A spiral of confusion: learning how to 'do' hermeneutic phenomenology

Hermeneutic Phenomenology is both a philosophical framework and a collection of qualitative research methodologies. In this methodology, data collection and analysis are concurrent processes where data analysis comprises of continual writing, rewriting and reflection. The researcher as a research instrument, must continually explore and recognise their own assumptions or biases through reflexivity. Learning how to perform hermeneutic phenomenological inquiry can be challenging due to the lack of a clearly define procedure or linear method and the blurred boundary between philosophy and research methodology. Indeed, it is often suggested that the method of phenomenology and hermeneutics is that there is no method. Within this presentation I examine my own reflexive journey as a PhD candidate whilst conducting a hermeneutic phenomenology inquiry (guided by van Manen’s framework) exploring the lived experience of distress in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).