The lifeworld - enriching qualitative evidence

The focus of research of phenomenological psychology is experience that is made up of the object to which consciousness refers, plus a mode of consciousness (e.g., perception, judgement, remembering). But the objects of experience are not "free floating." Any experience is inevitably inter...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inQualitative research in psychology Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 20 - 32
Main Author Ashworth, Peter D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Routledge 02.01.2016
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Consciousness
Epochē
experience
interviewing
lifeworld
phenomenological psychology
qualitative data analysis
Qualitative research
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Summary:The focus of research of phenomenological psychology is experience that is made up of the object to which consciousness refers, plus a mode of consciousness (e.g., perception, judgement, remembering). But the objects of experience are not "free floating." Any experience is inevitably interwoven with the rest of the individual's lifeworld. In this article, I argue that there are necessary aspects, or fractions, of any lifeworld whatsoever: selfhood, sociality, embodiment, temporality, spatiality, project, discourse, and moodedness. Since these are always implicated in the experience, it is certainly no risk to the integrity of the collection or analysis of qualitative data - in fact it enriches the description of the experience - to actively investigate these fractions, whatever the precise research topic might be. This is true of all qualitative research that aims to speak in first-person terms of the individual's involvement in their lived environment.
ISSN:1478-0887
1478-0895
DOI:10.1080/14780887.2015.1076917