Explorations in Teaching the Phenomenological Method: Challenging Psychology Students to «Grasp at Meaning» in Human Science Research

Authors

  • Scott D. Churchill University of Dallas

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1825-8670/10200

Keywords:

Deep listening, Descriptive Phenomenology, Hearkening, Hermeneutics, Intentional Analysis of lived Experience

Abstract

In order to fulfill our collective calling to understand and to heal human persons, psychologists need to be taught ways of listening, observing, and knowing others that respect and preserve the richness of human experience as it is lived. This article serves to introduce current and future researchers of the human condition to a perspective that values what is meaningful in human life. This paper is devoted to two goals: (a) to present pedagogical strategies for the teaching of phenomenological method to psychology students; and (b) to present an introduction to the methodology of phenomenological research. What are we actually doing when attempting to conduct this kind of «scientific» research? More importantly, how do we teach others to do what it has taken our whole career to learn? The history of the development of phenomenological method in psychology is traced from its roots at Duquesne in the early 1970s to its further implementation at the University of Dallas over the past 45 years. The «workshop» approach to teaching qualitative inquiry is explored, along with the phenomenological and hermeneutic principles underlying the analysis of verbal self-report data. Formulating a research question, distinguishing the research phenomenon from the situation interrogated, engaging in direct «intuitive contact» with the phenomenon, reflexivity with respect to one’s biases and presuppositions, the carrying-out of intentional analyses, and «deep listening» to the testimonies of others will be presented and illustrated with examples taken from research workshops over the past three decades.

References

Austin, M. (2006). An encounter with myself: A phenomenological investigation of my experience of anger. Unpublished paper, University of Dallas, Texas.

Bettelheim, B. (1982). Freud and man’s soul. New York: Random House.

Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3, 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Churchill, S. D. (1984). Psychodiagnostic seeing: A phenomenological investigation of the psychologist’s experience during the interview phase of a clinical assessment (Doctoral Dissertation, Duquesne University). Dissertation Abstracts International.

Churchill, S. D. (1990). Considerations for teaching a phenomenological approach to psychological research. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 21, 1, 46–67.

Churchill, S. D. (1991). Reasons, causes, and motives: Psychology’s illusive explanations of behavior. Theoretical & Philosophical Psychology, 11, 24–34. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0091504

Churchill, S. D. (2000a). Phenomenological psychology. In A. Kazdin (ed.), Encyclopedia of psychology. Volume 6 (pp. 162–16). Oxford: American Psychological Association and the Oxford University Press.

Churchill, S. D. (2000b). “Seeing through” selfdeception in verbal reports: Finding psychological truth in problematic data. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 31, 44–62. https://doi.org/10.1163/156916200746247

Churchill, S. D. (2010). “Second person” perspectivity in observing and understanding emotional expression. In L. Embree, M. Barber, & T. Nenon (Eds.), Phenomenology 2010, vol. 5: Selected Essays from North America. Part 2: Phenomenology beyond Philosophy (pp. 81–106). Bucharest: Zeta Books / Paris: Arghos-Diffusion.

Churchill, S. D. (2011). Magic carpet ride: Social constructivism in dialogue with phenomenology. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 24, 328–332. https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2011.593474

Churchill, S. D. (2012, September). Teaching Phenomenology by Way of “Second-Person Perspectivity” (From My Thirty Years at the University of Dallas). Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, 12, Special Edition (R. Van Vuuren, Ed.), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.2989/IPJP.2012.12.3.6.1114

Churchill, S. D. (2013). Heideggerian pathways through trauma and recovery: A “hermeneutics of facticity”. The Humanistic Psychologist, 41(3), 2013, 219–230. https://doi.org/10.1080/08873267.2013.800768

Churchill, S. D. (2014). Phenomenology. In Encyclopedia of Critical Psychology (Thomas Teo, Ed.), Elsevier, 1389–1402. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5583-7_219

Churchill, S. D. (2016). Resonating with meaning in the lives of others: Invitation to empathic understanding. In C. T. Fischer, R. Brooke, & L. Laubscher (Eds.), The Qualitative Vision for Psychology: An Invitation to a Human Science Approach (pp. 91–116). Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press.

Churchill, S. D. (2018, in press). On the empathic mode of intuition: A phenomenological foundation for social psychiatry. In M. Englander (Ed.), Phenomenology and the social context of psychiatry. London: Bloomsbury.

Churchill, S. D., Lowery, J., McNally, O., & Rao, A. (1998). The question of reliability in interpretive psychological research: A comparison of three phenomenologically-based protocol analyses. In R. Valle (Ed.), Phenomenological inquiry: Existential and transpersonal dimensions (pp. 63–85). New York, NY: Plenum Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0125-5_3

Churchill, S. D., & Wertz, F. J. (1985). An introduction to phenomenological psychology for consumer research: Historical, conceptual, and methodological foundations. In E. C. Hirschman & M. B. Holbrook (Eds.), Advances in consumer research (pp. 550–555). Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research.

Churchill, S. D. & Wertz, F. J. (2015). An introduction to phenomenological research in psychology: Historical, conceptual, and methodological foundations. In K. Schneider, J. F. T. Bugental, & J. F. Pierson (Eds.), The handbook of humanistic psychology (Revised Edition), (pp. 275–295). Newbury Park, CA: SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483387864.n20

Colaizzi, P. F. (1967). Analysis of the learner’s perception of learning material at various phases of a learning process. Review of Existential Psychology & Psychiatry, 7, 95–105.

Colaizzi, P. F. (1973). Reflection and research in psychology. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt. (Published version of 1969 Dissertation)

Colaizzi, P. F. (1978). Psychological research as the phenomenologist views it. In R. S. Valle and M. King (Eds.), Existential-Phenomenological alternatives for psychology (pp. 48–71). New York: Oxford University Press.

Colaizzi, P. F. (2001). A note on “fundamental structures” thirty years later. Methods: A Journal for Human Science, 16, 7–10.

Colaizzi, P.F. (2002). Kant and the problem of “intuition”: An essay on the misinterpretations of Kant’s philosophy in particular and of philosophy in general. Methods: A Journal for Human Science, 17, 7–47.

Craig (2007): Hermeneutic inquiry in depth psychology: A practical and philosophical reflection. The Humanistic Psychologist, 35(4), 307–321.

Dahlberg, K., Dahlberg, H., & Nyström, M. (2008). Reflective lifeworld research (2nd ed.). Lund: Studentlitteratur AB.

Dilthey, W. (1977). Ideas concerning a descriptive and analytic psychology (1894). In W. Dilthey (Ed.), Descriptive psychology and historical understanding (pp. 21–120). The Hague, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff. (Original work published 1894). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9658-8_2

Dilthey, W. (1977). The understanding of other persons and their expressions of life. In W. Dilthey, Descriptive psychology and historical understanding (K. L. Heiges, Trans.; pp. 121–144). The Hague, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff. (Original work published 1927) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-9658-8_3

Duus, R. E. (2017). Personhood and first-personal experience. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 37, 109–127.

Englander, M. (2014). Empathy training from a phenomenological perspective. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 45, 5–26. https://doi.org/10.1163/15691624-12341266

Fell, J. P. (1977). A phenomenological approach to emotion. In D. K. Candland, J. P. Fell, E. Keen, A. I. Leshner, R. M. Tarpy, & R. Plutchik (Eds.), Emotion (253–285). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Finlay, L. (2003). The reflexive journey: Mapping multiple routes. In L. Finlay & B. Gough (Eds.). Reflexivity: A practical guide for researchers in health and social sciences (pp.3–20). Oxford, UK: Wiley-Blackwell.

Finlay, L. (Ed.). (2017). Reflexivity [Special issue]. Qualitative Psychology, 3(2), 119–198.

Fischer, W. F. (1971). The faces of anxiety. In A. Giorgi, W. F. Fischer, & R. von Eckartsberg (Eds.), Duquesne studies in phenomenological psychology, 1 (pp. 259–273). Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.

Fischer, W. F. (1974). On the phenomenological mode of researching “being anxious.” Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 4, 405–423. https://doi.org/10.1163/156916274X00045

Fischer, W. F. (1978). An empirical-phenomenological investigation of being-anxious: An example of the meanings of being-emotional. In R. S. Valle & M. King (Eds.), Existential-phenomenological alternatives for psychology (pp. 166–181). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Fischer, W. F. (1985). Self-deception: An existential phenomenological investigation into its essential meanings. In A. Giorgi (Ed.), Phenomenology and psychological research (pp. 118–154). Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.

Fischer, C. T. (1994). Rigor in qualitative research: Reflexive and presentational. Methods: A Journal for Human Science, 9, 21–27.

Fischer, C. T. (Ed.). (2006). Qualitative research methods for psychologists: Case demonstrations. New York, NY: Academic Press.

Fischer, C. T. (2017). On the way to collaborative assessment: Selected works. New York, NY: Routledge.

Frankl, V. (1959). Man’s search for meaning. New York: Washington Square Press.

Freud, S. (2010). The interpretation of dreams (J. Strachey, Trans.). New York, NY: Basic Books. (Original work published November 1899).

Gadamer, H.-G. (1975). Truth and method (J. Weinsheimer & D. G. Marshall, Trans.). New York, NY: Continuum. (Original work published 1960).

Garza, G. (2007). Varieties of phenomenological research at the University of Dallas: An emerging typology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(4), 313–342. https://doi.org/10.1080/14780880701551170

Giorgi, A. (1970). Psychology as a human science: A phenomenologically based approach. New York: Harper & Row.

Giorgi, A. (1975). An application of phenomenological method in psychology. In A. Giorgi, C. Fischer, & E. Murray (Eds.), Duquesne studies in phenomenological psychology, 2 (pp.82–103). Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press. https://doi.org/10.5840/dspp197529

Giorgi, A. (1976). Phenomenology and the foundations of psychology. In W. Arnold (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation: Conceptual foundations of psychology (pp. 281–348). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.

Giorgi, A. (1983). Concerning the possibility of phenomenological psychological research. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 14, 129–169. https://doi.org/10.1163/156916283X00081

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

Giorgi, A. (1989). One type of analysis of descriptive data: Procedures involved in following a scientificphenomenological method. Methods: A Journal for Human Science, 1, 39–61

Giorgi, A. (1992). Description versus interpretation: Competing alternative strategies for qualitative research. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 23(2), 119–135. https://doi.org/10.1163/156916292X00090

Giorgi, A. (2000). The similarities and differences between descriptive and interpretative methods in scientific phenomenological psychology. In B. Gupta (Ed.), The empirical and the transcendental: A fusion of horizons (pp. 61–75). New York, NY: Rowan & Littlefield.

Giorgi, A. (2009). The descriptive phenomenological method in psychology: A modified Husserlian approach. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.

Giorgi, A. (2014). Phenomenological philosophy as the basis for a human scientific psychology. The Humanistic Psychologist, 42(3), 233–248. https://doi.org/10.1080/08873267.2014.933052

Gosline, N. (2016). Finding a way out: A phenomenological study of women who have left domestic violence situations and their courage for creating a life of their own. Unpublished Senior Thesis, University of Dallas, Dallas, Texas.

Heidegger, M. (1962). Being and time (J. MacQuarrie & E. Robinson, Trans.). New York: Harper & Row. (Original work published 1927).

Heidegger, M. (1985). History of the concept of time: Prolegomena (T. Kisiel, Trans.), (pp. 259–273). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press (Original lecture course given 1925).

Heidegger, M. (1989). Phänomenologische Interpretationen zu Aristoteles (Anziege der hermeneutischen Situation) [Phenomenological interpretations of Aristotle: A display of the hermeneutical situation]. Dilthey Jahrbuch 6. (Original work published 1922)

Heidegger, M. (1999). Ontology–The hermeneutics of facticity (J. van Buren, Trans.). Bloomington: Indiana University Press. (Original lecture course presented 1923 and published 1988).

Heidegger, M. (2001). Phenomenological interpretations of Aristotle: Initiation into phenomenological research (R. Rojcewicz, Trans.). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. (Original lecture course presented 1921–1922 and published 1985).

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

Husserl, E. (1965) Philosophy as a rigorous science. In Q. Lauer (Ed. and Tr.) Phenomenology and the crisis of philosophy. New York, Harper Torchbacks (German original, 1911).

Husserl, E. (1968). Logische Untersuchungen: Zweiter Band: Untersuchungen zur Phänomenologie und Theorie der Erkenntnis—I. Teil (5 Auflage) [Logical investigations: Vol. 2. Investigations in phenomenology and the theory of knowledge, part 1 (5th ed.)]. Tuebingen, Germany: Max Niemeyer Verlag. (Original work published 1901)

Husserl, E. (1970). The attitude of natural science and the attitude of humanistic science (W. Biemel, ed.). In E. Husserl, The crisis of European sciences and transcendental phenomenology (D. Carr, Trans.), (pp. 315–334). Evanston: Northwestern University Press. (Original work published 1930).

Husserl, E. (1977). Phenomenological psychology: Lectures, summer semester, 1925 (J. Scanlon, Trans.). Boston: Kluwer. (Original work published 1962). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1083-2

Keen, E. (1975). A primer in phenomenological psychology. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.

Keen, E. (2003) Doing psychology phenomenologically: Methodological considerations. The Humanistic Psychologist, 31(4), 5–33. https://doi.org/10.1080/08873267.2003.9986932

Laing, R.D. (1967). The politics of experience. New York: Ballantine Books.

Lamiell, J. (1998). ‘Nomothetic’ and ‘idiographic’: Contrasting Windelband’s understanding with contemporary usage. Theory & Psychology, 8, 23–38. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959354398081002

Langdridge, D. (2007). Phenomenological psychology: Theory, research, method. London, UK: Pearson Education

Lingis, A. (2007). The first person singular. Evanston: Northwestern University Press.

Lipps, T. (1903). Leitfaden der Psychologie [Textbook of psychology]. Leipzig: Engelmann.

Marlan, S. (1994). Dream maps as an articulation of the multiple intentionalities of psyche. Methods: A Journal for Human Science, 9, 39–48.

McSpadden, E. (2011). The participant’s response. In F. J. Wertz, K. Charmaz, L. M. McMullen, R. Josselson, R. Anderson, & E. McSpadden (Eds.), Five ways of doing qualitative analysis: Phenomenological psychology, grounded theory, discourse analysis, narrative research, and intuitive inquiry (pp. 334–352). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Merleau-Ponty, M. (1968). The visible and the invisible (A. Lingis, Trans.). Evanston: Northwestern University Press. (Original work published 1964).

Morgan, A. L. (2011). Investigating our experience in the world: A primer on qualitative inquiry. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press.

Moustakas, C. (1990). Heuristic research: Design, methodology, and applications. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.

Mruk, C. (1994). Phenomenological psychology and integrated description: Keeping the human science in the human science approach. Methods: A Journal for Human Science, 9, 6–20.

Mruk, C. J. (2010). Integrated description: A qualitative method for an evidence-based world. The Humanistic Psychologist, 38, 305–316. https://doi.org/10.1080/08873267.2010.519976

Mruk, C. (2013). Self-esteem and positive psychology: Research, theory, and practice (4th ed.). New York, NY: Springer.

Osbeck, L. M., & Held, B. S. (Eds.) (2014). Rational intuition: Philosophical roots, scientific investigations. Cambridge University Press.

Parker, P., & Parker, G. (1994). A plea for a measure of qualitative depth research. Methods: A Journal for Human Science, 9, 28–38.

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

Pollio, H. R., Henley, T., & Thompson, C. B. (1998). The phenomenology of everyday life. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Rao, A., & Churchill, S. D. (2004). Experiencing oneself as being beautiful: A phenomenological study informed by Sartre’s ontology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 1, 55–68.

Reik, T. (1948). Listening with the third ear: The inner experience of a psychoanalyst. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Romanyshyn, R. D. (2007). The wounded researcher: Research with soul in mind. New Orleans, LA: Spring Journal Books.

Romanyshyn, R. D. (2010). The wounded researcher: Making a place for unconscious dynamics in the research process. The Humanistic Psychologist, 38(4), 275–304. https://doi.org/10.1080/08873267.2010.523282

Rosan, P. (2012). The poetics of intersubjective life: Empathy and the other. The Humanistic Psychologist, 40, 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1080/08873267.2012.643685

Salner, M. (1996). Researcher self-reflexivity, illusion and self-deception in qualitative research. Methods: A Journal for Human Science, 11, 3–27.

Sartre, J.-P. (1948). The emotions: Outline for a theory (B. Frechtman, Trans.). New York, NY: Philosophical Library. (Original work published 1939).

Sartre, J.-P. (1956). Being and nothingness: An essay on phenomenological ontology (H. Barnes, Trans.). New York, NY: Philosophical Library. (Original work published 1943).

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

Shapiro, K. J. (1985). Bodily reflective modes: A phenomenological method for psychology. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.

Spiegelberg, H. (1973). Doing phenomenology: Essays in and on phenomenology. Boston: Martinus Nihjoff.

Spiegelberg, H. (1982). The phenomenological movement (3rd enlarged and revised edition). Boston: Martinus Nihjoff.

Van den Berg, J. H. (1972). A different existence: Principles of phenomenological psychopathology. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press.

Von Eckartsberg, R. (1971). On experiential methodology. In A. Giorgi, W. F. Fischer, & R. von Eckartsberg (Eds.), Duquesne studies in phenomenological psychology, 1 (pp. 66–79). Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.

Von Eckartsberg, R. (1986). Life-world experience: Existential-phenomenological research approaches in psychology. Washington, DC: Center for Advanced Research in Phenomenology.

Von Eckartsberg, R. (1989). The unfolding meaning of intentionality and horizon in phenomenology. The Humanistic Psychologist, 17(2), 146–160. https://doi.org/10.1080/08873267.1989.9976848

Von Eckartsberg, R. (2005). How will I proceed? What is my method? The Humanistic Psychologist, 33(4), 259–270. (Original manuscript written 1967).

Wertz, F. J. (1983a). From everyday to psychological description: Analyzing the moments of a qualitative data analysis. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 14, 197–241. https://doi.org/10.1163/156916283X00108

Wertz, F. J. (1983b). Some constituents of descriptive psychological reflection. Human Studies, 6, 35–51. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02127753

Wertz, F. J. (1985). Methods and findings in an empirical analysis of “being criminally victimized.” In A. Giorgi (Ed.), Phenomenology and psychological research (pp. 155–216). Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.

Wertz, F. J. (1993). The phenomenology of Sigmund Freud. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 24, 101–129. https://doi.org/10.1163/156916293X00099

Wertz, F. J., Charmaz, K., McMullen, L. M., Josselson, R., Anderson, R., & McSpadden, E. (2011). Five ways of doing qualitative analysis: Phenomenological psychology, grounded theory, discourse analysis, narrative research, and intuitive inquiry. New York: The Guilford Press.

Published

2019-12-30

How to Cite

Churchill, S. D. (2019). Explorations in Teaching the Phenomenological Method: Challenging Psychology Students to «Grasp at Meaning» in Human Science Research. Encyclopaideia, 23(55), 1–25. https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1825-8670/10200

Issue

Section

Essays