Phenomenological lifeworld research: A proposed phenomenological research methodology: With an application to the lifeworld of new migrants

Phenomenological lifeworld research: A proposed phenomenological research methodology: With an application to the lifeworld of new migrants

The following assignment develops, justifies and applies a distinctive phenomenological research methodology: The phenomenological lifeworld research methodology. It is tailored to address a number of criticisms of existing phenomenological research methodologies put forward, most cogently, by phenomenological philosopher Dan Zahavi.

Phenomenological lifeworld research: A proposed phenomenological research methodology has two primary aims. Firstly, it aims to develop a phenomenological research methodology that is demonstrably phenomenological. It sets out to justify all of its major components in relation to the philosophical-phenomenological tradition. Secondly, it aims to present itself in a manner that is clear enough to be understood and then applied by prospective phenomenological researchers, from a range of academic fields, with no philosophical background.

The phenomenological lifeworld research methodology is centred around four pillars. Each of these pillars is distinctive and essential to the research process. Three are derived from elements within Max van Manen’s hermeneutic phenomenological method (van Manen, 2016a, 2016b): the framing concept of the lifeworld, the adoption of insight cultivators within the interview process, and the use of five existentials to organise research and data analysis. The fourth pillar, inspired by Amedeo Giorgi’s call for phenomenological research to be a science (Giorgi, 2009), demands the inclusion of a series of propositions relating to the five existentials, which are to be tested through the interview phase of the research.

The efficacy of the phenomenological lifeworld research methodology will be tested and assessed within the context of investigating the lifeworld of recent Russian migrants to Australia. The phenomenological lifeworld research methodology, after its application, will be demonstrated to be a robust, versatile methodology. Nonetheless, those areas of development will be highlighted in the final section of the assignment.