Hello, RG family. My PhD dissertation is a phenomenological study on “Foreign market network and internationalization of Western businesses”. I intend to explore the common lived experiences of Western businesses as they build foreign market network for international expansion. But I’m confused about the research objectives:
Should I adapt my research objectives with similar research on this subject? What if there is no similar study relevant to my chosen research design?
How exactly can I craft research aims and objectives in a phenomenological qualitative study like this?
Your valuable inputs are very well appreciated as usual ✅✅💯💯 Thank you for your contribution.
Edim Eka James I look forward to learning from the contributors here. Cheers.
Theodore Jeremy Bagwell Edim Eka James Xu Yingyou Let the contributions begin. It’s an interesting subject matter and I am particularly interested in learning too!
I am not sure what your mean by the "common lived experiences of Western businesses." In phenomenology, only individuals have lived experiences.
Can you say more about where you got the idea to use phenomenology for this study?
David L Morgan Thank you for your response. The sample shall include human beings (owners and managers) of business organizations. The focus of the study shall be to explore the lived experiences of owners and managers of businesses with respect to their international expansion through foreign market networks. Please share your thoughts.
Phenomenology typically involves intense analysis of a small (often very small) sample, Is that what you intend to do?
David L Morgan Yes, Prof. Absolutely. Very small sample of business owners involved in international marketing.
Phenomenology is usually exploratory as you intend to explore phenomena through lived experiences of participants. You intend to experience their world through in-depth interviewing.
The responses given above are great guides. Phenomenology is exploratory in nature and the intention is to explore the lived experiences of the individuals. That should inform you that there is already a problem there with what you intend to explore. Secondly your statement of the problem should guide your crafting of the objectives (in this case it should be research questions not objectives.)
Thokgamo Boitshwarelo Thank you for your valuable contribution. The question now is: how do we craft research questions for a phenomenological study? Do we explore what we intend to explore based on the topic or do we adopt the objectives of previous research to guide ours?
Christine Phiri-Mushibwe Thank you for your great contribution. The statement of problem should give the research questions. That’s very useful to me. Thank you.
The purpose of the study, the statement of the problem and the research objectives should all guide you towards your research questions. The research questions are meant to be a guide as more questions will arise as a follow-up to the participants' responses.
Please clarify if you are conducting descriptive or hermeneutic phenomenology. While small, homogeneous samples are the norm, some fields, such as medicine, are pushing the boundaries and intentionally working with larger samples to present intentionally different perspectives (stratified). That research seems exciting and faithful to phenomenology, though one usually sees such work in teams. Still, one could adapt such methods to a small study.
One more thing. Rules of thumb can get you started, but the specific aspects of the research should drive the sample size. The divide between the different kinds of phenomenology can make a difference. I have reviewed a fair amount that also conduct focus groups, though that strand is much less common. Please read the following article to get started on your journey. Article A choir or cacophony? Sample sizes and quality of conveying ...
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