This entry provides a general overview of phenomenology as a methodological approach for conducting educational research. Etymologically speaking, phenomenology is a compound of the [Page 1247]Greek phainomenon (the thing that appears or is seen) with logos (study). Phenomenology can be roughly translated to mean the science or study of things as they appear to us. Phenomenology, broadly defined for the purpose of encompassing the varied phenomenologies, is the study of or inquiry into how a person’s conscious experience with things—with phenomena—provides deeper and more truthful understandings of those things and ultimately of the self and of the world. The basic unit of analysis in phenomenology is phenomena, not people.

As a research methodology, phenomenology is deeply indebted and closely connected to the disciplinary field of philosophical ...