based on human experience and individual perception. It is a non-numerical methodology relying on interpreting a process or result. Qualitative research also paves the way for uncovering other hypotheses related to social phenomena. 

In its most basic form, qualitative research is exploratory in nature and seeks to understand the subjective experience of individuals based on social reality.

Qualitative data is…

• often used in fields related to education, sociology and anthropology; 
• designed to arrive at conclusions regarding social phenomena; 
• focused on data-gathering techniques like interviews, focus groups or case studies; 
• dedicated to perpetuating a flexible, adaptive approach to data gathering;
• known to lead professionals to deeper insights within the overall research study.

You want to use qualitative data research design if:

• you work in a field concerned with enhancing humankind through the lens of social change;
• your research focuses on understanding complex social trends and individual perceptions of those trends;
• you have interests related to human development and interpersonal relationships.

Examples of Qualitative Research Design in Education

Here are just a few examples of how qualitative research design methods can impact education:

Example 1: Former educators participate in in-depth interviews to help determine why a specific school is experiencing a higher-than-average turnover rate compared to other schools in the region. These interviews help determine the types of resources that will make a difference in teacher retention. 

Example 2: Focus group discussions occur to understand the challenges that neurodivergent students experience in the classroom daily. These discussions prepare administrators, staff, teachers and parents to understand the kinds of support that will augment and improve student outcomes.

Example 3: Case studies examine the impacts of a new education policy that limits the number of teacher aids required in a special needs classroom. These findings help policymakers determine whether the new policy affects the learning outcomes of a particular class of students.

Interpreting the Numbers: Quantitative Research Design

Quantitative research tests hypotheses and measures connections between variables. It relies on insights derived from numbers — countable, measurable and statistically sound data. Quantitative research is a strategic research design used when basing critical decisions on statistical conclusions and quantifiable data.

Quantitative research provides numerical-backed quantifiable data that may approve or discount a theory or hypothesis.

Quantitative data is…

• often used in fields related to education, data analysis and healthcare; 
• designed to arrive at numerical, statistical conclusions based on objective facts;
• focused on data-gathering techniques like experiments, surveys or observations;
• dedicated to using mathematical principles to arrive at conclusions;
• known to lead professionals to indisputable observations within the overall research study.

You want to use quantitative data research design if:

• you work in a field concerned with analyzing data to inform decisions;
• your research focuses on studying relationships between variables to form data-driven conclusions;
• you have interests related to mathematics, statistical analysis and data science.

Examples of Quantitative Research Design in Education

Here are just a few examples of how quantitative research design methods may impact education:

Example 1: Researchers compile data to understand the connection between class sizes and standardized test scores. Researchers can determine if and what the relationship is between smaller, intimate class sizes and higher test scores for grade-school children using statistical and data analysis.

Example 2: Professionals conduct an experiment in which a group of high school students must complete a certain number of community service hours before graduation. Researchers compare those students to another group of students who did not complete service hours — using statistical analysis to determine if the requirement increased college acceptance rates.

Example 3: Teachers take a survey to examine an education policy that restricts the number of extracurricular activities offered at a particular academic institution. The findings help better understand the far-reaching impacts of extracurricular opportunities on academic performance.

Making the Most of Research Design Methods for Good: Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College

Vanderbilt University's Peabody College of Education and Human Development offers a variety of respected, nationally-recognized graduate programs designed with future agents of social change in mind. We foster a culture of excellence and compassion and guide you to become the best you can be — both in the classroom and beyond.

At Peabody College, you will experience

• an inclusive, welcoming community of like-minded professionals;
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• opportunities for valuable, hands-on learning experiences,
• the option of specializing depending on your specific area of interest.

Explore our monthly publication — Ideas in Action — for an inside look at how Peabody College translates discoveries into action.

Please click below to explore a few of the graduate degrees offered at Peabody College:

• Child Studies M.Ed. — a rigorous Master of Education degree that prepares students to examine the developmental, learning and social issues concerning children and that allows students to choose from one of two tracks (the Clinical and Developmental Research Track or the Applied Professional Track).
• Cognitive Psychology in Context M.S. — an impactful Master of Science program that emphasizes research design and statistical analysis to understand cognitive processes and real-world applications best, making it perfect for those interested in pursuing doctoral studies in cognitive science.
• Education Policy M.P.P — an analysis-focused Master of Public Policy program designed for future leaders in education policy and practice, allowing students to specialize in either K-12 Education Policy, Higher Education Policy or Quantitative Methods in Education Policy. 
• Quantitative Methods M.Ed. — a data-driven Master of Education degree that teaches the theory and application of quantitative analysis in behavioral, social and educational sciences.

Connect with the Community of Professionals Seeking to Enhance Humankind at Peabody College

At Peabody College, we equip you with the marketable, transferable skills needed to secure a valuable career in education and beyond. You will emerge from the graduate program of your choice ready to enhance humankind in more meaningful ways than you could have imagined.

If you want to develop the sought-after skills needed to be a force for change in the social and educational spaces, you are in the right place .

We invite you to request more information ; we will connect you with an admissions professional who can answer all your questions about choosing one of these transformative graduate degrees at Peabody College. You may also take this opportunity to review our admissions requirements and start your online application today. 

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Doing a Hermeneutic Phenomenology Research Underpinned by Gadamer’s Philosophy: A Framework to Facilitate Data Analysis

Introduction, gadamer’s hermeneutics, data analysis, declaration of conflicting interests, cite article, share options, information, rights and permissions, metrics and citations, figures and tables, choosing an analytical framework.

First step: Deciding Upon a Research Question

Second step: identification of pre-understandings (before data collection), third step: gaining understanding through dialogue with participants (interview and diary), fourth step: gaining understanding through dialogue with text (transcribing and analysing), stage 1: immersion, stage 2: understanding, stage 3: abstraction, stage 4: synthesis and theme development.

Stage 5: Illumination and illustration of phenomena

Stage 6: Integration and critique

Fifth step: establishing trustworthiness, download to reference manager.

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Phenomenology is a type of qualitative research as it requires an in-depth understanding of the audience's thoughts and perceptions of the phenomenon you're researching. It goes deep rather than broad, unlike quantitative research. Finding the lived experience of the phenomenon in question depends on your interpretation and analysis.

Now called Descriptive Phenomenology, this study design is one of the most commonly used methodologies in qualitative research within the social and health sciences. Used to describe how human beings experience a certain phenomenon. The researcher asks, "What is this experience like?', 'What does this experience mean?' or 'How does ...

Explore how phenomenological qualitative research can address the challenges of embeddedness and reflexivity in the context of social change.

Introduction. As a research methodology, phenomenology is uniquely positioned to help health professions education (HPE) scholars learn from the experiences of others. Phenomenology is a form of qualitative research that focuses on the study of an individual's lived experiences within the world. Although it is a powerful approach for inquiry ...

Here is a brief overview from The SAGE encyclopedia of qualitative research methods: Phenomenology is the reflective study of prereflective or lived experience. To say it somewhat differently, a main characteristic of the phenomenological tradition is that it is the study of the lifeworld as we immediately experience it, prereflectively, rather ...

A qualitative research approach that helps in describing the lived experiences of an individual is known as phenomenological research. The phenomenological method focuses on studying the phenomena that have impacted an individual. This approach highlights the specifics and identifies a phenomenon as perceived by an individual in a situation.

Phenomenological research focuses on understanding lived experience, and therefore relies on qualitative data that can illuminate the subjective experiences of individuals. Because phenomenology aims to examine experience on its own terms, it is wary of imposing pre-defined categories or structures on the data.

This article distills the core principles of a phenomenological research design and, by means of a specific study, illustrates the phenomenological methodology. After a brief overview of the developments of phenomenology, the research paradigm of the specific study follows. Thereafter the location of the data, the data-gathering the data ...

For students and novice researchers, the choice of qualitative approach and subsequent alignment among problems, research questions, data collection, and data analysis can be particularly tricky. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to provide a concise explanation of four common qualitative approaches, case study, ethnography, narrative, and phenomenology, demonstrating how each approach ...

Qualitative research methodologies focus on meaning and although use similar methods have differing epistemological and ontological underpinnings, with each approach offering a different lens to explore, interpret or explain phenomena in real-world contexts and settings. In this article, we provide a brief overview of phenomenology and outline the main phenomenological approaches relevant for ...

The qualitative method of phenomenology provides a theoretical tool for educational research as it allows researchers to engage in flexible activities that can describe and help to understand complex phenomena, such as various aspects of human social experience. This article explains how to apply the framework of phenomenological qualitative analysis to educational research. The discussion ...

In response to this critical flaw at the heart of modern psychology, phenomenological psychologists endeavor to redirect psychology toward a more phenomenologically based direction. The centerpiece of this project has been the development of a qualitative research methodology that would make a phenomenological psychological science possible.

Since the primary source of data is the experience of the individual being studied, in-depth interviews are the most common means of data collection (see Chapter 13). Depending on the aim and research questions of the study, the method of analysis is either thematic or interpretive phenomenological analysis (Section 4).

Phenomenology is both a philosophical movement and a family of qualitative research methodologies. The term 'phenomenology' refers to the study of phenomena, where a phenomenon is anything ...

This study is an inductive study, applying the phenomenological research method of Colaizzi [ 26 ], in order to gain an in-depth understanding of the essence of nurses' experience in caring for COVID-19 patients, and it followed the guideline for qualitative research, established by the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research ...

This article distills the core principles of a phenomenological research design and, by means of a specific study, illustrates the phenomenological methodology.

A qualitative design using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA; Smith et al., 2021) and semi-structured interviews was the chosen method of data collection and analysis.

A phenomenological study explores what people experienced and focuses on their experience of a phenomenon. As phenomenology has a strong foundation in philosophy, it is recommended that you explore the writings of key thinkers such as Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre and Merleau-Ponty before embarking on your research.

Phenomenology has many real-life examples across different fields. Here are some examples of phenomenology in action: Psychology: In psychology, phenomenology is used to study the subjective experience of individuals with mental health conditions. For example, a phenomenological study might explore the experience of anxiety in individuals with ...

The interpretive phenomenological concepts of Dasein, lived experience, existentialia, authenticity are at the core of the discussion while relevant methodological concerns include research paradigm, researcher's stance, objective and research question, sampling and recruitment, data collection, and data analysis.

Phenomenological research seeks to understand a phenomenon by exploring lived experiences of people. Learn more about phenomenological design here.

Discerning if quantitative vs qualitative research design is best for your needs can be challenging. Read on for help discerning between the two.

Learn how to apply Gadamer's philosophy to hermeneutic phenomenology research and data analysis, with examples and insights from experienced researchers.

This article covers all things qualitative educational research, including how it helps improve our educational systems from the top down. We'll also show some examples of what qualitative research in education looks like in the field.

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