Phenomenography
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Synonyms
Definition
Phenomenography is an empirical research tradition that was designed to answer questions about teaching and learning, particularly in the context of educational research. The aim of a phenomenographic study is to identify the different ways in which a group of people experience, interpret, understand, perceive or conceptualize a certain phenomenon or aspect of reality – and to do so from the perspectives of the members of the group. From its Greek etymological roots (phainomenon, meaning “appearance,” and graphein, meaning “description”), phenomenography is, literally, a “description of appearances.”
Theoretical Background
Focus. The central aim of a phenomenographic study is to identify the different ways in which people experience, interpret, understand, perceive, or conceptualize a certain phenomenon. According to Ference Marton (1986, 1994), one of the original developers of phenomenography, there are a limited number of qualitatively...
References
- Akerlind, G. S. (2005). Variation and commonality in phenomenographic research methods. Higher Education Research and Development, 24, 321–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Marton, F. (1986). Phenomenography – A research approach to investigating different understandings of reality. Journal of Thought, 21, 28–49.Google Scholar
- Marton, F. (1994). Phenomenography. In T. Husen & T. N. Postlethwaite (Eds.), The international encyclopedia of education (2nd ed., Vol. 8, pp. 4424–4429). Oxford, UK: Pergamon.Google Scholar
- Richardson, J. T. E. (1999). The concepts and methods of phenomenographic research. Review of Educational Research, 69, 53–82.Google Scholar
- Saljo, R. (1997). Talk as data and practice – A critical look at phenomenographic inquiry and the appeal to experience. Higher Education Research and Development, 16, 173–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
- Sandberg, J. (1997). Are phenomenographic results reliable? Higher Education Research and Development, 16, 203–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar