Question

2. What topics are better suited for phenomenological or grounded theory or ethnography? Provide rationale and examples.

Answer 1

Phenomenology is a qualitative research design that targets to describe the lived experiences of individuals around a phenomenon. It is the study of phenomena experienced as a result of living in the world. Phenomenology tries to understand the outside world as it is interpreted by and through human consciousness. Phenomenology assesses in terms of how philosophers understand the nature of being and existence. Here reality can be grasped by and through structures of consciousness by applying intentionality to the object of study or intentionally directing one’s focus to describe reality. To achieve a deep understanding of an object of study, a researcher could quarantine their personal judgments, by a process called bracketing so that preconceived notions do not interfere with the phenomenological inquiry. Objects of study in phenomenology cannot be neatly separated from their contexts. Reality and consciousness are co-creations and because of this human understanding always arises from the relationship between the two, acting upon each other. Any qualitative research based on human experience is better suited for phenomenology. For example, considering the case of qualitative research on the psychological impact of patients on psychiatry counselors, the counselors have the lived experience of counseling the psychiatry patients. Here all research questions are only about experiences.

Grounded theory is a systematic method of research widely used in healthcare and social sciences, which involves theory construction through methodical gathering and analysis of data. This research methodology uses inductive reasoning, where theories are inducted or generated through the collection and analysis of data. Here the theory is grounded in actual data, that is the development of theories happens only after collection and analysis of data. The purpose of this design strategy is to ground theory in the context of phenomenon under study. Grounded theory studies focus on social processes. The questions are about what happens and how people interact or react. When the grounded theory method is applied, the hypotheses are not formulated in advance as preconceived hypothesis results in a theory that is ungrounded. An example is the grounded theory study of the intention of nurses to leave the profession.

Ethnography is a qualitative method of research popularized by anthropology but is applied in other disciplines also. Ethnography is the study of a culture and is often very different compared with other research designs. The ethnographic method is a research method that looks at the cultural setting of people, their language, rituals, shared meanings, and the symbols they use, with the intention of giving a narrative of that culture, against the backdrop of a theory. In this method, the researchers interact or observe the participants of a study in their environment, which is often considered as an advantage as ethnographers immerse in a particular environment to have an understanding. Anthropologic research, user experience study etc., are examples of ethnographic methods.