THE PHILOSOPHICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL UNDERPINNINGS OF PHENOMENOLOGY AS A RESEARCH METHOD

Abstract

In the philosophical tradition, phenomenology is a means by which random, raw phenomena are categorized into what can be called human experience. Phenomenology is a school of thought within ontology which focuses on the nature of existence. Edmund Husserls view of phenomenology proposed that to understand the world, one should examine the lens through which he/she experiences the world as opposed to attempting to examine the world itself. The application of this idea first expanded to the discipline of psychology by researchers such as Amedeo Giorgi and Clark Moustakas and more recently has been more widely applied to the social sciences as a whole.Possessing an understanding of the philosophy and psychology traditions behind phenomenology greatly increases a researchers ability to implement it as a qualitative research method.