Impact of parental incarceration on young children 

Phenomenology

The essence of human experience with

a phenomenon

as “lived” in a

way that it is unique to each individual.

Purpose:

•Particularly useful when wanting to understand how individuals experience a particular phenomenon uniquely and subjectively, not specifically objectively.

•Phenomenon has been defined to be a “lived” experience and focuses on how the participants perceive those experiences as meaningful. Participants must have a unique lived experience in common, such as experiencing the death of a child, or workplace discrimination in a particular field.

Sources of Data:

•In-depth, semi-structured interviews are the primary data collection tool. One data source (interviews) is needed, but these may be combined with other qualitative methods of data collection (e.g., observations, reflective documents) to enhance understanding of the experience.

•Minimum of 8-10 in-depth interviews, (but should recruit no less than 12 individuals to account for attrition).

•Interview questions must be open-ended and should last between 45-60+ minutes.

•Probing strategies to elicit depth in responses is paramount. Probe adds to the answer. Tell me more. What does that mean? Give me an example.

Amount of Data:

•There should be no less than 10 pages of transcribed data, single spaced, 12 pt. Times New Roman, per interview

Sample Size:

•Ideal sample size is 10-20 participants, or until reaching data saturation.

Analytical Approach & Results:

•In-depth interpretive analysis of the latent symbolic meaning of individual’s experiences.

•Requires general familiarity with and understanding of the culture and language of the individuals’ identity group (e.g., ethnicity, gender, social class, age, profession, etc.), community or organization.

•Data analysis approach may involve thematic analysis and coding from a phenomenological perspective. Interpretive interview summaries (2-3 pp long, single-spaced) done systematically to produce main themes may substitute for coding procedures; however, such analytic approach requires expertise.

Trustworthiness

•Ideal trustworthiness strategies include reflexivity, negative case analysis, expert panel review or field testing of interview questions, prolonged engagement, thick descriptions, peer-debriefing, member-checking. The learner should report the results of reflexivity (bracketing) in Ch. 4 by sketching the preconceptions of the phenomenon (as distinct from the views shared by participants in the dataset).

Epistemology

•Fits best with a constructivist epistemology. Phenomenon is represented as perceived subjective “reality” from a conscious experience. The focus is on deeper meanings achieved by prolonged immersion and assessment of the context of their experiences.