Part 1. Method.
(Applied Hermeneutic Phenomenology)
Phenomenology is based on understanding psychological and social phenomena and seeks to capture human experiences as they are lived — not as they are conceptualized or categorized — in a prereflective way. It aims to reach meaning structures; that is, the meaning structures of lived experience. It is "a process of appropriation, clarification, and reflective explication of the meaning structures of lived experience" (Van Manen, 2003, p. 320, our translation).
HP follows a dynamic interaction between six research activities (Van Manen, 2003):
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Focusing on a phenomenon that is of interest and engages the researcher with the world.
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Investigating the experience as it is lived, not as it is conceptualized.
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Reflecting on the essential aspects that characterize the phenomenon.
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Describing the phenomenon through the art of writing and rewriting.
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Maintaining a strong pedagogical relationship oriented towards the phenomenon.
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Balancing the research context by always considering both the parts and the whole.
Once the research phenomenon is selected, the experience must be investigated as it is lived. To do this, it is necessary to distinguish between prereflexive lived knowledge and reflexive perception (Ayala-Carabajo, 2017; Van Manen, 2003).
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Prereflexive lived knowledge about the meaning of
something (example: "the experience of time"). -
Reflective perception of the meaning structure of the lived
experience (example: "What is time?")
In phenomenological research, prereflexive lived knowledge is collected through descriptive empirical methods (experience narratives, anecdotes, and phenomenological interviews). The primary objective of these methods is to collect Lived Experience Descriptions (LEDs); in our case, LEDs of political participation as a young woman.
Once these descriptions are collected, the research moves to reflective perception, which involves analyzing the structural or thematic aspects of the lived experience; in our case, the structural or thematic aspects of the experiences of political participation as a young woman.
For this, reflective methods are used (phenomenological thematic analysis). The result is also phenomenological descriptions, but unlike the earlier ones, these are already the outcome of the analysis.
