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Phenomenology and Meaning Attribution John Paley. (2017). Phenomenology as Qualitative Research: A Critical Analysis of Meaning Attribution. London & New York: Routledge. Hard Cover (198 pages). ISBN: 978-1-138-65281-1 Cost: USA $160.00; UK ?95.00
Phenomenology is a philosophy based form of inquiry with a long tradition that may be both confusing and disorienting to academic and clinical practitioners who are interested in understanding and doing research in professional fields such as nursing, medicine, clinical psychology, pedagogy, psychotherapy and education. Increasingly, the term "phenomenology" occurs in a broad range of qualitative texts and publications. Some think that any study that deals with "experience" is, as such, therefore phenomenological. But that is, of course, misleading, many other qualitative methodologies also being concerned with human experiences. The complex calibre of phenomenological scholarship in philosophy, human science and professional fields has given rise to research practices that prompt some to ask: "But is it phenomenology?" "Is this approach still phenomenology in its original sense?" In my long university teaching career, I have found that misunderstandings and critical questions of students of phenomenology often are the most appropriate starting points for discussing, explicating and clarifying the methodological issues of phenomenological inquiry. Responding to critique is also an effective context for addressing underlying issues and controversies of method and research. With these considerations in mind, I engage here in an essay review of John Paley's recently published Phenomenology as Qualitative Research: A Critical Analysis of Meaning Attribution (2017). I hope that my discussion and the examples provided below assist in a proper appreciation of phenomenological thought and practice.
In his Phenomenology as Qualitative Research [PQR], John Paley constructs a lengthy critique of phenomenological method as practised by Amedeo Giorgi, Max van Manen, and Jonathan Smith. Paley states that the tool of his critical analysis is "meaning attribution". He says, "I will scrutinize examples of meaning attribution in the work of PQR methodologists in order to get a clearer answer to the question 'How is it done?'" (2017, p. 27). Meaning attribution is a psychological method rooted in Fritz Heider's (1958) The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations. Attribution theory studies the psychological processes that influence perceptions of meaning. Paley's employment of meaning attribution, throughout his book, produces a huge heap of screeds that he...