Dear Beverlyn,

as I said, I did not want to be disrespectful to business research, but it sometimes appears as if the goals or the purpose of scientific (psychological) or social-scientific (sociological) research is different from business research. While the two former aim to establish some sort of truth, the latter is normally applied research within an overall framework of assessing markets and locating marketing possibilities - which in itself is a worthwhile job, but different from the first one.

When it comes to phenomenological research in the philosophical sense that Husserl envisaged it, no ontological commitment is necessary. To highlight this position, Husserl famously said that for a subject to have conscious experiences a 'world' would not be needed (he speaks of a world-anihilation). Husserl was interested in the conscious experiences as they are experienced, but unlike Wilhelm Wundt before him, he did not concentrate on specific experiences of a specific subject in relation to a specific stimulus. Husserl was interested in a structural investigations regarding the conditions of the possibility for someone to be conscious of something. For that he utilised a reflective stance whereby the experiencing subject reflects upon his/her own experiences as they reverberate in one's consciousness due to consciousness' temporal structure (retentions). In this respect Husserl commits any researcher wanting to follow his path to a strict first-person epistemology. It is of course open to discussion if and how such a first-person methodology could ever qualify as scientifically sound, as experienced conscious occurrences are private, hence not accessible to - and verifiable by - anyone else. Therefore Husserl's concentration upon a mere structural investigation.

I do not think that would be appropriate for your project at all. However, there are research-designs which try to utilise some aspects of Husserl's phenomenology to yield results about real-life's contingencies which could be quite fruitful put into use to do phenomenologically informed research. However, you are - kind of - leaving the world of real existing things and you endeavour into the subjective life of those experiencing the things or matters of fact in their individualised way, hence Husserl's ontological ambiguity and his first-person epistemological commitment find their continuation.

A rather good text-book to get your head round the basic issues is Sotiris Sarantakos "Social Research" by Palgrave. You often find used copies on amazon, and they keep their value, so if you want to get rid of it again - just sell it off. If that rocks your boat at all, you may want to have a look at the IPA - interpretative phenomenological analysis, a technique used in psychology to gain access to individualised constitution of objects and/or worlds. It is basically a methodological blend of Husserl's phenomenology and the life-philosophical project of Dilthey with hermeneutical connotations enabling and interpretative understanding (verstehen) as outlined by Max Weber and further elaborated upon by H.G. Gadamer.

However, you need to bear in mind, that it is not only about the analysis of randomly gained data, but that during the data collection process (interviewing) you already need to have your analytic process in focus, i.e. give your participants space to elaborate on the relevant aspects.

Sorry for rambling on, but I hope that helps. If you want more confusion - just ask.

Best

Thomas

Hello Beverlyn

As a committed phenomenologist, I would definitely counsel against using survey monkey or indeed any kind of survey, as this would be contra the ethos of phenomenology. Particularly problematic, given that you/the researcher would be predefining the categories and the phenomenon/phenomena in question!

Best wishes for your study though, and I would certainly recommend persevering with seeking interviewees.

Kind regards,

Jacquelyn

Dear Beverlyn,

it very much depends upon your understanding of what would actually be a phenomenological study.

No disrespect here, but Business research quite often utilises research approaches from psychology and the social sciences without due consideration regarding the ontological / epistemological commitments these entail.

The problem is enhanced by the fact that psychologists tend to utilise a concept of phenomenology which is different from that of phenomenological philosophy.

So if you are out to get some phenomenological data in the latter sense (phenomenological philosophy) I would say forget about it.

If you want to utilise it in the way psychology construes the concept, i.e. the elucidation of felt qualities and so on, then any kind of qualitative method will produce some data. However the value of this data will depend on a) remaining qualitative (open-ended questions with room to expand for the participants) and b) the requirements of your study.

Which brings us to the third possible application - i.e. business studies. If your requirements regarding what you would consider to be relevant phenomenological data are sufficiently low and you use the correct method of data-collection then you may be able to 'kind of rightfully' still call your results as conducted via a phenomenological study, but you will have to bear in mind, that these difficulties need to be reflected upon and spelt out in your methodology and the justification of your methods.

Actually the inherent "weakness" of the envisaged method and its difficult implementation lends itself to a good critical discussion in the later stages of your project?

I hope that was not all too pessimistic and I hope it will be of use

Best

Thomas

Hello Beverlyn

Yes, some good points made by Dr Feldges above, with which I am in agreement. I had assumed that you meant a 'fully' phenomenological study or at least a phenomenologically-inspired project, using both the theoretical and methodological frameworks of philosophical phenomenology. For example, utilising elements of the phenomenological 'method', such as epoche/bracketing. If you are interested in discussions of the latter, do let me know and I will be happy to send on some references.

With all best wishes for your research,

Jacquelyn

Hi Jacquelyn and Beverlyn,

it might be worth to point out that any sort of application of Husserlian methods (epoche, bracketing and any further reductive work) is an absolute no-go area for a survey-monkey based project as you envisage yours.

Despite my earlier comments, seeing a possibility for such a project (under the given circumstances and located correctly, the utilisation of Husserl's methods would change that assessment completely and render it - as Jacquelyn stated already earlier - impossible (and in this case no tweaking would do - it would just not work!).

Best Wishes

Thomas

Jacquelyn and Tom,

After reviewing previous replies to my question, my plans are to use the one-on-one interview, and not survey monkey. However, I am open to any suggestions that you can provide. Yes, the reductive approach is in the plans, and hopefully to find meaning that will allow an emerging theory. I am a novice in the learning stage, and I truly want to learn the correct way to make this happen. thanks Bev

Tom Feldges,

You stated, "No disrespect here, but Business research quite often utilises research approaches from psychology and the social sciences without due consideration regarding the ontological / epistemological commitments these entail"

Yes, based on my study which falls within the category of business and social psychology, in which I am planning to address a social issue; how would I consider this in terms of the epistemological and ontological commitment? I am sorry for my limited knowledge, but I am willing to learn from you,please explain. Thanks

Beverlyn

Dear Beverlyn,

as I said, I did not want to be disrespectful to business research, but it sometimes appears as if the goals or the purpose of scientific (psychological) or social-scientific (sociological) research is different from business research. While the two former aim to establish some sort of truth, the latter is normally applied research within an overall framework of assessing markets and locating marketing possibilities - which in itself is a worthwhile job, but different from the first one.

When it comes to phenomenological research in the philosophical sense that Husserl envisaged it, no ontological commitment is necessary. To highlight this position, Husserl famously said that for a subject to have conscious experiences a 'world' would not be needed (he speaks of a world-anihilation). Husserl was interested in the conscious experiences as they are experienced, but unlike Wilhelm Wundt before him, he did not concentrate on specific experiences of a specific subject in relation to a specific stimulus. Husserl was interested in a structural investigations regarding the conditions of the possibility for someone to be conscious of something. For that he utilised a reflective stance whereby the experiencing subject reflects upon his/her own experiences as they reverberate in one's consciousness due to consciousness' temporal structure (retentions). In this respect Husserl commits any researcher wanting to follow his path to a strict first-person epistemology. It is of course open to discussion if and how such a first-person methodology could ever qualify as scientifically sound, as experienced conscious occurrences are private, hence not accessible to - and verifiable by - anyone else. Therefore Husserl's concentration upon a mere structural investigation.

I do not think that would be appropriate for your project at all. However, there are research-designs which try to utilise some aspects of Husserl's phenomenology to yield results about real-life's contingencies which could be quite fruitful put into use to do phenomenologically informed research. However, you are - kind of - leaving the world of real existing things and you endeavour into the subjective life of those experiencing the things or matters of fact in their individualised way, hence Husserl's ontological ambiguity and his first-person epistemological commitment find their continuation.

A rather good text-book to get your head round the basic issues is Sotiris Sarantakos "Social Research" by Palgrave. You often find used copies on amazon, and they keep their value, so if you want to get rid of it again - just sell it off. If that rocks your boat at all, you may want to have a look at the IPA - interpretative phenomenological analysis, a technique used in psychology to gain access to individualised constitution of objects and/or worlds. It is basically a methodological blend of Husserl's phenomenology and the life-philosophical project of Dilthey with hermeneutical connotations enabling and interpretative understanding (verstehen) as outlined by Max Weber and further elaborated upon by H.G. Gadamer.

However, you need to bear in mind, that it is not only about the analysis of randomly gained data, but that during the data collection process (interviewing) you already need to have your analytic process in focus, i.e. give your participants space to elaborate on the relevant aspects.

Sorry for rambling on, but I hope that helps. If you want more confusion - just ask.

Best

Thomas

Beverlyn:

I am wondering if you noticed that I left out a theoretical discussion when answering your question. Your question was specific to understanding the difference between two methodologies (survey data collection and qualitative data collection). Some of the other responses to your question suggest theory-based differences between different schools of thought, such as psychology and phenomenological philosophy. If a psychologist is schooled in both subjects, a “phenomenal” [pun] study can be conducted (in my humble opinion, the schools are dependent upon one another). I do not think your question requires an in-depth response regarding the perplexities of Entropy (disorder), but it does need study of the subjects’ intentionality of the life experience regarding your construct of interest. However, you cannot gather a rich set of data regarding life experiences from a survey at all. I answered, with my opinion, specifically what are the benefits of qualitative methods, the participants' experiences, and the concept of taking into account the researcher's experience. An Organizational phenomenology study is very appropriate and much needed in the field of Organizational/Industrial/Small Business psychology. Consider the Health and Wellness of a company. There are many organizational assessments regarding the company's culture, environment, cultural competency, wellness programs, and so on.....We cannot conduct phenomenology studies with assessments, surveys, focus groups, or brief open-ended questionnaires. To grasp the mental representation and experience of the worker; requires systematic reflection; remember you will be asking your subjects to describe their experience (e.g. lunch break) without any suggestions ever of a description. Again, can you explain the nature of your study a bit more?

Have a great day,

Marilyn

Hello Sera,

Thank you for sharing the attached materials. This will help in my reviewing of current data on the type study that I am doing. I am in the process of finalizing my proposal for the study, and I am finding out that the phenomenological approach to social research has a variety of nuances, and one must be well informed as to which direction to take. So far, all of the responses that I have received from this platform has been very rich as you stated. However, because of this discovery, I can now visualize how important it is that I ground my study down to a specific and structured type approach. Please pray for my success in this first presentation.

Again, thank you!

Bev

Hello Tom Feldges,

Your response is very informative and you come across as being very knowledgeable in a number of different approaches to phenomenology studies. l wish I could pick your brain or have you as a coach for this project. Yes, the nature of my study is social rather than medical or in nursing. I want to accentuate the organizational (psychology) aspect in contrast to the human subjects' perception of their experiences in a social environment. Therefore, Husserl's philosophy is considered along with interpretative analysis of data taken from human subjects. I have also mentioned Max Weber's concept of phenomenology in my text, more specifically to "social stratification" and equal distribution. I realize the significance of privacy issues which is what I am working hard to convince the IRB.

Remember, I am a novice, just learning about this type research. I find it very interesting and have a strong desire to see this study through to the point of making a contribution to the field. Thanks again for discussing this with me. All of the recommendations that I have received is useful in guiding me in this endeavor.

Bev

Hello again Bev

Well, you have certainly sparked some very interesting discussions! I note that you are intending to use Husserlian phenomenology in your study, and that of course is a very challenging approach for those of us trying to use phenomenology to explore empirical data from other participants. Epoche/bracketing in particular generate contentious issues from a social scientific perspective, and in case it is of any help, I have attached a recent article that discusses the inevitable partiality of epoche for those of us employing sociological or psychological phenomenological approaches.

With all best wishes for your research,

Jacquelyn

Article Allen-Collinson, J (2011) Intention and epoche in tension: a...

Marilyn

Thank you for pointing me in the right directions. You are absolutely on target to what has been going on in my head regarding my study. You suggested, “An Organizational phenomenology study is very appropriate and much needed in the field of Organizational/Industrial/Small Business psychology, and you stated, “. To grasp the mental representation and experience of the worker; requires systematic reflection; remember you will be asking your subjects to describe their experience (e.g. lunch break) without any suggestions ever of a description”

My study starts off with the idea of Black Women not advancing in the workplace as other ethnic groups and people of European descent. Statistics and previous studies suggest this is indeed a problem in the work world today. As the current shift of economies is emerging and more immigrants entering into the US, there are a vast mix of different cultures and beliefs in the organization. Therefore, the organization is taking on a new psychology of mixing. Consequently, there is the perception of this phenomenon increasing as an issue among many issues that already exist relative to competition and cultural discrimination. This indeed infests the perception of organizational aggression in the workplace. Despite the fact that women as a gender has suffered inequality for ages, however, the Black women have suffered more because of their perceived identity issues in the workplace. Therefore, as a Black female in the struggle, my interest is in solving the problem of finding the root of it through experiences and perception of the participant’s experiences. In the interim, the nature of my study is to analyze and interpret the experiences of 12 Black female workers in public and private entities on their experiences and perceptions of their workplace relative to their strategies of potential career advancement. Let me know if I answered your question related to the nature of my study. Your suggestions are appreciated.... I simply want to present a valid, contributing and non-biased study.

Beverlyn

Hi Beverlyn,

that all sounds interesting, however probably in need of some more focus. I list some of the issues which sprang to my mind immediately.

a) I am not quite clear about the term organisational psychology - are you referring here to the organisational culture (explicitly or tacit)?

b) You are speaking about organisational aggression - are you referring to some sort of systematic disadvantage?

It is quite important - especially as you want to utilise an experience based method to be clear what you want to get out of it. Is it about 1. the experience (of probably not even apparent) obstacles posed by certain individuals or is it 2. something which is entrenched in the organisation's set-up or culture (or is it a mix of both, whereby 1) is increased in its possible impact by 2))?

c) Have you got any means in place to validate - potentially wrong- or ill perceived - obstacles as really existing. Sometimes people rather blame the system then to admit their own shortcomings (it is after all a well-described Freudian coping-mechanism).

If these obstacles are wrong- or ill perceived that does not mean that everything is ok henceforth, but it might in fact indicate an organisational climate in which actual minor issues can take on the appearance of a major threat to the experiencing (black female) individual, which would lead us back to the systematic/cultural issue of a) and b).

d) How would you differentiate between the experience of obstacles between

1. females as such

2. black (or other ethnic origin) people - regardless of their gender

and the group you are interested in:

3. black females

Obstacles experienced by 3) may be an artefact of obstacles imposed upon 1) and 2), hence not necessarily answering to the focus of your investigation.

e) Without wanting to open a Pandora's box, when you speak about 'black females' in relation to a vast mix of cultures and origin, the 'black female' becomes an umbrella-term capturing not more than the contingency of skin-colour and gender.

So how would you account for the presumed difference in the experience of black females of Christian or - let's say - Muslim denomination?

Or the difference in origin, let's say recent immigration into the US from Europe/Africa/Caribbean with a presumably different cultural background?

Or the level of being established in the US culture, regarding first / second or third generation immigrants as opposed to afro-caribeean females who's family had always lived in the US.

This has massive implications upon your sampling and upon who you want to recruit.

I hope that has not put you off totally, but these are all worthwhile points to consider when developing your methodology and - even more so - when trying to justify it.

At what level are you doing your project?

Don't give up the faith - get on with it

Best wishes

Hello Tom,

To answer your a, b, c analogy, (b) is on target and explains the dependent and independent variables of the study, where there is the mix of 1 and 2. The creation of the mix and other ethnic groups is intended to be a future extended study after I graduate.

The more I plan this study; it seems to get bigger and broader, while I am trying to trim it down to a specific small group in analyzing their feelings, thoughts and pain (if any).

The ultimate outcome expected in my study is to create legitimate avenues for Black women to learn how to trust one another and form strong mentoring networking system that can be incorporated in an diversity initiative..

Bev

Hi Beverlyn,

you said you try to keep your study lean, but it sort of grows on you. This might be a focus problem. Try to get very clear for yourself about what you actually want to find out.

So far there are various strands in your investigation a) the black female target-group, b) individually experienced limitations on an organisational and/or individual level and c) possible ways (your ultimate outcome expectancy) to remedy these problems.

As this is obviously an undergraduate project, I would recommend to limit it. I do not know how this is going to pan out, but if you take individually imposed limitations - sufficiently fitting - at least partially as manifestations of systematic problems. You could then try to unearth how that makes the disadvantaged (black female) person feel. - if you want to stick with the phenomenological approach.

This is a far-reaching investigation already - and, by the way - gives you some lee-way to speculate about a possible remedy (in the form of a mentoring network system), but bear in mind, that your research (when conducted as outlined above) has not yielded any results to that effect. If however you decide to cover that as well, then you are facing the 'unwanted' grow of your project again.

Remember good old Nietzsche in 'The Gay Sciences' Indem wir tun - lassen wir! meaning to say, that while we decide to do something, we also decide not to do other thing which we could have done.

So don't try to cover everything as that will only lead you to a superficial mix of nothingness with no real depth.

Best

Thomas

Tom:

Beverlyn is doing a qualitative study, in which case, can never be far reaching. I found your response to be highly insulting to the student, "As this is obviously an undergraduate project, I would recommend to limit it.". I have tutored PhD students with much less passion and vision. She cannot end with superficial data as she is using face-to-face interviews; therefore, if properly conducted, she will be able to provide a first-hand exploration of her construct of interest. To say her research has not yielded any results; I was unaware that she published her literature review (Chapter 2). If I had a response like this from an established professional such as you; I would have felt embarrassed; defeated, and second-guessing. As experienced researchers, I can only hope that we provide support, guidance, and references for students involved in RG (that is if she is a student).

Regards,

Marilyn

Marylin,

sorry if that all got you the wrong way round

"As this is obviously an undergraduate project" was a statement referring to Beverlyn's own concern that the project grows on her and that Beverlyn mentions that "once she has graduated..." Hence my advice to gain focus, keep it do-able and produce the evidence needed for her overall goal.

I can see no harm in trying to point towards the fact that some issues seem to be conflated here, i.e. the aim of the investigation and the overall purpose according to which the investigation is carried out in the first place seem to merge into each other. That may lead to the possibility that an investigation is carried out which does not stand in an evidence-providing relation with what Beverlyn wants to be her overall goal (the importance of networks). It must be possible to point this looming danger out, and not to do so would be ignorant and negligent.

However, and I do have to admit, English is not my first language, so I might be a bit indifferent towards what kind of insinuations my reply may have left itself open to, but as far as I can see I have warned about the danger of trying to do too much and - because of this - not yield sound results. I am not quite sure where your anger comes from - as you yourself - use exactly the same kind of pre-conditional sentences (She cannot end with superficial data as she is using face-to-face interviews: therefore, if probably conducted, she will ... and so on).

I take it that the proviso - if properly conducted - leaves us just enough reason to allow for the possibility that such interviews (and I am not talking about Beverlyn here at all, but I am making a general point) are not properly conducted (probably because the wrong questions are asked or the focus is too wide to allow an in-depth exploration). And opening this room for the possibility of something going wrong provides good enough reason to account for this by using these pre-conditionals (if properly conducted, don't try to cover everything). Using these pre-conditionals is however - as I take it to be the case when you use them - not an indicator that one is not positively engaging with a project such as Beverlyn's.

I hope that clears the issue sufficiently?

Beverlyn,

as explained above, I have not at all meant to deprecate your project of portray your efforts as non-committed or even wrong. I do think you have a very worthwhile project at your hand. I have seen that you are engaged in a project which focusses upon this very issue. Therefore I had some concerns that you may just run too many things into one project - taking the edge off what you want to say - and what obviously needs to be said. But as much as I acknowledge the need to get this message out, I also see the need to back it up with your investigation, focused upon producing the right kind of evidence to do just that - as good as possible.

Best wishes to both of you

Thomas

Thank you Thomas,

You explained my sentiments very well. However, I appreciate Marilyn's comments as well.

You are correct in the idea of keeping it simple and not to "over kill" my efforts. I do have a tendency to over do things sometimes even though no harm is intended.

I am very passionate about my study, because It is altruistic for learning and development; mainly because I am the novice in the need to learn from experts like you and all others on this portal. Meanwhile, you have made me realize the need to be concise in saying just enough and eliminate that which is not needed to be said. After all, as the researcher, the aim is to reach out to your audience in a scientific manner. Thanks...... Bev

Thank you Beverlyn,

I got the feeling that you are very passionate about the topic of the study, and as I said, I realised that this is what you do in your other project.

I - many moons ago - did some (qualitative) research as part of a team researching institutionalised sexism in the fire-service. When I heard what I was told by the participants, I got so angry about the injustice that I wanted it all to be put right. And I wanted our research to play its part in that effort.

I was stopped in my attempts to do too much by older and more experienced researchers, in a rather harsh way. I have to say, it paid in the end because, although we did not manage to raise all the points which would have needed to be raised, we nevertheless had a good argument, decently backed up by evidence and that did have such an impact that internal policies were changed and - as a follow-up revealed - some organisational change was initiated.

best wishes

Thomas

Tom, that is a good report. The end result of change for goodness sake and information is my objective the end result of my dissertation study. In fact that is one of the requirements of Walden University, is that social change for community improvement and making a difference be a factor disclosed in our studies. That also adds to my passion.

Bev