Hi Hazel,

Bracketing is most commonly attributed nowadays to Husserlian phenomenology. It centres on 'suspending belief'; that is that a researcher goes into the 'field' with no pre-conceived attitudes, beliefs or opinions themselves. They are supposed to go in with 'fresh eyes' that should be prepared to 'expect the unexpected'. That said, many (including myself) are argue that, while that is a noble ambition, it's rarely 'truly' achieved. All researchers enter research with some knowledge, experience and notion of the investigated phenomenon. With grounded theory, a similar proposition is often entertained; that is that GT researchers are often advised not to conduct a preliminary literature review to explore the topic. Again - the counter is that, even if they don't, they will still already probably have a reasonable knowledge of the investigated topic. 

Hi Hazel,

Bracketing is most commonly attributed nowadays to Husserlian phenomenology. It centres on 'suspending belief'; that is that a researcher goes into the 'field' with no pre-conceived attitudes, beliefs or opinions themselves. They are supposed to go in with 'fresh eyes' that should be prepared to 'expect the unexpected'. That said, many (including myself) are argue that, while that is a noble ambition, it's rarely 'truly' achieved. All researchers enter research with some knowledge, experience and notion of the investigated phenomenon. With grounded theory, a similar proposition is often entertained; that is that GT researchers are often advised not to conduct a preliminary literature review to explore the topic. Again - the counter is that, even if they don't, they will still already probably have a reasonable knowledge of the investigated topic. 

Dear Hazel,

Indeed, "bracketing" as idea came from  husserlian phenomenology as kind of phenemenological reduction used while formulating research questions, designing research projects  or approach to phenomena in the field research. It is not only associated with phenomenological study but other qualitative approaches too. What is the core of bracketing ? I think great intellectual discipline and reduction of personal biases while researching issues especially thorny or being against researcher's values. I agree with @Dean, his remark of reading literature after the explorations in the field. I read id ususally after formulating research questions and in the end om stay in the field or after leaving.

Here are some ideas: http://dissertationrecipes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Bracketing.pdf

Look at the shared on RG paper of Lea Tufford  - one of them is devoted directly to bracketing.  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lea_Tufford/contributions?ev=brs_act

Correct Sera - to claim that 'we remain omni-distant' (and if that is just when we conduct research) would suggest only researchers with 'locked-in syndrome' can participate. 

Very good insight this has provided for me as I am currently putting a proposal together.

The following papers may further help.

• Chan, Z. C. Y., Fung, Y. L. and Chien, W. T. (2013) Bracketing in phenomenology: Only undertaken in the data collection and analysis process, The Qualitative Report, 19, 30, pp. 1-9.
• Gearing, R. E. (2004) Bracketing in research: A typology, Qualitative health research, 14, 10, pp. 1429-1452.
• Groenewald, T. (2004) A Phenomenological Research Design Illustrated, International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 3, 1, pp. 1-26.
• LeVasseur, J., J. (2003) The problem of bracketing in phenomenology, Qualitative Health Research, 13, 3, pp. 408-420.
• Sorsa, M. A., Kiikkala, I. and Åstedt-Kurki, P. (2015) Bracketing as a skill in conducting unstructured qualitative interviews, Nurse researcher, 22, 4.
• Tufford, L. and Newman, P. (2012) Bracketing in qualitative research, Qualitative social work, 11, 1, pp. 80-96.

Thank you Kenneth, I will look them up

I am just starting to write a project to research giftedness, exercise/sports and mental heath, social skills. I want to use phenomenological method. I am going to need help, for sure.

I'm sure we can help you Adriana