Phenomenology

Conceptual Overview and Discussion

Originally, phenomenology was primarily an epistemological viewpoint, but many thinkers have moved away from viewing it solely as a theory of knowledge. Much of the emphasis within phenomenology is the attempt to comprehend or fully “understand” (verstehen) the everyday lived experience of ordinary people who live relatively normal lives. Nevertheless, phenomenology is important for interpretive case study research in many different ways and at many different levels. To some extent, any qualitative research study that emphasizes detailed description can be said to be phenomenological in the broad sense of the term. Qualitative case study research is often considered phenomenological in the sense that it is concerned with very detailed descriptions (idiographic) and generalizations concerning those aspects of social reality that can be observed directly. The basic idea is that “seeing is believing.” To some extent, phenomenology is a qualitative empirical approach that attempts to go beyond simplistic British empiricism based on John Locke and David Hume. Sometimes a phenomenological approach to the single case is contrasted with other qualitative research strategies, such as symbolic interactionism. Ethnomethodology is often thought of as a kind of blend of phenomenological sociology, associated with Alfred Schutz, and symbolic interactionist sociology, first developed philosophically by George Herbert Mead. Mead did not coin the phrase symbolic interaction, but it is well recognized that the different versions of symbolic interactionism stem from Mead's philosophical views. To grasp the reason for multiple different meanings attached to the word phenomenology it is necessary to examine some aspects of the history of philosophy.