Introduction to Phenomenology: Focus on Methodology

by Cheryl Lisa Beck

Phenomenology is a challenging method for many students to understand and apply.  I ntroduction to Focus on Methodology  breaks down the history, methodology, and application so students can more easily write proposals and conduct phenomenological research. Author Cheryl Tatano Beck draws on her depth of experience in applying and teaching phenomenological methods to distill the method into a single guidebook for students and new researchers alike. This introductory book provides a clearer picture of phenomenology as method and its applications to social, behavioral, and health sciences, covering both interpretive and descriptive phenomenology from research design through analysis. This book is divided into four parts. Part I briefly provides the philosophical underpinnings of descriptive and interpretive (hermeneutic) phenomenology, summarizing the main goals of the original texts. Part II focuses on descriptive phenomenology, while Part III concentrates on interpretive phenomenology. Each type of methodology is covered in its own chapter, with tables comparing the methodologies to one another so readers can better understand the differences and similarities. Part IV addresses evaluating, writing, and teaching phenomenology. Unique chapters on writing a proposal, getting your study published, developing a research program, and preparing to teach phenomenology help complete the cycle of research and help graduate students transition from student to researcher to teacher. Appendices provide study activities for students and examples of two types of phenomenological proposals.

224 pages, Paperback

Published January 29, 2020

Reviews

[Thea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Beck is my PhD major advisor. She gifted me this book as a source of truth in Spring 2020. The book is a focus on the different methods of phenomenology (bibliographic references included) with great examples and tables detailing each. Narrative that supports and compares the different methods (e.g., interpretive vs. descriptive phenomenology) is poignantly provided. This book is critical to scholars in understanding the ways in which the popularized, general and seemly term phenomenology has contrasting steps and approaches for each method like Colaizzi, Giorgi, and van Kaam, throughout qualitative data analysis. The point is that there is a need to focus on the type of phenomenological method a researcher will follow and that is supported by the research question.