A practical guide to doing Hermeneutic Phenomenology guided by van Manen

Hermeneutic Phenomenology is both a philosophical framework and a collection of qualitative research methodologies used to investigate everyday lived experience. In this methodology, interviews are predominantly used to gain access to the participants’ lived experience of a specific phenomenon. Data collection and analysis are concurrent processes where data analysis comprises of continual writing, rewriting and reflection. The researcher as the research instrument, must continually explore and recognise their own assumptions and biases through reflexivity. The value of hermeneutic phenomenological as a research methodology in healthcare is that it can provide a detailed, deeper, and holistic understanding from the participants perspective. Learning how to perform hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry can be challenging due to the lack of a clearly defined procedure and the blurred boundary between philosophy and research methodology. In this presentation I explore and reflect upon my own PhD journey interpreting, navigating and translating this complex philosophical framework into a coherent and rigorous research approach.