Thank you for your kind words :). I cant really say that I am happy but I should actually start shifting my way of viewing things :). I am more anxious about whether I am going to pass but all my friends had exacly the same worries before the viva so i suppose it must be one of those feelings that all phd students go through. By the way, I have sent you a private message through this forum with my email contact as I cant post my email in the public messages. I think it is much easier in this way to share articles etc. Have you received anything?

Hi!

I was aware that this was your upgrade viva - perhaps it was my mistake. It is such an important point in the phd as it is one of the few times that you get feedback from other academics.

I am part-time as well. I started in 2007 and I am aiming to submit my thesis next year. It is not an easy job when you are working but if you are persistent and focused then all can be done!

Dear Pjlu,

congratulations! These are great news! Now its the time to push yourself and work really hard. I am sure you can do everything in 9 days - maybe not perfectly done but still completed. I suppose this is one of the things we learn in the process of the PhD - an important skill (to complete our tasks) in academia. Most of my friends have completed their PhDs and are now working in universitites and they all have this 'pressure of time'. And a boss of course :). I am one of those people who lost focus in the way (got married, had a son, had different jobs) and I am now trying to get back to the momentum.

Thank you also for sharing with me your examiners' feedback. I am hoping to submit my PhD some time next year so any feedback on vivas is more than wellcome! I did use survey as well so I am happy that you have commented about this. I linked the need of doing survey with the fact that there was a lack of literature in my topic. For this reason I also used the findings from the survey in order to form the topics in my aide-memoire. I havent done yet the data analysis of my interviews so I am not sure how I could link the findings from the survey with the data analysis of the interviews. So you can justify the survey in a number of different ways.

I am quite worried about phenomenology as a philosophy. I havent written much in my PhD about this aspect of phenomenology as my supervisor repeatedly reminds me that the Methodology Chapter is about what I did and why and not a literature review about Phenomenology. Any comments about this?

Once again congratulations! :)

Pjlu,

from what you have written in your last message I am more than positive that you will definitely do well in the candidature seminar. No worries at all.

I actually have a very similar research design to yours. I conducted my research in two countries from which after a postal survey I selected two schools in each country. then within these schools i anticipated that i could have between three to twelve participants. I eventually had nine.

In regards to justifying my sample size, sample strategy etc I did not only focus on van Manen's work but also to Patton's (2002) book (excellent resource), to IPA (in my opinion similar to phenomenonology of pedagogy), Creswell and others.

All the best!
Thank you for the support!

Do please let me know if you would like any articles/information/comments about phenomenology.

Hi,

I am not sure how we could set up the forum as nobody has replied to this post. I dont think that the diverse of phenomenological approaches would be a problem. At least in this way we can learn more about all these approaches and be more prepared for the viva.

I am now very worried about the Phenomenology of Pedagogy. I think its quite late to change my approach but in somehow I should find my answers :). The viva is approaching (that is my vision :) ).

Plus, any of you out there who are conducting phenomenological research (particularly about Phenomenology of Pedagogy) we could perhaps form a group of us and exchange ideas, thoughts, references etc.

No one up to now. I dont even find references about any other research projects that use the Phenomenology of Pedagogy. I thought that by quoting othe research projects that have a small number of participants as well, I will then be able to justify the small number of participants.

I advise you to read Marshall's (1996) article: Sampling for qualitative research. You can find there information about small size.

Are you doing research on Phenomenology of Pedagogy?If yes, it might be good if we exchange emails and talk about our work in more detail.

Multiple - interviews

Hi all - again! I am back to work again after a month of interruption .

I have done more than one interviews with some participants and I was wondering if any of you followed the same approach. I am now stuck on finding references to support this action.

I initially stated that I was going to do case studies so I decided that I should do two interviews for each particiapant. later on though I considered Phenomenology of Pedagogy as more appropriate methodology but I have already done the two interviews.

I think it is not wrong especially if someone needs to collect even more information in order to collect rich informaiton about the experiences of his/her participants. But this is just a feeling I have, not stated somewhere?

All the best with your work.

Hi!

I hope you are doing well!

I am conducting a research in education by following van Manen's (1990) work about Phenomenology of Pedagogy.

I have been trying to find references about Phenomenology of Pedagogy but I havent found any helpful ones except his book 'Researching Lived Experience' (van Manen, 1990). I was wondering if you have any recommendations?

In addition, I have found more than enough informaiton about Sample Size in IPA but nothing about Phenomenology of Pedagogy. Any comments, recommendations?

Thank you in advance!

Hi Pjlu,

thank you for the explanation. It is quite hard sometimes to grasp all the theory and even methodological choices we are seek to do. Thank you also for the website, I have downloaded most of the articles and I am in the process of reading them.

Perhaps children show their passions from young age, even from 1? :)

Alll the best,
Petalouda

Hi Pjlu, thanks for all the informaation. I think it is important to share our thoughts (and later on our work) with others as this gives us a broader understanding of the topic of phenomenology. So even if I am further ahead than you on my PhD, still at the viva the questions will be related (I think) to those particular discussions we do: why this and not the other? I have borrowed Moustakas book but I didnt find the time yet to have a look. I was actually wondering about the definition of 'transcendental phenomenology' and what methodologies this involves?

I am now reading about reduction/epoche/ phenomenological attitude (Finlay) which all related to openess. I still havent figured out van Manen's philosophy about this topic. I was wondering if you have any resources to recomment about his work beside his book (1990)? I fully recomment Gearing's article and one of Finlay's articles ((something about unfolding phenomenological research).

I have to go now but I will return. My son just returned and he is only 1 with passion on co2p2uters.

Hi Pjlu,

similarly to your case, my supervisor has been more inclined towards grounded theory. However, the problem in my case is that I have already collected my data...... During the first phase of the PhD, I claimed that I was going to do an ethnography, just because this is what I was taught from the department. I was unfamiliar with all the different methodologies, theoretical orientaitons that I had no clue what everything meant.... I did my data collection and only now that I am asked to do my analysis I have questioned myself: what all these mean? Reading more about ethnography, grounded theory and phenomenology, as you, I have that feeling that phenomenology is the most appropriate one.

Still though, it is so much hard work to understand all the terms, different philosophers and variants of phenomenological research... Regarding Moustakas, for some reason I linked his work with Heuristic Inquiry. Is this what you are doing? Can I ask in what field are you applying this type of research?

It is true that IPA and Phenomenology of Pedagogy (van Manen) have a common ground which from my understandings this is the theories of phenomenology and hermeneutics. However IPA also draws from Symbolism Interactionism whereas the Phenomenology from Pedagogy from semiotics. Another difference is the focus. IPA research focuses more in the field of psychology whereas the second one in education. As the context of my research is education and the participants are pedagogists, I am inclined more using the Phenomenology of Pedagogy. However, in my methodology chapter I am discussing the similarities/differences between the two in order to show to the examiner (and hopefully convince them) the critical thinking.....................

Furthermore, thank you for the quotes. I have read some of Finlay's work. Below are some references you might find them useful:

Finlay, L. Unfolding the Phenomenological Research Process: Iterative Stages of “Seeing Afresh”. Journal of Humanistic Psychology.
Finlay, L. (2009). Debating Phenomenological Research Methods. Phenomenology & Practice, 3(1), 6-25.

Regarding bracketing I have found these two articles very useful:

Finlay, L. (2008). A Dance Between the Reduction and Reflexivity: Explicating the "Phenomenological Psychological Attitude". Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 39(1), 1-32.
Finlay, L. (2008). A Dance Between the Reduction and Reflexivity: Explicating the "Phenomenological Psychological Attitude". Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 39(1), 1-32.

Petalouda

:))) My husband says that my supervisor does his job: helps me to rely on myself and become and independent researcher. However, I would like first to pass my viva (and all the stress that comes with it) and then I can become an independent researcher....! Thats fine, we have the phd forum for support!

I have been reading quite a lot to be honest. I think, for me, I find it easier if I discuss these issues with someone else and sometimes using simple examples as the one that Nisearch gave. I think ontology, paradigm, epistemology are quite abstract ideas for someone to grasp with out interacting with another human being.

My supervisor is not very keen on discussing these issues as he believes that these are terms that not necessarily everybody uses. I dont really agree with him... You need to know from where you stand and where you are looking.