analyze information:

Heuristic Inquiry places lived experience above research objectives and numbers (Andeh, 2021). The purpose is to allow for the phenomenon that is being studied to understood more organically whilst not losing the voices of the people who have experienced the phenomenon. As Andeh (2021) noted it also allows the researcher to incorporate their own experience into the research whilst maintaining an interpretive approach to the research. Heuristic inquiry has six phases: "initial topic engagement, immersion in the question, incubation from intense focus to let intuition take form, illumination into conscious awareness of the themes, explanation of themes and the experience, and creative synopsis of all components to amplify and explain the question" (Andeh, 2021). Along with those are seven processes including: identifying the focal point, self dialogue, tacit knowing, using intuition to bring together the implied knowledge with the explicit knowledge, indwelling, focusing to facilitate a receptive state to tap into the most knowledge, and the internal frame of reference to understand the experience through internal lens of the participants (Andeh, 2021).

The article I chose is entitled "The experience of coaching for permanently childless women: A heuristic inquiry." It was published in the International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching & Mentoring in 2021 and written by Sophia Andeh. The research involved on 5 women plus the author between the ages of 37 and 53 whom Andeh (2021) refers to as co researchers as defined by the heuristic inquiry approach. She conducted semistructured interviews to understand their experience of childlessness and the impact that coaching has had on their quality of life. Whilst the woman were from various backgrounds and had various experiences on their journey, the collage created by the author demonstrated that coaching played a significant role in helping the coresearchers take on actions in their lives that helped them redefine their lives and roles in society.

CITATION: Andeh, S. (2021). The experience of coaching for permanently childless women: A heuristic inquiry. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching & Mentoring, 15, 125-138. https://doi.org/10.24384/fcpb-8162

The phenomenon of interest is understanding the impact of experiencing coaching on the lives of permanently childless women. The target group is childless women, and the question does not specify an age range or any other specific demographics beyond that. Nonetheless the question is specific enough to satisfy the qualitative research requirement. The focus on the impact of the experience of coaching is appropriate terminology to use for qualitative research and can allude to this being a heuristic inquiry approach as this approach is focused on experiences. As states by Andeh (2021), "I sought a methodology suitable for a subjective, interpretive approach and evaluated different qualitative research methods. I chose heuristic inquiry, following Moustakas' process..." The terminology of the research question is consistent with the terminology used in the title and the title takes it a step further by naming the approach. The author further goes on to state that there is a gap in understanding coaching for childless women and describes the effects that childlessness can have on a woman's life and sense of identity. Andeh identified participants through an organization that specializes in working with her population of interest and identified 5 participants ranging from age 37 to 53 to aid her in this co-research. In doing so, she names some of the criteria for inclusion in the research and she also explicitly names that she used purposive sampling. Being that heuristic inquiry focuses on experiences, it is valid to use purposive sampling to acquire people who meet the specific criteria of the phenomenon being studied. Andeh (2021) did not explain the consent process but did explain the data collection process of semi structured interviews which is consistent with the heuristic inquiry approach, and she named specific questions that were asked in the interviews. In her analysis portion, Andeh broke down how she met all six phases and all seven processes of the approach as well as identified the ethical considerations for her study. Andeh was successful in clearly explaining the results of her study, the limitations, helpful suggestions to the audience, and future of work in this area. The takeaway was that further research need be conducted and that knowledge in this area could normalize attending coaching as a support tool for this population to live more meaningful lives (Andeh, 2021).