Phenomenological Study by Students Tendency Irrelevant to Study in the Fields of Psychology and Counseling

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the phenomenology of the inclination of students with unrelated disciplines to study psychology and counseling. The research method is qualitative and phenomenological, and the study is in-depth. Using a phenomenological qualitative research method, 20 individuals (17 females and 3 males) were selected among those who have studied in other fields of counseling or psychology at the undergraduate level and at the master’s or PhD level, one of the two in 2020. They were selected according to the principle of saturation and by repeating the responses through a purposive sampling method, and answered a semi-structured interview. The research findings were categorized separately and the participants were presented individually for each question. The Colaizzi’s seven steps of phenomenological analysis was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that the participants did not change their field of study due to various reasons, including internal factors such as lack of interest or external factors such as impracticality. According to the participant, one of the effective factors in changing the subject may be the social status compared to the previous subject in the society. It seems it is neccessery to consult an informed advisor to identify real interests and skills, which avoids wasting capital, time, and human and social energy.

Keywords

• counseling
• psychology
• colaizzi
• change the string
• phenomenology
• field of study