Phenoms+Cogitations

= = =11-26-06 Hi All. I ran across this on a website and thought it was pretty good. I don't know if we want to or can use any of it, but you might find it useful. I like the idea of "dwelling within the data"!= = = =Beth=

The phenomenological design has been derived from philosophies of phenomenology which are concerned with the essence and nature of human consciousness and the human experience of ‘being in the world’. Different approaches to the use of phenomenology as a research design have been developed by Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger. Edith Stein, a well known research assistant to Husserl, used a phenomenological design for her doctoral dissertation on a topic of particular interest to nurses: the concept of empathy (Stein 1989). Another noted scholar associated with phenomenology, Paul Ricoeur, received an honorary doctoral degree from Trinity College Dublin in 1997. The //phenomenological design// is used to answer questions related to the human being’s lived experience. The purpose of the design is to develop a deeper understanding of human experiences and the meanings these have for individuals. There are hundreds of reports of phenomenological research findings in the nursing literature. For example, nurses have used this design to examine the experience of being mechanically ventilated (Jablonski 1994), of healing from surgery (Criddle 1993), couples’ experience of infertility (Phipps 1993), the meaning of incontinence (Ashworth & Hagan 1993), the experience of caring for a family member with Alzheimer’s disease (Lynch-Sauer 1990), children’s experiences of completing cancer chemotherapy (Rostad & Haase 1994), the experience of grieving for the loss of an important friend (Pilkington 1993), the experience of postpartum depression (Beck 1992), and older widows’ experience of living alone at home (Porter 1994). Scannell-Desch’s research report is an example of the use of the phenomenological design. As you work through this part of the module take the time to read again pp. 262-264 in L & H, the Scannell-Desch research report on pp. 450-460, and the critique which follows it on pp. 461-465. Scannell-Desch’s use of the phenomenological design is reflected in the purpose of the study: to explore “the lived experience” related to her topic. Notice that she stresses that in using a phenomenological design, she did not “attempt to support or validate any selected model or framework. . . but rather to explore the phenomena as they unfolded from the people experiencing them”. This is typical of phenomenological research. She explains that because there was no existing list of nurses who served in Vietnam, she used the snowball sampling method. You will notice that in the critique on p. 462 a purposive sample is inferred from her description, although she does not use the term purposive in her report. The use of a purposive sample is the most commonly used sampling method for this design. The size of the sample for the phenomenological design is almost always determined by data saturation, described above. The fact that Scannell-Desch does not give any rationale for the size of her sample is a limitation of the study. The critical reader would also question the apparent lack of bracketing by the researcher. Bracketing, described above, is almost always used in a phenomenological design to try to ensure to every extent possible that the participants’ descriptions are not influenced by the ideas and attitudes of the researcher. Its omission by Scannell-Desch constitutes another limitation of the study. Data were collected through interviewing and tape recorded interviews were transcribed word-for-word, ready for analysis. There are different methods of data analysis associated with this design and these are mentioned by Scannell-Desch. Usually, a single method is used, rather than a combination of methods, and the steps of the method are made clear in the research report. The data analysis is an intense and all-encompassing process for the researcher. Transcripts are read carefully several times ‘to obtain a feel for them’, and statements and phrases which keep recurring are identified. This is sometimes referred to as ‘dwelling with the data’. During this process significant statements in the transcripts are identified and for each statement a formulated meaning is identified. However, as is mentioned in the critique of the study on p. 463, the process that Scannell- Desch used to arrive at the eight categories and theme clusters outlined in Table 1 on p. 452 is not clear. In the findings section of the report, note that the categories and theme clusters are discussed and illustrated using examples from the interviews. Usually, the categories and theme clusters are directly integrated into an exhaustive description of the experience. Scannell- Desch takes an interim step of deriving metathemes, a process of integrating the categories and theme clusters into overall themes, prior to finally integrating the findings into an exhaustive description of the lived experience. The presentation of an exhaustive description of the lived experience of the study topic is typical of the phenomenological design and in the Scannell- Desch study appears in the first two sentences of the discussion section. The Discussion section of a phenomenological research report usually consists of a comprehensive comparison of the study findings with information which already exists in the literature, and interpretation of the study findings. As I mentioned earlier, the majority of the literature review could be expected to appear in this section. In addition, it is expected that the conclusions of the study, implications for practice and theory development, and recommendations for further research are clearly identified.

=Phenomenology - The "Phenoms" (DRAFT area)=


 * __Posted 11/5/2006 (by Sandy):__**

OK - Several of us were really taken by the "vignette" approach by our friends on the POE team. We discussed how much more interesting our Phenomenology site would be if we tried to adopt a more interesting introduction to our content. Anita in particular seemed interested in finding or creating a story or other more engaging way to open our Wiki area. Sandy suggested may switching the order of sections to open with concrete examples (rather than having them at the end).

How about by this Wednesday, all of us think about a more engaging way to represent our thoughts on Phenomenology other than the traditional textbook chapter style (which I suggested as a way to get started, but now feel is overly dry)?

Sandy

Things we MUST ACCOMPLISH by Halloween at 9PM to be "GOOD STUDENTS AND REMAIN FRIENDS" - AND THIS MEANS YOU!! > >
 * __Posted 10/25 at end of class (by Anita & Sandy):__**
 * 1) Each team member will post their draft version of assigned section to "Phenomenology" page.
 * 1) Review others (all three others) draft contributions and post three (3) individual reflective __and honest__ discussion postings (e.g., What did I learn from their section and it could be "I learned nothing" - the point is to be honest and constructive).
 * 1) Post one (1) additional discussion of "what's missing" for our project (to be done by the end of the semester)?

Beth / Carol - please note that this is how she will evaluate us as progress on our project...

- Anita Wells - Beth Newman - Carol Lane - Sandy Schaeffer =Anita (10-23)= Willis, P. (2002). Don’t call it poetry. //The Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology.// [Online]. Available: http://www.ipjp.org/april2002/Willis.pdf I think the title of this paper is what lured me to actually printing it to read for information for the Phenoms page. This is an invited paper by Dr. Peter Willis. The focus of the article is how researchers use poetic or expressive writing to describe the ‘lived experience’ of phenomenological research. Dr. Willis is a poet and uses phenomenological methodology in his Adult Educational research. Unlike the scientific approach to research, Dr. Willis talks about the artistic approach to research. The researcher allows the experience to “present itself for contemplation” and then the researcher “constructs a text which accounts for the experience.” The researcher uses “a poetic pen or artist’s brush” to create the expressive narrative. (I MUST GET ONE OF THOSE PENS). Dr. Willis also talks about how, in phenomenology, the focus is placed on “the moment of experiencing as the moment of knowing.” The researcher places the “gaze on the phenomenon itself – the lived experience of some activity.” I really liked Dr. Willis’s description of expressive writing in phenomenology; the mind “returns again and again to behold the object, allowing words and images to emerge from the contemplative engagement.” I think the brunt of Dr. Willis article is that phenomenological expressive writing is not actually poetry. Rather, it is “poetized reflections.” Poetry “looks like poetry.” However, narrative expressive writing provides a “vivid presentation of an experience in such a way that people can almost feel its immediacy and challenge.” The researcher is “committed to telling it like it is experienced.” The final highlight that I found in this article: Dr. Willis states that expressive research uses an artistic flare to “generate emotions, feelings, and conceptions which have similarity to those many people experience when engaging with a work of art.” THIS IS THE SAME WAY THAT I FEEL WHEN I READ KB’S REFLECTIONS ON WEDNESDAY NIGHTS. I ALWAYS THINK “I WISH I COULD WRITE LIKE THAT!!!!” =Sandy (10-18)=

I like the idea of finding good references for all of us to peruse being posted here (as Anita did below). What if we were to go ahead and start the reference section with as much online content as possible (in the form of URLs) to give us a common library of source material for the formal thing we build out?

Perhaps one way of moving forward on common ground would be a weekly "book/article club" approach? Here's how: we each find one unique source of information on phenomenology that speaks to our project and post it in our group Wiki space. (Obviously, an online content unit would be easiest to share, unless it's in a book all of us have access to.) We are then each obliged to read the assigned materials and launch an online discussion about what we think is relevant to include in our final wiki project? Thus, each week we have four new pieces of material and four reading assignments that we 'discuss' from a content-use standpoint over the balance of the week. We sort of 'self-assign' homework on a weekly basis.

(Sorry if I seem overly hung up on process, but I always find that a lack of agreed process in a group impedes progress in the long-haul.)

=Carol (10-18)= Anita, that sounds like a good article by Willis, I'd like to read it. Maybe you could bring it tonight to class. I'm starting my data collecting this wek, and I'm interested in seeing if I find some of those "echoes" in the stories I hear from my four participants. I'm thinking there will be similarities in their experience of retirement, but I'm finding, there is definitely diversity in the expressions of it.

= = =Anita (10/18)= I have an article by Peter Willis titled “The ‘things themselves’ in Phenomenology.” This article is out of the Indo-Pacific Journal of Phenomenology, 2001. Willis talks about how a phenomenon is “essentially what appears to someone.” As each person describes his/her experience, the researcher recognizes “echoes” in others. In other words, others have similar experiences of the phenomenon. Something I find interesting is that the researcher is exploring the lived experience that is “present” and “lived” but people are not really conscious of it until it is “unveiled” through the data. Sure the phenomenon becomes visible, but the focus is on how each person generates meaning for that experience. Again, the researcher’s task is to find common meanings to the experience for a sample of people.

Willis cautions researchers to “tread the middle ground” between too much subjectivity or too much analysis. According to Willis, when “succumbing to too much subjectivity, themes end up being linked to a person’s recurring feelings and not elements of the experience itself.” When the researcher is caught up in too much analysis, the experience is situated in an explanatory category and the “characteristics of the category imputed to it.”

10-16-2006 Carol Lane

Phonems, I am reading an article by Steiner Kvale titled “ Postmodern psychology: a contradiction in terms?” I was thinking about phenomenology and its intent to understand social phenomena from the actors’ own perspectives and how significant such a study seemed to be to me because of the knowledge gained from understanding some human experience. In his article, Kvale discusses the theme of power and knowledge in postmodern thought and poses some thoughtful ideas regarding knowledge gathered from research. His thoughts seem to be at the heart of this discussion we’re having concerning the politics of evidence. Kvale states that “decisions about what knowledge is to be developed are today made through the allocation of economic resources.” In the article Lyotard posits that in the discourse of today’s financial backers of research, the only credible goal is power: “Scientists are purchased not to find truth, but to augment power,” which seems to be the political reality of our time.

I also recently finished an article Dr. Bhattacharya put on one of our reading lists by Patti Lather in which she substantiates much of what Kvale is trying to say in his article. In “This IS Your Father’s Paradigm: Government Intrusion and the case of Qualitative Research in Education,” Lather states that at a time when there seems to be a philosophical trend against certainty in the social sciences, that there is “this continual and noisy legislative activity with a all its authority working at the federal level to discipline educational research to a narrowly defined sense of science-based evidence.” She goes on to ask, and I quote: “how can we take Atkinson’s charge to heart of ‘thinking outside the box’ in a time when educational research is being told what science is by bureaucrats and Congress at the very time that an expansive definition of science is being urged in more high status areas of science?”

Anyway, I think she raises some very significant questions that are relevant to our discussion of politics of evidence; there is obviously a need for voices to speak out for multiple methods of knowledge, and the value of different views of evidence, analysis and purpose. Phenomenological research is one such method which can add, not to power, but to our understanding of the human experience, which seems to me a worthwhile endeavor.

=10/7/2006 - Sandy (before going out of town...)=

Ladies,

In my opinion we should use this area for our 'draft' thoughts and begin moving towards developing our formal production page this week. (This is a follow-up idea from our class this past Wednesday evening.)

I've created a new page with a formal outline (and Table-of-Contents) called "Phenomonology" that I recommend we use for what we consider our final work (or publishable if you will). We can keep this area for free-form thinking and collective data-capture - even a journal area perhaps. Then we put our more complete and organized thoughts in the other one.

I guess I'm a very structured thinker (remember all my tables in my assignment postings?) and I become anxious about starting towards a 'completed' version of our efforts here. Perhaps that's a reflection of my way of thinking and learning. Certainly, I don't want to superimpose my style on the entire team, but it will certainly help me to learn if we can get to a point of a structured and organized narrative on phenomenology that reflects the way we want to teach others. Your thoughts?

BTW - How about we share our preferred external email addresses as well for other dialog? Is that Kosher in a Wiki-world? Mine is: sandy.schaeffer@memphis.edu

Further thoughts after building the outline: As students of learning theory, I think we should consider applying Kolb's "full-circle" approach towards learning - at least as much as we can in an online environment. At the very least, we should include both abstract discussions (good narrative writing) and concrete examples (shown in my suggested outline). If we were really being cool (and had the time), we could let them use the Wiki area to challenge them to go out and gather some sample data and create a student-led shared-experiences area. But - perhaps that is for another day... However, I personally like the idea of peppering the dry narrative with highlighted examples. Maybe even embed URL links to other online resources that are particularly illustriative about a point.

Sandy Schaeffer (10/7/2006)

=Anita 10 6 (e-mailed to Sandy on October 6th)= Okay, here is the outline for a Phenomenological Study. Dr. B. agrees that this is a good table of contents for chapter 3. Although this is a guideline for Chapter 3, hopefully we can use it to guide our project. Not only will this be a good project, but it will be a tremendous help when me, you, Carol, Beth or anyone want to do a phenomenological study. The numbered items (1-6) are the actual outline of chapter 3. I personally put the stuff under each item (where I thought it would go). Is it safe to say that our OVERALL purpose for this project is "What is qualitative phenomenology research and how do researchers use the phenomenology framework in a research study?" CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY1. introduction History Definitions of words specific to Phenomenology (Creswell p. 235-237)2. Methodology Theoretical influence on Methodology Research questions3. Data Collection Methods purposeful sampling (Creswell p. 118-119) forms of data (Creswell p 120-121)4. Data Analysis (Creswell p. 147-150)5. Ensuring Quality rigor (Creswell p. 207-208) the question of essence (is there such a thing?) politics of evidence6. Ethical Considerations Involving Researcher Subjectvities ethics researcher subjectivities (epoche, bracketing assumptions) An example of a phenomenological study is in Creswell (Pg 273 -292). This can give us an idea of what we want people to know about 'doing phenomenology.'

Carol Lane 10-8-06

Sandy, I like the other page idea for our finished ideas, and we can use this one for our unfinished thoughts and comments. My e-mail address is carolalane03@aol.com for anyone in our elite phenomenological group that wants to e-mail me. I'll get back with this page later for additional comments.

Beth Newman (10-08-06)

Sandy, this is fine with me also. I'm actually working on material for our page even though I haven't posted it yet. I'm a little overwhelmed by all the information on phenomenology that's out there and I'm having trouble organizing it in my head, much less in a written form! You all can email me at bethshawnewman@gmail.com I check this account daily.


 * Carol, Sandy, Anita, Beth

ALL - I did a small amount of formatting changes. - Sandy**


 * __Methodology definition:__**

(Anita, 10/3) As I read in my Patton book, I began to wonder, how far will we go to discuss qualitative phenomenology? According to Patton, there are many ways to describe phenomenology:

Patton (2002, p.482) mentions different types of phenomenology topics and people who talk about this. Do we need to clear up what each of these forms of phenomology are? "Phenomenology has taken on a number of meanings, has a number of forms, and encompasses varying traditions including transcendental phenomenology, existential phenomenology, and hermeneutic phenomenology (Schwndt, 2001). Moustakas (1994:13) further distinguishes empirical phenomenological form transcendental phenomenology. Gubrium and Holstein (2000:488) add the label "social phenomenology." VanManen (1990) prefers "hermeneutical phenomenological reflection." Sonnemann (1954:344) introduced the term "phenomenography" to label phenomenological investigation aimed at "a descriptive recording of immediate subjective experience as reported." Harper (2000:727) talks of looking at images through "the phenomenoloical mode," that is, from the perspective of the self: "from the phenomenological perspective, photographs express the artistic,emotinal,or experiential intent of the photographer." Add to this confusion of terminology the difficulty of distinguishing phenomenological philosophy from phenomenological methods and phenomenological analysis, all of which adds to tensions and contradictions in qualitative inquiry (Gergen and Gergen, 2000)."

(Beth) I found these words elsewhere and thought they might contribute to our understanding of Phenomenology...."What methods are appropriate to phenomenological research.", and here we must return to the fundamental methodological issues. Phenomenology demands that we seek to discover the world as it is experienced by those involved in it. It is about the nature of human experience and the meaning that people attach to their experiences. In trying to arrive at this kind of understanding, the researcher is asked to 'bracket', or suspend belief in the phenomena of the external world, to put them aside and focus on the consciousness of that world.

(Anita, 10/3) Crotty (1998) believes the world is full of potential meaning. According to Crotty, to capture the true meaning fo the phenomenon, the researcher must go to te source, the individual who actually experienced the phenomenon. This data, coming directly from the participant of the experience, gives the researcher a "fresh look" at the experience.

(Anita, 10/3) Crotty (1998) mentions several concepts associated with the phenomenological framework. First, in the place of empirical scientism, the researcher utilizes traditional philosophy while seeking out wisdom. Second, this phenomenological philosophy has no pesuppositions. As Beth mentioned above, and as mentioned by Crotty, judgements held by the research must be suspended (i.e., epoche) until information on the true experience is uncovered. Patton (2002) stated that the researcher must be aware of pre-conceived assumptions in order to have a fair representation of the phenomenon being studied. A third concept used by Crotty is the intentionality of consciousness. Reality is the individual's consciousness of his/her personal experience. What the individual experiences becomes reality. Lastly, the individual's perceptionof the experience actually gives meaning to the experience. So, this means there is no subject-object dichotomy.

(Sandy, 9/30) - What I'd like to see us do on the 'how to' section is to provide a basic primer on the essentials of performing a phenomenological ( //wow is that hard to spell on a Sat. night// !) study. I reviewed Creswell on Friday and, frankly, he has really gives us a good starting point as well as other references for additional help
 * __How to...__**

History of... (Sandy, 9/30) - I believe any subject has more life and depth if you have a history of it. Therefore, I think a history of phenomenology as a form of inquiry would be essential to our 'primer' effort. Likewise Crotty gives us some seed information in the early chapters.

(Sandy, 9/30) - Seems fairly self-evident, but some effort to identifiy and provide guidance on ethical issues in phenomenology ( //I'm spelling it as many times as possible to get better at it)// should be in our research.
 * __Ethics of...__**

(Anita, 10/3)Ethical topics for phenomenological studies I found in Patton (2002)that may be helpful to discuss: - Is the purpose in line with a phenomenological approach - How does this approach contribute to "the good of the participants and larger group?" - Are their any risks involved in this study? - How does the researcher maintain confidentiality in a phenomenological study?

(Sandy, 9/30) - Guidelines on how to ensure proper rigor is taken care of in one's phenomenology study.
 * __Rigor of...__**

(Anita, 10/3) In terms of rigor, we may want to dicuss all the ways a researcher can promote rigor to the phenomenological study (e.g., sampling, types of data collection, member checks,triangulation)

(Sandy, 9/30) - I cannot remember why we called this one the 'question' of essence, other than possibly we were fatigued and needed to wake ourselves up? I do recall Carol mentioning 'essence' on more than one ocassion.
 * __The question of essence__**

(Anita, 10/3) There is question of whether there is such a thing as 'essence.' I think our group needs to talk to this argument. Carol cited information that suggests each person has their own personal essence or lived experience, so how can people have common essences. I personally do not think it is common essences. Rather, I think there are common themes to different personal essences that can be reported in research.



(Sandy, 9/30) - Who are some prominent scholars in the area of phenomenology research? This could readily be merged with the 'history' section above.
 * __Scholars__**

(Anita, 10/3) There are several scholars associated with phenomenology framework. These scholars strive to understand how to de-mystify the lived experiences of humans. Edmund Husserl (1859-1938 is considered the founder of phenomenology (Foster & Perkins, 2004). Husserl emphasized the nature and content of consciousness of experience. He was interested in the essences or themes that are intertwined in individuals' experiences. Nicolai Hartman, another scholar, understood philosophy to be rooted in ontology (Foster & Perkins, 2004). To justify realism, Hartmann used phenomenology to study the essence of being. Another scholar, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, worked to change the traditional dichotomy between the subjective and subjective elements of human experience. Merleau-Ponty was interested in how language affecs individuals' perceptions of their world.

(Sandy, 9/30) - Very much like in Creswell, I think we should find a few exemplar phenomenology studies and include them in our wiki guidebook. We could point to their URLs in they are online, or perhaps even construct our own hypothetical ones?
 * __Example research projects__**

(Sandy, 9/30) - I cannot remember our train of thought on this...help??
 * __Politics of Evidence__**

Carol Lane –Oct. 1st Phenomenology: Taylor and Bogdan’s book entitled __Introduction to Qualitative Research – The search for Meanings__ (1984) suggests that phenomenology is based on understanding social phenomena from the actors’ own perspectives, describing the world as experienced by the subjects, including the assumption that the important reality is what people perceive it to be. Crotty suggested that Max Weber's idea of 'verstehen' is important to the definition, that is an attempt to understand on a personal level the motives and beliefs behind people's actions. Phenomenology, as founded by Husserl in the early 1900’s, established its subject matter as that of consciousness and experience. Aligning itself with existential philosophy, it expanded to include the human life world of Heidegger, and the views by Sartre regarding the role of human action. And as Kvale (1996) contributed, phenomenology studies “the subjects’ perspectives on their world, attempts to describe in detail the content and structure of the subjects’ consciousness, to grasp the qualitative diversity of their experiences and to explicate their essential meaning” (p. 53). I think it could be surmised that the definition of phenomenology involves an attempt to understand the meaning people attach to their existence, the meaning behind the phenomena they experience.
 * __Thoughts on the definition:__**

To me, this aspect of phenomenology appears to be the most problematic. The investigation of essences seems to be a significant part of the phenomenological method.. But the definition of essence is a bit elusive. Who can define it? But from earlier class discussions, it seems that the goal is to search for the common essence of phenomena. Kvale explained that Husserl suggested one method of investigating essences is varying a given phenomenon freely in its possible forms, and that which remains constant through the different variations is the essence of the phenomenon. I still have problems with this idea of a common essence of a phenomenon. Since I adhere to the idea that human development emerges from the confluence of countless, diverse influences on the organism, it’s hard to imagine that those human organisms would experience a common essence to any phenomenon; it seems like the essence would be unique to the individual, emerging from the diverse contextual influences on the individual throughout development. Moustakas (1994) suggests that the aim of phenomenology is to determine what an experience means for the persons who have had the experience. From the individual descriptions, he suggests that general or universal meanings (or the essences of the experience) are derived. So, it seems he’s saying that the meanings people derive from an experience are the essence of that experience, in other words, meanings and essences are, if not synonymous, then closely related. Anyway, it seems an interesting discussion that we could hash around, and someone could shed some light on this discussion of essences.
 * __The question of Essences:__**

(Beth) For me, the essence of an individual's being or experience of this world involves how they cognitively process, adapt to, and make sense of the stimuli with which they come into contact. It is the sum product of that continual process. I do believe that individuals can share a very common essence of the world, though of course no two could be exactly the same.


 * __Doing Phenomenology – How To…__**

Moustakas’s book on __Phenomenological Research Methods__ would be an excellent ‘how to’ book for us to look at. He walks through the steps of doing research phenomenologically. Kvale provides a phenomenological method that includes description, investigation of essences, and phenomenological reduction. Description, according to Merleau-Ponty (1962) involves describing the given as precisely and completely as possible, to describe rather than to explain or analyze. The investigation of essences shifts from describing separate phenomena to searching for their common essence. And reduction takes in the idea of ‘epoche’ or bracketing our common sense and scientific foreknowledge about the phenomena in order to arrive at an unprejudiced description of the essence of the phenomena, in other words a critical analysis of our own presuppositions. It seems there are some fascinating scholars in the field of phenomenology/existential phenomenology. Clark Moustakas provides a description of how to do phenomenological research and does a good job of explaining the theoretical underpinnings of this field based on the work of Husserl. I have come to like Steiner Kvale a lot, who is the director of the center of Qualitative Research at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. His book on __InterViews__ seems excellent to me. But I keep running into writers like Giorgi and Merleau-Ponty, and one of my favorite philosophers, Heidegger, (even though his politics got a bit sketchy in the early 30’s, definitely an example of how contextual influences shape our thought). I don’t know much about Paton, except from class, but he seems to be an influential writer in phenomenological research. And I see Spiegelberg mentioned a lot in Kvale’s book. But I think we could pull together a viable list of contributors to phenomenological research and its perspective.
 * __Scholars:__**

__My thoughts:__ I do think this study of phenomenology could be quite beneficial as well as interesting to us, and it could definitely provide us with some enlightenment regarding qualitative research. Also, I think we could contribute to the knowledge of others who may be reading what we produce. However, I still don’t fully understand this Wiki process, but as Sandy said once, we’ll just go with it and find out as we go. But, I think, phenomenology is definitely an unlimited field that seeks understanding of people’s experiences, and who knows, maybe this study will get us close to the ‘essence’ of qualitative research (if such a thing exists)!!

__Instructions:__ By l0/4: Each of us will write post our personal reflections (and questions) under each of these topic areas. We are not obliged to add to all of them, but only those with which we feel comfortable.