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Phenomenology

Introduction

Phenomenological research, although distinctive, shares much in common with other approaches to qualitative research. This chapter explores some of the issues to do with understanding the phenomeno- logical approach and also highlights ways in which it shares features with other approaches.

Phenomenological research is concerned with how an individual views the world and how he or she lives his life – from inside. While many approaches to research look for commonalities of human experience (quantitative approaches, in particular, look for these), phenomenological research considers what it may be like to be this person, living this life at this time.

As I write these words, I (PB) do so from an office on the fourth floor of a small tower block. I can look away from the computer and out at more office buildings, two roads, a pedestrian walkway and at various trees. I can also look at a considerable expanse of sky. Presumably, further along the building, other colleagues can look out at the same or similar view. In one way, it is would not be difficult to identify the various elements of the scene, as it is viewed by a number of people. A photograph, taken from the window, would illustrate, very literally, the way things look outside the window on this particular day.

However, there is also a very different way to think about this. When I look out of the window, I also respond to what I see and these responses are likely to be different, for me, than they would be for a colleague in the next office. Let us consider some examples of this ‘difference’, for it is this ‘lived experience’ that is of interest to those doing phenomeno-logical experience.

First, the trees, in summer, remind me of when I lived in Surrey, England (I now live in South Wales). A moment’s glance brings back a whole range of memories of the past. Second, the buildings outside were built in the early 1970s and I have particular views about what has come to be called this ‘brutalist’ form of architecture. I am fascinated by the fact that once, in the 60s and 70s, I thought such buildings to be ‘modern’ and even beautiful and that now – along with many other people – I find them soulless and unattractive. One building reminds me of a hotel where I stay in Bangkok, Thailand – although, to anyone else, the association would, presumably, be a strange one. Third, I particularly enjoy watching a considerable number of seagulls flying and walking in the area. Two gulls, in particular, return year after year to mate and duly have a single, brown chick which, in turn, gets taught to become independent and fend for itself. All this reminds me of when I lived by the sea. Fourth, the sun on this scene can change my mood, just as a wet, dark day can.

In case it is not obvious, the scene is not in any sense a particularly memorable one. It is an ordinary, urban scene that exists, in a variety of forms, in cities in countries throughout the world. The point, here, of course, is that – in this case – I am looking at it! That, too, is unremarkable. But what is of interest is that at any time, in any given situation, individuals are looking at the world around them and feeling, thinking and even seeing, different things. They are making different associations, interpreting what they see in different ways and making judgments about what it is they look at. If quantitative research (and, in some cases, ethnography) looks for similarities in the human condition, phenomenological research is concerned with the human, subjective experience. We can say about people that (a) they are similar, in ways, to all other people, (b) they are similar, in ways, to some other people, and that (c) they are, in ways, different from all other people. For example, I share, with all other people, certain physical characteristics: I have arms, legs, a head and so on. I probably share many of the worries I have with all other people: money concerns, worries about relationships and the like. I am also similar to some other people and not others. I am, for example, male, while some others are female. I am English, where others are from other countries and cultures. Finally, there are those things that are peculiar to me. These are probably mostly thoughts, feelings and beliefs. They are the odd quirks that make a person different. I happen to believe that the notion that everyone is unique is overstated. It seems likely, though, that there are peculiarities about us that are not shared by others. It should be noted, in passing, that if this ‘unique element’, this peculiarity that makes me, ‘me’ and which, in your case, makes you, ‘you’, how might we convey it to others?

Out of all this, then, the phenomenological researcher looks not for similarities but for the ‘lived experience’ of individual human beings. That researcher is looking for the subjective view, the view from the person who is peering out of the seemingly ordinary body. Again, a moment’s reflection is likely to indicate that while we have a ‘public’ image, that we project both consciously and unconsciously, to others, we also have an ‘private’, inner image and a private, inner life. This is the territory of the phenomenological researcher. How successful such an enterprise is remains a matter of conjecture. The likelihood of a person – any person – opening themselves up to another person (in this case, the researcher) to such a degree that they are able to reveal the inner life, seems problematic. We should not claim too much for this approach, perhaps, and should be humble about the degree to which we ever can penetrate very far beneath the surface. If people are guarded and defensive about their inner lives, they are guarded and defensive for good reasons: this is what keeps them together for much of the time. Phenomenological research, then, should not be intrusive and is never a form of counselling or psychotherapy.

Philosophical background

Phenomenological research is linked to the branch of philosophy known as phenomenology, although those links should not be thought of as being as strong as they are sometimes held to be. It is easy to confuse a ‘philosophy’ with a ‘research method’, when the names are so similar. It should be remembered that philosophers are not normally researchers nor are they usually discussing theories about research, but more general theories about the world. It is still surprising to see philosopher’s names invoked in the name of social sciences and healthcare research, as if those philosophers had, at some point, contributed to healthcare research!

Phenomenology, as a philosophy, is concerned with the attempt to see things cleanly and ‘as they really are’. When we look at things, in an everyday way, we label what we see in all sorts of ways. For example, we might say of a countryside scene: ‘this is breathtaking: it is so beautiful!’ In fact, in another sense, it is merely trees, grass and sky. We have overlaid the view with our own aesthetic value-judgements. Similarly, we may say about someone: ‘he is such a kind, considerate man!’ He may sometimes be these things and to some people. Equally, he may not always be these things and, to some people he may never be these things. What he is, in fact, is a mixture of physical properties with various psychological ones, some of which are more constant than others. What we have chosen to do when we describe him as ‘kind and considerate’ is to project on to him qualities that we appreciate and which we perceive him (possibly on little evidence) to have. Phenomenology, as a philosophy, aims at attempting to view things as they are stripped of such value judgements. The lofty aim of this enterprise is to get to ‘the truth’ but only acknowledging the brute fact of things. We must be careful, though, not to, too quickly, make the link between the philosophy and the research method.

Phenomenological research also has links with existential philosophy. Existentialists believe that we are the authors of our own lives. We are not born with a particular spirit, soul or predisposition. As soon as we become conscious enough to make decisions for ourselves, we begin to ‘write ourselves’: we begin to decide who we are. The reason we are able to do this, say the existentialists, is because we can exercise free will. Faced with a number of options, we are always able to choose what we do. The opposite of free will is determinism. This is the notion that the physical world around us is governed by deterministic principles. If we consider a household object such as a washing machine, before it was a washing machine, it was various pieces of metal and plastic. Before that metal and plastic existed, they were ore or coal tar. And so we can trace a direct, causal chain back through the history of the physical world around us. What makes human beings different, according to existential philosophers, is that people can choose and have consciousness. They can redirect their lives in a way that a washing machine cannot.

A third link with phenomenological research can be found in Buddhism. A major feature of Buddhist teaching is that all things, at all times, are changing. Nothing remains static. If this is true for the physical world, it is also true for the human world. Buddhists value, amongst other things, an acceptance of constant change and an attempt at perceiving the world as it really is – as opposed to overlaying what we see with all sorts of theoretical constructs and value judgements.

Thus, the recurrent themes that can be drawn from these philosophical roots are an acknowledgement that people invent their own lives and their own inner worlds; that it is interesting and instructive to attempt to see people as they really are and to view them in some depth; that, if we want to understand people, we must aim at viewing them with clear vision and not make attempts at interpreting what or who we think they are. Drawing from phenomenology as a philosophy, phe-nomenological researchers sometimes use the expression ‘bracketing’ to indicate the idea of attempting, as a researcher, to put aside your own thoughts, feelings and beliefs about a person and thus attempt to view them as they might view themselves. Perhaps this is similar to the psychotherapeutic concept of empathy, or the attempt at placing yourselves in the shoes of another person and viewing the world as they view it. The degree to which anyone can ever achieve any great degree of bracketing remains a contentious point.

Applications

So, how might all this apply to social science or healthcare research? For what might it be used and to what end? I can offer a personal example here. Over the last few decades, I have regularly been treated for depression. At times, I have pondered on what it is like for other people to be depressed. Do they feel the same as I do? Do they feel very, very different? What do they feel like when they are taking anti-depressants? What do they think about when they are depressed? In one sense, these questions could be answered with a simple ‘symptoms checklist’ and quantitative methods could be used to attempt to find out about the experience of depression. My view is that such methods would only amount to skating over the surface. Such methods would not produce the sort of data that would interest me. Phenomenological approaches to these questions could identify much deeper and more illuminating views of what it is like to be depressed. In turn, the answers to such questions could help in deciding how to help those who are depressed and could help in the education of those who care for the depressed. As we have seen before, the data obtained in this way would be ‘illuminative’.

All this highlights, nicely, some of the important differences between quantitative and qualitative approaches to research. If we use the metaphor of a city, quantitative methods supply the important, numerical facts about the place. How many people live there? How much money is generated? And so on. Qualitative methods are like photographs of the place. They offer evidence of a different sort. Arguably, both forms of evidence are important. We need to know the facts and figures but we also need to know what a place looks like and how that view of it changes over time. Phenomenological research methods offer us snapshots of individual people’s inner lives. Such views can aid in the understanding of what it is like to be variously human. We are not all the same – but neither are we all totally different. We can learn much from hearing, seeing and reading about other people’s experiences. This is the basic material for phenomenological researchers.

Here are some more examples of questions where phenomenological research is useful.

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