Educational Research: Planning, Conducting, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research

2018·1.23 MB·English

by  Creswell & Guetterman

Phenomenological
Research
methods
Phenomenological
Research
methods
Clark Moustakas
Copyright © 1994 by Sage Publications, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
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Moustakas, Clark E.
Phenomenological research methods / Clark Moustakas.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8039-5798-5.—ISBN 978-8039-5799-2 (pbk.)
1. Phenomenological psychology. 2. Psychology—Research—Methodology. I. Title.
BF204.5. M68 1994
150.19’2—dc20 94-7355

09 15 14

Sage Production Editor: Astrid Virding
I dedicate Phenomenological Research Methods to the learners and graduates of
the Center for Humanistic Studies and The Graduate School of The Union
Institute. From their investigations and my interactions with them, I have
deepened and extended my knowledge of a wide range of human experiences and
as an outcome have become a wiser, more effective teacher-guide and researcher.
CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
Foreword
1. Human Science Perspectives and Models
2. Transcendental Phenomenology: Conceptual Framework
3. Phenomenology and Human Science Inquiry
4. Intentionality, Noema, and Noesis
5. Epoche, Phenomenological Reduction, Imaginative Variation, and Synthesis
6. Methods and Procedures for Conducting Human Science Research
7. Phenomenological Research: Analyses and Examples
8. Summary, Implications, and Outcomes: A Phenomenological Analysis
Appendix A
Appendix B
Appendix C
Appendix D
Author Index
Subject Index
About the Author
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In the course of creating Phenomenological Research Methods, I have been significantly
influenced by the English published works of Edmund Husserl and by his students and other
phenomenological thinkers who clarified, expanded, and applied his ideas. Throughout this
book, these authors and publishers are cited and appropriately credited.
I want to recognize the following persons from whose work I have borrowed relevant
phenomenological theories, concepts, and methods, as well as examples of phenomenological
data: C. M. Aanstoos, R. B. Addison, N. Alpern, J. Becker, F. M. Buckley, P. R. Colaizzi, R.
Copen, H. Cooper, A. J. J. de Koning, C. T. Fischer, W. F. Fischer, C. B. Fraelich, A. Giorgi, E.
Humphrey, E. Keen, K. LaCourse, J. Miesel, S. Palaian, C. Palmieri, P. Paskiewicz, M. Patton,
C. Rhodes, L. Schmidt, E. Schneider, E. L. Stevick, C. Stratman, M. Trumbull, A. van Kaam, J.
Van Maanen, R. von Eckartsberg, F. J. Wertz, D. R. Wolf, and P. Yoder.
I also thank the following authors and publishers for permission to use extended quotations
from their works. Credit (following exerpted quotations) for permission to reprint material from
the following or any other sources includes as well all quotations from that particular work used
t hroughout this book.
N. Alpern. (1984). Men and Menstruation: A Phenomenological Investigation of Men’s Experience of
Menstruation. (Doctoral dissertation, Union for Experimenting Colleges and Universities, 1983). Dissertation
Abstracts International, 44, 2883B.
R. Copen. (1993). Insomnia: A Phenomenological Investigation. (Doctoral dissertation, The Union Institute,
1992). Dissertation Abstracts International, 53, 6542B.
A. J. J. de Koning. (1979). ‘The Qualitative Method of Research in the Phenomenology of Suspicion.” In A.
Giorgi, R. Knowles, & D. L. Smith (Eds.), Duquesne Studies in Phenomenological Psychology (Vol. 3).
Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press.
W. F. Fischer. (1989). “An Empirical-Phenomenological Investigation of Being Anxious.” In R. S. Valle &
S. Hailing (Eds.), Existential-Phenomenological Perspectives in Psychology. New York: Plenum.
C. B. Fraelich. (1989). A Phenomenological Investigation of the Psychotherapist’s Experience of Presence.
(Doctoral dissertation, The Union Institute, 1988). Dissertation Abstracts International, 50, 1643B.
A. Giorgi. (Ed.). (1985). Phenomenology and Psychological Research. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University
Press.
E. Humphrey. (1991). Searching for Life’s Meaning: A Phenomenological and Heuristic Exploration of the
Experience of Searching for Meaning in Life. (Doctoral dissertation, The Union Institute, 1992). Dissertation
Abstracts International, 51, 405IB.
E. Husserl. (1931). Ideas (W. R. Boyce Gibson, Trans.). London: George Allen & Unwin.
E. Keen. (1984). “Emerging From Depression.” American Behavioral Scientist, 27(6), 801–812.
J. A. Miesel. (1991). A Phenomenological Exploration of the Experience of Voluntarily Changing One’s
Career During Midlife. (Doctoral dissertation, The Union Institute, 1991). Dissertation Abstracts
International, 52, 5542B.
S. Palaian. (1993). The Experience of Longing: A Phenomenological Investigation. (Doctoral dissertation,
The Union Institute, 1993). Dissertation Abstracts International, 54, 1678B.
C. Palmieri. (1990). The Experience of Adults Abused as Children. (Doctoral dissertation, The Union
Institute, 1990). Dissertation Abstracts International, 51, 263IB.
P. Paskiewicz. (1988). The Experience of a Traumatic Closed Head Injury: A Phenomenological Study.
(Doctoral dissertation, Union for Experimenting Colleges and Universities, 1987). Dissertation Abstracts
International, 49, 919B.
C. Rhodes. (1987). Women in Transition: From Dependency to Autonomy: A Study in Self Development.
(Doctoral dissertation, The Union Graduate School, 1986). Dissertation Abstracts International, 48, 572B.
E. Schneider. (1987). The Mother’s Experience of the Mother-Daughter Relationship During the Daughter’s
Adolescent Years. (Doctoral dissertation, The Union Graduate School, 1986). Dissertation Abstracts
International, 48, 2109B.
C. Stratman. (1990). The Experience of Personal Power for Women. (Doctoral dissertation, The Union
Institute, 1989). Dissertation Abstracts International, 50, 5896B.
A. Strauss & J. Corbin. (1990). Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory, Procedures, and
Techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
M. Trumbull. (1993). The Experience of Undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery: A Phenomenological
Investigation. (Doctoral dissertation, The Union Institute, 1993). Dissertation Abstracts International, 54,
1115B.
P. Yoder. (1990). Guilt, the Feeling and the Force: A Phenomenological Study of the Experience of Feeling
Guilty. (Doctoral dissertation, The Union Institute, 1989). Dissertation Abstracts International, 50, 5341B.
I express my appreciation to Helen Saxton for typing sections of the revised manuscript and
especially Vange Puszcz who put the entire manuscript on a computer, corrected all errors,
followed up on missing reference data, and in countless other ways made possible the
completion of this book project, and Jill Benton for library detective work.
I also express my gratitude to Kevin MacNeil who originated the idea and facilitated the
process of publishing a work on my approach to phenomenological research.
FOREWORD

In developing Phenomenological Research Methods, I have been inspired and to some degree
guided by comments and questions of graduate students and research professors who had
employed phenomenological models in their studies of a wide range of human behavior and
experience. I have no doubt that our conversations and dialogues have made this book more
useful as theory, concept, design, and method for human science inquiry. A brief summary
outline of chapters follows.
Chapter 1, “Human Science Perspectives and Models,” discusses and illustrates five human
science research approaches that utilize qualitative methodologies. The models are Ethnography,
Grounded Theory, Hermeneutics, Empirical Phenomenological Research, and Heuristic
Research. The chapter includes a description of perspectives and qualities that these models hold
in common. This opening chapter is also a way of distinguishing my own phenomenological
model from that of other major human science guides to conducting research.
Chapter 2, “Transcendental Phenomenology: Conceptual Framework,” presents a conceptual
framework for understanding Transcendental Phenomenology and the theoretical and
methodological bases for the development of the phenomenological model that guides my
approach to human science inquiry.
Chapter 3, “Phenomenology and Human Science Inquiry,” offers further delineations of
traditional empirical science and human science. The chapter includes discussions of the core
concepts—consciousness, act, perception, intentional experience, and intersubjective validity.
An illustration of the application of phenomenological theory and method to education is
included.
Chapter 4, “Intentionality, Noema, and Noesis,” details the three major concepts of Husserl’s
transcendental phenomenology that guided my construction of a design for obtaining and
collecting data that explicates themes, meanings, and essences of human experience.
Chapter 5, “Epoche, Phenomenological Reduction, Imaginative Variation, and Synthesis,”
presents the major processes that are followed in doing research phenomenologically.
Chapter 6, “Methods and Procedures for Conducting Human Science Research,” enables the
researcher to follow, step by step, the methods and procedures needed for preparation and
collection of data, for conducting interviews, and for organizing and analyzing data into a unified
and coherent portrayal of the experience investigated. The chapter offers examples of how to
formulate a research question and locate and select research participants. It discusses relevant
ethical standards for conducting research with human participants. The chapter illustrates how to
conduct a review of the professional literature and suggests resources and strategies for
developing a summary of relevant prior works. A comprehensive example is provided on
organizing and developing the review of literature section of a research report.
Chapter 7, “Phenomenological Research: Analyses and Examples,” presents two major
designs and methods for organizing and analyzing data. Significant examples from recent
investigations are included to illustrate Horizonalization, Invariant Horizons, Individual Textural
Descriptions, Individual Structural Descriptions, Composite Textural and Composite Structural
Descriptions, and the Synthesis of Meanings and Essences.
Chapter 8, “Summary, Implications, and Outcomes: A Phenomenological Analysis,”
illustrates entire phenomenological studies and provides examples of future research projects,
and the personal, social, and professional implications of research.
An Appendix section is included offering examples of a letter of instructions to research
participants, a participant release agreement, and a letter of appreciation. Also in the Appendix
section is a detailed outline guide for conducting transcendental phenomenological research, and
an outline to guide the creation of the research manuscript.
The process of creating Phenomenological Research Methods has been a journey of intensive
work sessions that involved literature reviews of about 100 research publications, a wide range
of relevant professional works focusing on phenomenology, and hours of reflective thinking.
Throughout, I have engaged in dialogues with learners at the Center for Humanistic Studies in
my courses “Foundations for Human Science Research” and “Human Science Research
Designs,” and with professors at the Center. I also have met often with my learners at the
Graduate School of The Union Institute whose doctoral dissertations I supervise. Important too
were self-dialogues that eventuated in searchings that moved from material references, resources,
and data to internal wonderings, from thinking and reflecting to intuition and imagination, and
from ideas to lingering images and visions.
I hope that Phenomenological Research Methods will provide practical guidance needed to
conduct human science research and will inspire researchers and studies that will lead to
significant new knowledge of everyday human experiences, human behavior, and human
relationships.