Phenomenological Approach In Psychology: Moving Towards Positivism Style Adaptation Or Towards Development?

Abstract

The article provides critical analysis of phenomenological approach application in the European and American psychology. The authors describe typical misapprehensions concerning phenomenological approach and clarify its essence and goals arguing that modern psychology lacks examinations focused on the history of the phenomenological approach and on the development of phenomenological methodology. The authors controvert to M. Larkin who applies phenomenological approach in the clinical psychology and discuss the issues concerning improvement of phenomenological research quality, ways of data acquisition, fields of phenomenological approach application and position of researcher. The authors develop and present their own approach towards phenomenological research based on their previous works. This approach draws on dialogical ontology of the self-awareness and methodology of dialogue for organization of phenomenological research. We suppose such approach provides an opportunity to incorporate and to reanalyze broad historical experience connected with phenomenological research.

Keywords

• phenomenological approach in psychology
• qualitative research
• inner ex- perience
• position of researcher