Reflective Empirical Methods Norm Friesen March 2006 Reflective

Reflective & Empirical Methods Norm Friesen March, 2006

Reflective & Empirical Methods • Reflection: thinking about the question and the phenomenon in a way that opens up its various aspects and dimensions. • Empirical: sources of vicarious experience (from: Max van Manen, www. phenomenologyonline. com)

Reflective & Empirical • Reflective: – Thematic, Guided Existential, Collaborative, Linguistic, Exegetical, Hermeneutic Interview • Empirical: – Describing, Gathering, Interviewing, Observing, Fictional, Imaginal (from: Max van Manen, www. phenomenologyonline. com)

Thematic Reflection Themes: • the constellations that make up the universes of meaning we live through. By the patterns and light of these themes we can navigate and explore such universes. • Themes are heuristic. They are means "to get at" the phenomenon we are addressing. (from: Max van Manen, www. phenomenologyonline. com)

Reflection: Guided Existential • Lived Time: speeds up, slows down; e. g. of bank machine experience • Lived Space: we are the space we’re in; e. g. of different architectural spaces • Lived Body: Body as anchorage, way of being, as “object” of observation • Lived Relation: relational “distance, ” atmosphere, intensity, disconnection (from: Max van Manen, www. phenomenologyonline. com)

Linguistic Reflection • Etymological: histories of words often have rich, life-world significances (experiential residue) • Conceptual: understanding differences in meaning in words & expressions. • E. g. “Dog” • (from: Max van Manen, www. phenomenologyonline. com)

Dog-eat dog, underdog, Top dog, bottom dog

lap dog teacher's pet

Cur, pariah, bitch, dogsbody "you dirty dog, ” flea bag mongrel, mutt, gone to the dogs

Dog tired

Exegetical • critical, sensitive, and creative reading of related texts: – Prevailing theories and constructions as a “foil” for what you are searching for in phenomenological research – Prevailing theories and constructions can also point to phenomenological insights • Creative, Accidental, Serendipitious sources (video example) (from: Max van Manen, www. phenomenologyonline. com)

Other forms of Reflection • Collaborative: as in this session, with others working together • Insight-cultivating: from philosophy and other sources (from: Max van Manen, www. phenomenologyonline. com)

Phenomenological Interview • an interpretive conversation wherein both partners reflectively orient themselves to the interpersonal or collective ground that brings the significance of the phenomenological question into view • Keep the question open (from: Max van Manen, www. phenomenologyonline. com)

Phenomenological Interview • Not structured; can list general questions or beginning script • Close to the phenomenon, if possible • Ask for reminiscences & speculation • Steer away from explanation • ASK: “what did you feel” not “what did you think” • Comfortable location; follow-up interviews

Empirical Methods: Describing • start with your own experience • the patterns of meaning of one's own experiences are also the possible experiences of others, and therefore may be recognizable by others (from: Max van Manen, www. phenomenologyonline. com)

Gathering • Describe the experience as much as possible as you live(d) through it. • Describe the experience from the inside, as it were-almost like a state of mind • Focus on a particular example or incident of the object of experience • Try to focus on an example of the experience which stands out for its vividness, or as it was the first time (from: Max van Manen, www. phenomenologyonline. com)

Observing • Close and participatory observation • E. g. participate in the child’s world • Similar to the attitude of the author who is always on the look-out for stories to tell, incidents to remember (from: Max van Manen, www. phenomenologyonline. com)

Imaginal experiences • Non-discursive artistic material as transformed experience • E. g. experience of space in nature (from: Max van Manen, www. phenomenologyonline. com)