Phenomenological research

Procedure:

An in-depth, face-to-face, semi-structured interview was conducted with each participant. Each interview lasted between 1.5 and 3.5 hours, and interviews were audiotaped and transcribed. Meetings were usually held in the participants\\\' homes, and all interviews were conducted by the first author.

 

Prior to the start of each interview, the aims of the study and the interviewee\\\'s rights were clarified. Written informed consent was obtained from all the interviewees. Each interview initially included

some time dedicated to building trust and rapport that helped to set the conditions for the rest of the interview. The interview process did not follow a specific sequence of questions so as to respect the interviewees\\\' sequencing of their story, but the interviewer ensured that most topics of the interview protocol (available from the authors on request) were ultimately covered (Fontana & Frey, 1994). At the outset, the interviewer approached each participant as follows: "I am interested in the personal story of people who have undergone, or are currently undergoing, a change in their lives which they define as spiritual. I would like to hear your story and would appreciate any assistance from you to enable me to comprehend it as fully as possible."

 

Participants were then asked a broad, open-ended question concerning the manner in which they experienced the spiritual aspect of their lives; this was to enable them to describe their personal and subjective experience as freely as possible in their own words: "Please tell me how you experience the spiritual aspect of your life? How would you describe it?" The interviewer then asked general follow-up questions covering different issues: "Tell me about the change that you have undergone (or are currently undergoing) ..."; "How would you describe this change?"; "What triggered this change?"; "What made this change possible?"; "Can you recall any meaningful experiences in the change process?"; "What changed in your life following the process? Who are you today (compared with who you were prior to the change)?"; "Did this process affect your relationships or daily life in any way? In what way were you affected?" When necessary, the interviewer asked additional questions for clarification and elaboration.

 

Data Analysis:

A phenomenological analysis of the interview transcripts was conducted to develop a textural description of the experiences of the participants (what they experienced), a structural description of their experiences (how it was experienced in terms of the conditions, situation or context), and a combination of the textural and structural descriptions to convey an overall essence of the experience (Creswell, 2007). The process was cyclic, as each stage built on its predecessor in all cases. Specifically, following psychological phenomenologist guidelines (Moustakas, 1994; Polkinghorne, 1989; J. A. Smith & Osborn, 2003), the systemic data analysis can be summarized as follows:

 

1.    The first step in the data analysis process was reading each interview transcript separately to get an overall sense of the participants\\\' lived experiences. All interviews were read several times until a sense of immersion in the material had been obtained.

2.    Meaning units ("significant statements" or quotes that provided an understanding of how the participants experienced the phenomenon) were highlighted and identified by "line-by- line" coding (e.g., Charmaz, 2006). This method enabled insights to be conceptualized by asking the following questions: "What processes and meanings are evident in each line,

sentence and paragraph? How, when and why are they conveyed? In what context does each theme arise?"

3.    Meaning units were integrated into core themes, reflecting a higher level of abstract- tion (J. A. Smith & Osborn, 2003) and allowing for comparison between different texts (A. Strauss & Corbin, 1998).

4.    The themes were examined to find connections and interrelations. Themes were then clustered to construct a description of the participants\\\' experience. The process of analysis was concurrent with data collection, constituting a cyclic process that involved continual reflection (Creswell, 2003; Tesch, 1990).

Written above paragraph of a qualitative research, based on your understanding and knowledge, answer the following in y.our o.wn w.ords:

a-    Purpose

b-    Method of data collection, place of data collection, person who collected data c- Ethics followed

d-   During the interview, the researcher asked 3various types of questions, please mention the type of question.

e-    Discuss how in your view is it a phenomenological research study.

f-    Link it up with the chapter on analysis and writing of qualitative research, and discuss which analysis procedure was used in y.our ow.n wo.rds, what was the coding process in steps, which type of coding is used.

Course: Qualitative Method