The Phenomenological Meaning of Normal Illumination

The first example of divergence between phenomenological theories of per­ception regards the question of color constancy, which set the qualifying fea­tures of a phenomenological account since Hering. Katz (1930) quantifies the phenomenal magnitude of color constancy by designing a condition for the perceptual comparison of objects with varying illumination. A partition wall divides a

Meta-theory and Empirical Science

The second example of divergence regards the interpretation that Stumpf, Husserl and Kohler gave of the form that phenomenology as a philosophical theory should take in connection with empirical sciences. Stumpf and Kohler sided against Husserl on the question of the definition of phenomenology (cf. Fisette, 2009; Kaiser El-Safti, 2001; Rollinger, 1999: 83k). By

Perceiving the Difference and the Phenomenal Basis of Judgments

It may be quite surprising that despite a common phenomenological back­ground, Kohler (1913a) and Koffka (1917) address, contra Stumpf, arguments against the constancy hypothesis and the construct of unnoticed sensations. In fact, their criticism consists in charging Stumpf with a theory that might imply similar theoretical and methodological problems. Kohler ([1913a] 1971: 19 n.

Absolute Properties of Appearances

Koffka (1917) starts from Kohler’s arguments to focus his criticism on Stumpf’s paradox. Stumpf (1883: 33-34) introduces the paradox to support the existence of noticing thresholds and to defend the view that noticing is not equivalent to attention. Stumpf conceives the paradox as an extreme case in which a series of appearances change so

Phenomenological Commitments

The divergence on empirical, theoretical and methodological issues does not affect the core of the phenomenology of perception as it has emerged through the various philosophical and scientific theories in which it is embedded. This core consists of the following minimal set of commitments. Perception is an independent cognitive function. If considered from the

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Introduction to Interviewing as qualitative methods

Interview because I am interested in other people’s stories. Most sim­ply put, stories are a way of knowing. The root of the word story is the Greek word histor, which means one who is “wise” and “learned” (Watkins, 1985, p. 74). Telling stories is essentially a meaning-making pro­cess. When people tell stories, they select

The Three-Interview Series

Perhaps most distinguishing of all its features, this model of in­depth, phenomenological interviewing involves conducting a series of three separate interviews with each participant. People’s behavior becomes meaningful and understandable when placed in the context of their lives and the lives of those around them. Without context there is little possibility of exploring the

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Respect the Structure of In-depth Interviews

We have found it important to adhere to the three-interview struc­ture. Each interview serves a purpose both by itself and within the series. Sometimes, in the first interview, a participant may start to tell an inter­esting story about his or her present work situation; but that is the focus of the second interview. It

Length of In-depth Interviews

To accomplish the purpose of each of the three interviews, Dolbeare and Schuman (Schuman, 1982) used a 90-minute format. People learning this method for the first time often react, “Oh, that is so long. How will we fill that amount of time? How will we get a participant to agree to be interviewed for

Spacing of In-depth Interviews

The three-interview structure works best, in my experience, when the researcher can space each interview from 3 days to a week apart. This allows time for the participant to mull over the preceding interview but not enough time to lose the connection between the two. In addition, the spacing allows interviewers to work with

Alternatives to the Structure and Process of In-depth, Phenomenological Interviews

Researchers will have reasons for exploring alternatives to the structure and procedures described above. As long as a structure is maintained that allows participants to reconstruct and reflect upon their experience within the context of their lives, alterations to the three-in­terview structure and the duration and spacing of interviews can cer­tainly be explored. But

Whose Meaning Is It? Validity and Reliability for In-depth, Phenomenological Interviewing

Whose meaning is it that an interview brings forth and that a re­searcher reports in a presentation, article, or book? That is not a simple question. Every aspect of the structure, process, and practice of inter­viewing can be directed toward the goal of minimizing the effect the interviewer and the interviewing situation have on

Research Proposals as Rites of Passage in Interview Research Method

In some respects becoming an academic is like joining a club. As in most other somewhat-exclusive clubs, there are those who are in and those who are out; there are elites and non-elites. There are privileges of membership, and there are penalties for not paying dues. To some extent, success in the club is

Commitment in Interview Research Method

When a candidate’s doctoral program is working well, a research topic arises out of work that has gone before. Course work, fieldwork, practica, clinical work, and comprehensive exams all lead the candidate forward to an area of inquiry about which he or she feels some passion. If the doctoral program has not worked well—if

From Thought to Language

Many students have trouble writing proposals because they are plagued by a sense of audience. The process seems dominated by doc­toral committees and Institutional Review Boards that must approve the proposed research. (For more on Institutional Review Boards, see Chapter 5.) When audience plays such a dominating role, writing can easily suffer. Rather than

What Is to Be Done in Interview Research Method?

Peter Elbow (1981) offers an approach to writing that I think can be useful in such cases. He suggests that trying both to create with the audience in mind and to make writing perfect from the start imposes an undue burden on the writing process. He suggests making writing and editing two separate aspects

Questions to Structure the Interview Research Proposal

1. What? Proposal writers need to ask themselves some simple questions. These can be divided into several groups. First is a group of questions I put under the heading of “What?” In what am I interested? What am I trying to learn about and understand? What is the basis of my interest? Interviewers begin

Rationale of Interview Research

Although the paradigms that underlie research methods in the social sciences seem to be changing rapidly (Kvale, 1996; Lincoln & Guba, 1985), the extent to which researchers will have to defend their use of in-depth interviewing as their research methodology will depend on their individ­ual departments. Some are still dominated by experimentalism or other

Working with the Interview Material

Research proposals should describe how researchers intend to work with and analyze the material they gather. Describing this process ahead of time is especially difficult for those who are doing empirical research for the first time. It is difficult to project how they will work with material from interview participants if they have never

Piloting Your Interview Research

The best advice I ever received as a researcher was to do a pilot of my proposed study. The dictionary (Gove, 1971) definition of the verb pi­lot is “to guide along strange paths or through dangerous places” (p. 1716). Although it may not seem ahead of time that the world of interviewing research takes