This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Richardson, J. T. E. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Concepts and Methods of Phenomenographic Research

Brunel University

This article reviews the nature of "phenomenographic" research and its alleged conceptual underpinnings in the phenomenological tradition. In common with other attempts to apply philosophical phenomenology to the social sciences, it relies on participants' discursive accounts of their experiences and cannot validly postulate causal mental entities such as conceptions of learning. The analytic procedures of phenomenography are very similar to those of grounded theory, and like the latter they fall foul of the "dilemma of qualitative method" in failing to reconcile the search for authentic understanding with the need for scientific rigor. It is argued that these conceptual and methodological difficulties could be resolved by a constructionist revision of phenomenographic research.

Review of Educational Research, Vol. 69, No. 1, 53-82 (1999)
DOI: 10.3102/00346543069001053


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H.-M. Lin and C.-C. Tsai Conceptions of Learning Management among Undergraduate Students in Taiwan Management Learning, November 1, 2008; 39(5): 561 - 578. [Abstract] [PDF]

				R. Kane, S. Sandretto, and C. Heath Telling Half the Story: A Critical Review of Research on the Teaching Beliefs and Practices of University Academics Review of Educational Research, January 1, 2002; 72(2): 177 - 228. [Abstract] [PDF]