The concluding chapter looks at the potential impacts of phenomenography. How and why people learn was and still is the raison d’être of phenomenography. The authors suggest ways in which these studies can help shape the education and research landscapes of today, and well into the future. Particularly in this time of uncertainty that increasingly involves artificial intelligence and large language models in learning, teaching and assessment in post-compulsory and higher education.
This chapter deals with data generation, which is core and common to qualitative research projects. Semi-structured interviews are the preferred method in phenomenographic work. They will be covered along with several other ways of generating data, including an overview of the often used ‘spark’ question or activity, designed to immerse participants in the experience of interest. Having the opportunity to see a range of practice methods in action will support readers to consider the approach most relevant and purposive for their research work.
This practical handbook provides a step-by-step guide for students who are new to phenomenography.
A qualitative research approach within the interpretivist paradigm, phenomenography explores the different ways in which humans conceive a phenomenon and ‘why’ and ‘how’ they do it. It is used in a wide range of academic subject areas from education to social work, physics and medicine. Today it is gaining popularity as a versatile and robust method with the aim of understanding other people’s perceptions.
Our practical guide features:
• advice on how to construct a phenomenographic research project;
• a thorough overview of the approach’s origins and its evolution;
• examples that show the influence it has across a range of subject and practice areas.
This book will empower readers in making informed decisions regarding the suitability of the phenomenographic approach for their research projects and provide them with the necessary tools to embark on their research journey.
The second chapter acknowledges the people who first posed the questions which led them to craft, test and articulate, what was, at that time, a novel approach, and brings to attention a selection of the phenomenographers and phenomenographic work that has subsequently shaped and progressed it. The terminology associated with phenomenography is often found to be confused and confusing, with different researchers using terms in a variety of ways, some of which are – or can seem to be – contradictory. This part of the book will go back to the founders, the original sources, to disentangle some of this confusion. It will also look at how phenomenography fits into the wider research landscape.
Analysis and interpretation of data forms the fifth chapter. As there is no prescribed way of appraising the data, the authors demonstrate how they each tackled this, paying attention to the tasks involved and to some of the other methods they have found to be useful and interesting from the literature. Phenomenography explicitly acknowledges the role of the researcher whose work it is to articulate how people report to perceive a phenomenon, through their descriptions of it. This goes to the core of what this research approach is all about.
The sixth chapter illustrates some of the ways of presenting findings. Phenomenographic results are usually reported in ‘categories of description’ and in so-called ‘outcome spaces’, and these too can take a variety of forms and formats. The authors share versions from their work to provide some context on how to graphically present study findings. In addition, they offer examples from the wider body of phenomenographic literature, illustrating the creativity that often enriches the presentation of what was learnt from this type of research work.
This chapter is dedicated to design issues and, linked to this, some tangible and possible ethical questions and tensions. Qualitative research calls for close relationships between researchers, the participants and the data created. The authors share how they arrived at and named their positionality, demonstrating and re-emphasising how interpretative awareness in research work is crucial. Drawing on examples from their own studies, and a range of others, they synthesised the different steps involved when planning such a research project.
Phenomenography is a multimodal research approach that increasingly makes use of creative, arts-based, digital and embodied methods. It has participatory and ethical elements and is potentially transformative. This book provides a step-by-step guide through this complex and rewarding approach to research. It sets out the key principles and practices established to date and shows the reader how to use this method in their own research. The authors wrote as post-doctoral phenomenographic researchers, and this book reflects what they have learnt and continue to learn through their research, involvement and interactions with other phenomenographic researchers.
