Essay On Qualitative Phenomenology

Unlike the quantitative approach, the qualitative one does not investigate through a hypothetico-deductive approach, where a hypothesis is tested. Qualitative research is more concerned in studying the processes of the experiences, rather than the outcomes (Langdridge & Hagger-Johnson, 2009). An approach to the qualitative methodology which I chose for my research is the Phenomenological one. This approach focuses on the participants understanding of their own experiences and on their own personal meaning of the world around them. Phenomenology does not give scientific facts about the world around us, but tries to explain how the world appears through the individual’s perception. Phenomenologists do not accept the separation between the subject and the object, which is highlighted in Positivism. Positivism focuses on the separation between the real world and how it is viewed. They argue that is essential to think that the subject has a great relationship with the object, because according to them, it is through the object of the real world that we make sense of our own experiences. The subject refers to the individual world, while the object refers to the real world. Therefore we perceive and interpret our experience when the object enters our consciousness (Langdridge, 2007). Phenomenology tackles the debate between the idealists and the realists. The idealists’ view is

Interpretivism does not accept a single idea of reality, but accepts multiple ideas which stand to the participant’s point of view. Interpretative research aims to find out how the understanding of the everyday’s reality of each individual is kept and produced through one’s experiences. Therefore Interpretivism focuses on finding out how people make their own meanings of their experiences lived in their own environment (Braithwaite & Schrodt,