An approach to the phenomenological analysis of data

Abstract

In this paper, Helena Priest describes and justifies a phenomenological research method that may be used to explore complex and nebulous concepts relevant to nursing and health care, for example, the concept of 'caring'. The history and development of Husserlian phenomenology are outlined, followed by an account of the use of phenomenology within nursing research. Tensions inherent in the use of Husserlian phenomenology in nursing research are noted. A phenomenological approach to data analysis, designed to address some of these tensions, is described and compared with several well-established phenomenological analysis strategies. Issues of reliability, validity and generalisability are discussed, as are limitations in the use of the approach, before conclusions relevant to healthcare researchers are drawn.

Full text

An approach to the
phenomenological
analysis of data
In this paper, Helena Priest describes and justifies a phenomenological
research method that may be used to explore complex and nebulous
concepts relevant to nursing and health care, for example, the concept of
‘caring’. The history and development of Husserlian phenomenology are
outlined, followed by an account of the use of phenomenology within
nursing research. Tensions inherent in the use of Husserlian
phenomenology in nursing research are noted. A phenomenological
approach to data analysis, designed to address some of these tensions, is
described and compared with several well-established phenomenological
analysis strategies. Issues of reliability, validity and generalisability are
discussed, as are limitations in the use of the approach, before conclusions
relevant to healthcare researchers are drawn.
Keywords: data analysis, Husserl, phenomenology
Introduction and aims
In recent years, a plethora of nursing and allied healthcare research has
been published that claims to use phenomenology as the basis for data
generation and analysis. Upon closer inspection, however, it is clear that
a wide variety of approaches have been employed under the auspices of
phenomenology. This paper, therefore, seeks to review the history and
development of phenomenology and its application to nursing research,
in order to provide a context for the particular methodological approach
developed and described here. The paper describes and justifies a
phenomenological research method that may be used in the exploration
of complex and nebulous concepts relevant to nursing and health care,
such as the concept of ‘caring’.
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Issues in research

Phenomenology
The term phenomenology, first expressed by Immanuel Kant in 1764,
is derived from the Greek phainein, meaning ‘to appear’. Rooted within
the continental philosophical tradition, its significant origins are generally
attributed to Husserl (1859-1938), a German mathematician and
logician. Husserl’s mission was to discover the nature, goals and
methods of philosophical enquiry. With the publication of his influential
text, Ideas (Husserl 1913/1982), he formalised his attempts to devise a
single system of doctrine, or ‘philosophia prima’ (Bell 1990). Husserl
insisted upon the need for philosophy to be a rigorous science that would
rid itself of all assumptions, and make no claims that could not be
guaranteed (Paley 1997).
Husserl believed that access to the material world was through
consciousness, and that all knowledge was derived from experience. In
effect, he expanded the meaning of the term ‘experience’ to refer to
anything of which a person may be conscious, such as a physical object,
an abstract concept, or a mood state (Stewart and Mickunas 1974). Husserl
aimed to develop a scientific method for finding and guaranteeing the
essential structures of consciousness. This method was phenomenology,
through which he believed that it would be possible to ‘set aside mere
appearances and to deal directly with the reality as it is in itself’ (Bell 1990).
Husserl’s phenomenology is eidetic or descriptive, whereby individuals are
seen as the vehicle through which the essential structure or ‘essence’ of the
phenomenon of interest may be accessed and subsequently described. If
the appearance of essential structures can be described, then it is possible
to arrive at certainty, or ultimate truth (Solomon and Higgins 1996).
Phenomenological method
The aim of phenomenology, then, is to produce a description of a
phenomenon of everyday experience, in order to understand its essential
structure. Specifically, eidetic phenomenology aims to determine the form
and nature of reality as mediated through an individual’s experience of
it. In order to arrive at this essential structure, Husserl’s method suggests
four fundamental processes: intentionality; phenomenological reduction;
description; and essence (Baker et al 1992).
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Intentionality
Intentionality is the process whereby the mind consciously directs its
thoughts to an object (Holloway and Wheeler 1996). The task of
phenomenology is to distinguish between the ‘natural attitude’, that is, the
set of common sense beliefs and assumptions about the nature and
existence of things in the everyday world, and the phenomenological
standpoint. The phenomenological standpoint focuses not on natural objects
but on conscious ideas of objects. In other words, if a phenomenological
standpoint is adopted, the natural attitude has been transcended.
Phenomenological reduction
Phenomenological reduction is the process that facilitates this
transcendence. Although sometimes described as distinct stages in the
reduction process, Husserl used the terms bracketing, eidetic reduction,
and epoché interchangeably to describe the change of attitude necessary
for philosophical inquiry (Stewart and Mickunas 1974). Bracketing, a
mathematical metaphor, involves putting one’s natural attitude to the
world ‘in brackets’ in order to place it temporarily out of question. In this
way, presuppositions and theorising about the phenomenon are suspended
(Ray 1994). Similarly, epoché means the deliberate suspension of
judgement, commonly held beliefs, and presuppositions in order to
investigate the phenomenon from a fresh viewpoint and to see the
experience for itself (Patton 1990). A further strategy required to achieve
the transcendence from natural to phenomenological attitude is
‘imaginative variation’ (Giorgi 1985). Imaginative variation involves
asking questions of the phenomenon in order to remove inessential
features and to test its limits, and exploring all possible meanings of the
data (Beech 1999). In this way, it should be possible to see what would
need to change to make the phenomenon under study a different one. For
imaginative variation to occur, intuition and reflection are required in
order to open up the meaning of the experience (Holloway and Wheeler
1996). Imaginative variation, or intuiting, continues until a common
understanding of the phenomenon of interest has been generated
(Streubert and Carpenter 1995).
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Description and essence
Once reduction has been achieved, the phenomenon of interest may be
described and its essential structure uncovered (Baker et al 1992). The
reductive process, however, should continue throughout the entire
research effort in order to achieve the purest form of description (Streubert
and Carpenter 1995).
Tensions in Husserlian phenomenology in healthcare research
Husserl’s position contrasts with much modern qualitative research, in
which reality and experience are deemed to be socially constructed and
represent but one of many possible truths rather than the absolute truth.
Furthermore, Husserl restricted his focus to individual personal experience
and did not explore how other people might experience a phenomenon.
There are, therefore, some difficulties in using a phenomenological
approach based upon Husserlian principles in nursing and healthcare
research, as this typically draws upon a range of participants and data
sources. A further difficulty becomes apparent when searching for the
‘essence’ of the many nebulous and diversely experienced concepts of
relevance to nursing and health care. Paley (1997) has argued that while
it may be perfectly legitimate to collect and described a range of
participants’ experiences of a phenomenon, it is doubtful whether this can
produce anything that could be described as ‘essence’.
There are counter-arguments however, to both these positions.
Arguing against a focus solely on pure, individual personal experience,
Griffin (1983) suggested that in order to reveal aspects of a
phenomenon that are important but hidden because of familiarity it is
necessary to explore how ideas are used by particular groups of people,
or at particular times. Swanwick and Barlow (1994), too, claimed that
the analysis of several people’s meanings could lead to a greater
understanding of the phenomenon being explored. In relation to the
concept of ‘essence’, Watson (1985) claimed that this need not mean
absolute or definite but ‘more pragmatically represents the deepest
understanding available, established on the basis of inter-subjective
agreement of a given context’ (Watson 1985). Despite the
aforementioned difficulties, researchers should not be discouraged from
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using a phenomenological approach, but be prepared to tolerate a
degree of tension within their work (Hallett 1995).
Since Husserl, the influence of phenomenology in research generally,
and in nursing research particularly, cannot be overestimated. As
Embree (1997) has noted, ‘in view of its continual development and
its spread into other disciplines as well as across the planet,
phenomenology is arguably the most significant philosophical
movement in the 20th century’. In broad terms, researchers are likely
to have a particular ontological orientation based on their philosophical
understanding, which influences the way in which their study will be
conducted (Ray 1994). Typically, they attribute their stance either to
the Duquesne school, based upon Husserl’s descriptive phenomenology,
and elucidated by Colaizzi (1978), Giorgi (1985) and van Kaam (1969),
or to interpretive phenomenology, or hermeneutics, based upon
Heidegger’s (1962) work, and applied in practice by researchers such
as Benner (1984).
Some nursing research, however, has been criticised for not making
clear the philosophical assumptions underpinning the particular approach
selected. Koch (1995) criticised nurses who appeared to assume that
Husserlian and Heideggerian phenomenology were the same. Crotty
(1996) argued that many nurse researchers had misused phenomenology,
being overly concerned with people’s experience of a phenomenon
rather than with the nature of the phenomenon itself. Equally, Yegdich
(1999) criticised nurse phenomenologists who acted as though
Husserlian phenomenology concerned itself with subjective experience,
rather than, as it actually does, with the essence of phenomena
‘unclouded by subjective opinion’. Crotty (1996) concluded that there
were essentially two phenomenologies drawn upon by nurse researchers:
‘authentic’, linked to traditional Husserlian phenomenology, and ‘new’,
a variant that had undergone transformation through its acceptance and
use in north America and the influence of humanistic psychology.
Crotty’s contention was that both were valid, but that researchers must
be clear about which approach they were adopting, and not conduct and
write about research as though they were one and the same.
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Phenomenological analysis
A research design utilising a phenomenological approach needs to be
able to collect descriptions while preserving the spontaneity of subjects’
experiences (Jasper 1994). Furthermore, people who have lived the reality
of the subject being investigated provide the only legitimate source of
data through which the researcher can access this reality (Baker et al
1992). The most usual data source, therefore, is verbatim transcripts of
audio-taped interviews, but other sources are sometimes used, such as
group discussions, written accounts or diaries.
While it is true that phenomenologists are sometimes reluctant to focus
on specific steps in the data generation and analysis process because of
the risk that they will become reified as in the natural sciences (Hycner
1985), in practice, many have devised methods that may be followed in
a systematic fashion. Common features of these approaches, notably
those of the Husserlian-influenced Duquesne scholars are: the division
of text into units; the transformation of units into meanings expressed as
phenomenological concepts; and the tying together of transformed
meanings into a general description of the experience (Polkinghorne
1989). An additional feature common to many approaches is
horizontalisation, whereby all elements of the text are deemed initially
to be of equal value (Hycner 1985, Moustakas 1994). Taking these
common features into account, the following sections outline a strategy
developed specifically to explore the concept of psychological care in
nursing, but which could equally be utilised to explore other complex
and nebulous concepts of relevance to nursing and heath care.
Reflection, intuition and production of first textual description
In order to produce an initial descriptive account of the concept a period
of reflection and intuition is undertaken (de Rivera 1981, Moustakas
1994). Foci for this reflection can be personal experience, knowledge of
the relevant literature, and data generated in previous studies. It has been
noted that such reflection ‘provides a logical, systematic and coherent
resource for carrying out the analysis and synthesis needed to arrive at
essential descriptions of experience’ (Moustakas 1994). This process of
preliminary reflection upon personal experience and literature sensitises
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the researcher to the phenomenon and to his/her own preliminary ideas
around it, and enables an initial written description of the phenomenon
to be produced. This initial description can serve to heighten awareness
of presuppositions, assumptions, and bias, and act as a template against
which all data subsequently generated may be compared. In this way, the
researcher is a legitimate participant in the research process.
Consideration and management of the data
This involves intensive engagement with the data (e.g. listening to audio-
taped interviews; reading and re-reading verbatim transcripts, written
accounts or diaries), followed by examination of transcribed data
generated from the first participant in the study. All statements that appear
relevant to the concept under study are identified, adhering as far as
possible to the principle of horizontalisation. This process may be
facilitated using the ‘highlight’ function available within popular word-
processing packages. Each highlighted statement from the first participant
is then compared with the initial textual description, remaining alert to
prejudices and presuppositions in order not to reject statements that do
not readily fit into the initial account. Selected statements are integrated
into relevant sections of the initial description. In practical terms, this
may be facilitated by the ‘copy-and-paste’ facility available within word
processing packages, following which the description is re-written to
incorporate the highlighted statements. Separate consideration must be
given to statements that cannot readily be integrated into the initial
description, and the description must be extended to accommodate these
as appropriate. In this way, a second textual description is created out of
the initial description plus integrated statements and additional elements.
These steps are repeated with data from all other participants, and a
new written account of the phenomenon is produced each time. Once
data from all participants have been considered, and a final written
account produced, this is sent to participants to judge whether it resonates
with their experience of the phenomenon. Any amendments can be
incorporated into the written description. Ultimately, a final written
account is produced which, having considered a wide range of data
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sources and personal experiences, aims to have arrived at a description
of the essential structure of the phenomenon of interest.
This strategy shares many features with other phenomenological
approaches, and Table 1 (see over) provides an overview of a selection
of phenomenological data generation and analysis strategies alongside,
for comparison, the strategy described in this paper (column six).
It may be seen that the strategy described in column six has elements
in common with others. The process of initial reflection on the
phenomenon, for example, shares similarities with Moustakas’s (1990)
method of heuristic inquiry, in that it seeks to answer the question:
‘What is my experience of this phenomenon and the essential
experience of others who also experience this phenomenon intensely?’
(Patton 1990). In that it adopts, as far as possible, the principle of
horizontalisation, it bears similarities to Hycner’s (1985) method and
to Moustakas’s (1994) modification of van Kaam’s method.
Furthermore, in that it relies upon constant movement between the
developing textual descriptions and the data, it bears similarities to the
methods of Colaizzi (1978) and Moustakas’s (1994) modification of
van Kaam’s method. However, in taking as its starting point the first
textual description produced following reflection, before comparison
with the data, this method is different from the other methods with
which it has been compared.
Methods of ensuring rigour
In considering rigour in any qualitative research, including
phenomenological approaches, there is a need to determine whether the
study is believable, accurate, and right, and whether it is useful to people
beyond those who participated in it. This necessitates a consideration of
the concepts of validity, reliability and generalisability.
Validity
Methods of increasing validity, or trustworthiness of the interpretations
of the data, can include:
• making explicit presuppositions and acknowledging subjective
judgements (Ashworth 1997)
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1. Van Kaam (1969) 2. Moustakas (modification of 3. Colaizzi (1978)
Van Kaam) (1994)
Horizontalisation: listing every relevant
expression and perform preliminary
grouping
Classification of data Extraction of phrases or sentences
into categories pertaining to the experience
Reduction and linguistic Reduction: testing each expression Transforming phrases into
transformation of the – does it contain a necessary and own words, resulting in a
selections into more sufficient moment of the experience? list of ‘meaning’ or
precisely descriptive terms Can it be abstracted and labelled? ‘significant’ statements
Elimination of reduced Elimination: remove expressions not
statements not inherent meeting the above requirements
in the experience
Clustering remaining
invariant constituents
Applying thematic labels to the Clustering of individual themes
invariant constituents to produce a further reduction
First hypothetical Production of hypothetical
identification and description ‘exhaustive’ lists
of the experience
Application of description to Checking invariant constituents and Moving back and forth between
randomly selected protocols their theme against the complete record meaning statements and successive
to test necessary and of the research participant for explicit hypothetical lists until themes
sufficient constituents expression and compatibility are accurately reflected in the clusters
Valid identification and Construction of Individual textual Essential structural
description of the experience description; individual structural description description
based on ITD and imaginative, variation and
textual-structural description incorporating
invariant constituents and themes
Repeat above step for each co-researcher
Return of description to subjects.
Revision of description, if necessary
Develop composite description of
meanings and essences of experience
for group as a whole
Table 1: Comparison of steps in the phenomenological generation and analysis of data

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4. Hycner (1985) 5. Moustakas (1990) 6. Strategy described in this
Heuristic enquiry paper (Priest 2001)
Bracketing and phenomenological Immersion: centring whole life Reflection and intuition, sensitising
reduction – openness to meanings on the experience. Incubation: researcher to the phenomenon and
and suspension of own meanings withdrawing and waiting for to preliminary ideas, presuppositions,
and interpretations insights assumptions and bias
Delineating units of
general meaning
Delineating units of meaning Illumination: themes and patterns
relevant to the research question emerge, forming clusters
Training independent judges to
verify units of relevant meaning
Eliminating redundancies
Clustering units of
relevant meaning
Determining meaning Explication: adding other
from clustering of themes dimensions of meaning,
refining emergent patterns
Arrival at a description of the Production of initial description of
experience and a portrayal the phenomenon against which data
of the individuals in the study may be compared
Examination of data from first
participant; highlighting all statements
relevant to the phenomenon,
adhering to horizontalisation
Comparison of each selected statement
from the first participant with the initial
textual description and integration of
these into initial description
Creative synthesis: bringing Creation of second textual description
together pieces; showing out of the initial description plus
relationships integrated statements and additional
elements
Repetition of steps with data for
each participant
Return summary and themes to Return of accounts to participants
participants/second interview for checking, amending and feedback
Modification of themes and summary
Identifying general and unique themes
Contextualisation of themes
Composite summary of all interviews Production of final textual account
capturing essence of phenomenon. of the phenomenon
Note significant individual differences

• prolonged engagement with the data (Erlandson et al 1993, Lincoln
and Guba 1985)
• verification with the source/participant feedback (Johnson 1997)
• using low inference descriptors, such as extracts from participants’
verbatim accounts (Johnson 1997)
• peer debriefing, whereby ongoing analysis and findings are regularly
presented to others for peer evaluation (Robson 1993).
Reliability
Strategies to increase the reliability of the procedures and data generated
can include:
• providing evidence of an audit trail (Koch 1994)
• disclosing personal orientation and context (Ashworth 1997,
Stiles 1993)
• having intensive engagement with the material and iteration between
data and interpretation (Erlandson et al 1993, Stiles 1993)
• grounding interpretations within the data through the use of verbatim
illustration (Johnson 1997)
• ensuring technical accuracy in recording and transcribing (Peräkylä 1997).
Generalisability
Generalisability is the extent to which findings are transferable to, or
fitting for, other situations (Conway 1998). Qualitative research is
generally considered weak in its generalisability across populations, to
different settings, and across times (Johnson 1997), particularly as
participants are often selected purposively in order to fulfil the needs of
a particular study. However, it has been suggested that the concept of
generalisation should be reclaimed for qualitative inquiry (Sandelowski
1996), and that it need not be a problem if comparisons are made with
similar people, settings and times (Johnson 1997). Therefore, it is
necessary in the written account of the study to provide detailed
information regarding participants, selection methods, context, and data
generation and analysis methods in order for readers to decide how far
and to whom the findings may be generalised.
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Limitations and conclusions
Although the aforementioned strategies can enhance the rigour of a
phenomenological research study, it nevertheless remains the case that,
because of the ‘difficulty and painstaking nature of getting back to, and
re-encountering, the phenomena of immediate experience’ (Crotty 1996),
phenomenological research is challenging Thus, the extent to which a
novice phenomenological researcher can claim to have convincingly
devised and implemented a novel and untested approach to data
generation and analysis must be questioned.
While the intention within phenomenological research is not to generate
theory but to describe and understand the essence of a concept, there
remains always the option to compare the findings with those achieved
through alternative methods. Any similarities might lend weight to the
validity of the method developed and described here.
Utilisation of the approach developed and described in this paper
resulted in the production of a written account of the phenomenology of
psychological caregiving in nursing. It is suggested that the approach has
remained faithful to the ideas of Husserl while at the same time adopting
a rational and pragmatic strategy for dealing with multiple participants
and multiple data sources. Furthermore, in utilising Moustakas’s (1994)
and de Rivera’s (1981) recommendations that phenomenological inquiry
should commence with a period of reflection and intuiting, in order to
produce an initial phenomenological account, this study made transparent
its starting point for the comparison of the data subsequently generated.
In this way, difficulties inherent within the strict Husserlian use of
bracketing were to some extent overcome. It is suggested that, while other
approaches may be equally useful, the approach devised may facilitate
an understanding of nebulous and diversely experienced concepts that
are of relevance to nursing and health care.
Helena Priest PhD, MSc, BA, RN, Dip N, Dip N Ed is Lecturer, Keele
University, Keele, Staffs, UK
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