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Conal Hamill and Helen Sinclair discuss bracketing in Husserlian phenomenological research
Abstract
Nursing research leans heavily towards naturalism, with phenomenology commonly adopted. The three main schools of phenomenology used are Husserl's descriptive approach, Heidegger's interpretive hermeneutic approach and the Dutch Utrecht School of phenomenology which combines characteristics of both.
Husserl's approach - the description of ordinary human experiences as perceived by each individual - involves four main steps: bracketing, intuiting, analysing and describing. Many phenomenological nurse researchers consciously decide to adopt a Heideggerian approach because of the perceived difficulties in achieving bracketing.
This paper examines the concept Of bracketing (epoche) and outlines some of the practical considerations when attempting to achieve it.
key words
* bracketing
* Husserlian phenomenology
* process of bracketing
* lived experience
Bracketing
Bracketing, derived from mathematics, is a fundamental methodological principle of Husserlian phenomenology. The researcher's preconceptions are held in abeyance to ensure researchers do not allow their assumptions to shape the data collection or impose their understanding and construction on the data (Crotty 1 996, Polit and Beck 2008). We argue that this is a somewhat narrow conceptualisation as we believe bracketing continues to have an effect throughout the research process, not just in the data collection and analysis phases. A critique of a Husserlian research study ought to include the degree to which bracketing affected the trustworthiness and rigour of the study in addition to data collection and analysis.
In mathematics, brackets are used to separate one part of an equation from another, allowing you to focus on that part in isolation from the others. In phenomenological research, brackets are used to temporarily hold in abeyance the foreknowledge of the researcher (Priest 2002). This is important because interpretivists believe that the social world is actively constructed by each individual and that we are continually making sense of and interpreting it (Moran 2000). By bracketing, the researcher does not influence the participants' understanding of the phenomenon. Thus, it is their reality. Essentially, each participant can present the researcher with new knowledge and new understanding in the search for the essence of things through the identification of essential themes (Beech 1999. Parahoo 2006).
This approach is etic - that is an outsider's view - and contrasts with Heideggerian phenomenology...