Critical Appraisal Of Qualitative Research Paper Article Review Samples

Critical Appraisal of Qualitative Research:

Phenomenology
Another definition by Creswell (2009) states that phenomenology “is a design of inquiry coming from philosophy and psychology in which researcher describes the lived experiences of the participants” (p.14). Thus, phenomenology helps the researcher to describe the lived experiences the respondents had undergone.
Since there are different phenomenological approaches, the researcher should be able to choose what philosophical perspective to use. Epoché or bracketing or setting aside of their assumptions and judgments about the phenomenon and their presuppositions should be properly documented (Heppner, Wampold, Kivlighan, 2008). Mcleod (as cited in Heppner, Wampold and Kivlighan,2008) stated that epoché helps researchers to bracket and question their assumptions, anticipating the discovery of new and meaningful understanding that go beyond the knowledge about a particular phenomenon.
Phenomenology is different from Grounded Theory, although both are talking about lived experiences. Phenomenology deals with the universal phenomenon that the world has. On the other hand, Grounded Theory is still searching for a theory that will establish the findings of the study. Phenomenology asks an individual or set of individuals about their understanding of the phenomenon, and the researchers identify what they have in common. The answers of the participants are described, not analyzed (Creswell, 2009).
The subjects used with phenomenology could be insomnia, anger, grief, stress, and other human experiences that a participant can describe. The procedure in phenomenological theory are the following: (1) The researcher should first identify if phenomenological approach is appropriate for the topic chosen; (2) The researcher organizes and identifies the broad philosophical assumptions of phenomenology; (3) Data are collected from individuals who have experienced the phenomenon; (4) In the process called thematic analysis, the researcher will uncover the connection of these themes with each another, leading to an understanding of the overall meaning, which is the eidetic analysis (Cresswell, 2009).
Having a deep understanding of a phenomenon is a prerequisite in using the phenomenological approach. The participants in the study should be chosen carefully so as to obtain accuracy for the lived experience under study.

References

Creswell, J. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches.
California: Sage Publication Thousand Oaks.
Heppner, P., Wampold, B., and Kivlighan, D. (2008). Research design in counselling. Belmont,
CA: Thomson.