Introducing the Phenomenological Model of Performance Practice (PMPP): Phenomenological Research Design and the Lived Experience in Performance

Abstract

While the use of phenomenological approaches in qualitative research increases in the field of performing arts, their legitimate application as research methods can prove to be challenging. The article introduces the dominant dichotomies and challenges in phenomenological research, such as concerns emerging from the researcher’s position, interdisciplinarity and mixed methods. The paper is addressed to novice researchers, researchers-practitioners and scholars with an interest in the theory of phenomenology. Drawing from a phenomenological research project that examined embodiment in Greek tragedy in the context of performer training and theatre directing, the article illustrates the methodological approach employed both in theory and practice. To this end, it proposes a model of data collection, organisation and analysis in interview design and practice-based research in performance. The proposed model sets subjectivity at its core and invests in the participants’ lived experience in an inclusive manner, concurrently calling on the investigator’s transparency as defined by the Husserlian epochè. It, therefore, comes into an inclusive step-by-step guide based on scientifically evident and ethically approved methods that accumulate Husserl and Giorgi’s phenomenological methods, Schön’s action research combined with Kolb’s reflective practice and tools for findings validation by Colaizzi (1978), Van Manen (1997) and Van Kaam (1966). Finally, in order to make phenomenological interviews more accessible, the article includes an interview schedule, which can be further developed and applied to practice-based research in both physical and digital environments.