Here is a link to my 2010 contribution to the festschrift celebrating Amedeo Giorgi’s career in phenomenological psychology. I pose the question: why should the scientific status of our work be a compelling issue for the next generation of qualitative psychological researchers? I explore the criteria for science proposed by Giorgi, and discuss van Manen’s
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The way we creatively embody and express the traditions we inherit, whether philosophical or psychological, is inevitably shaped by our own history, background, and values. In my case, before I began my study of phenomenology I had already worked as a teacher and counselor. I’ve been a teacher of one kind or another since I
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This is the Q & A portion of the presentation given by philosopher J. N. Mohanty and psychologist Amedeo Giorgi participated in a panel discussion on phenomenology as part of the annual meeting of the Interdisciplinary Coalition of North American Phenomenologists held at Ramapo College on May 25, 2013. James Morley moderated and questioners included Louis Sass and Lester
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Magnus Englander’s 2012 article, “The Interview,” is an excellent resource for students learning how to conduct phenomenological research. As Englander points out, though Steiner Kvale’s excellent work on interviewing is well known among qualitative researchers, there are important differences between Kvale’s work and a phenomenological perspective. This article clarifies issues such as how to select
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Students new to phenomenological psychology often ask me what’s the difference between Clark Moustakas’ and Amedeo Giorgi’s research methods, since both approaches are called “phenomenological.” In fact there are major differences: in this post I’ll examine Moustakas’ Phenomenological Research Methods (1994) from the perspective of Husserl and Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological philosophy. Naturally I’ll also be speaking as
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In May 2013 Ramapo College in New Jersey will host the Interdisciplinary Coalition of North American Phenomenologists’ annual meeting. This year’s theme is “Understanding Embodiment,” and is open to a wide variety of topics. The submission deadline is February 1, 2013–for more details, read the call here: ICNAP V call for papers
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Introduction The descriptive phenomenological method of psychological research is rooted in the intentional property of consciousness. Husserl (1983) modified Brentano’s concept of intentionality, expressing it as consciousness acting upon an object or state-of-affairs that is not itself. In other words, embodied human subjectivity relates actively and passively to things that are immanent and external to it
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Here’s an example of a phenomenological dissertation method chapter. This paper is the methodology section of Broomé’s doctoral dissertation that outlines the Descriptive Phenomenological Psychological Method of research as taught by Amedeo P. Giorgi. Giorgi (2009) based his method on Husserl’s descriptive phenomenological philosophy as an alternative epistemology for human science research. This method section
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Earlier this year I was invited to Volvo’s headquarters in Sweden to pilot my phenomenologically-based empathy training–afterwards, organizational consultants began to take an interest in what I was doing. Ahrenfelt, a well-known corporate consulting firm, invited me to give a talk at their yearly meeting in Stockholm. In preparing for such a talk outside of
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The students who put this question to me are usually taking their first course in phenomenological or hermeneutic (narrative) psychological research. And in a way, I feel for them, because many of them didn’t expect to be facing something called “epistemology,” and bumping into any number of arcane Greek terms that seem to bear no
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