In,. J Nun Srud., Vol. 31, No. 6, pp. 499 510.

1994
Copyrght ‘c) 1994 Elsevier Saence Ltd Prmted
Pergamon m Great Britam All nghts reserved
0020 7489194 $7.00+0 00

0020-7489(94)00025-5

Phenomenology: its use in nursing

research

CHERYL  TATANO  BECK, D.N.Sc., C.N.M.,  F.A.A.N.
Visi/ing Associute Prqfessor,Uniwrsity qf Rhode Island, College c~f Nursing, Kingston.
RI 02X81-0814. U.S.A.

Abstract-As nurses begin to recognize the incongruities between their phil-osophy of

nursing and their research methods, growing acceptance of phenom-enology as an
alternative research method is occurring. This trend is evidenced by the increase in
publications of phenomenological research studies in nursing literature. The purpose of
this article is to review (a) some philosophical and methodological issues of
phenomenology and (b) the use of phenomenology in nursing research. The studies
reviewed in this article illustrate the breadth of applicability of this qualitative method
for nursing. Phenomenological research has been conducted with persons ranging from
adolescents to the oldest old. Diverse clinical specialties of nursing have already proven
fertile areas for phenomenological research such as medical-surgical, maternal-child,
geronto-logical, and emergency room nursing.

Phenomenology: its use in nursing research

Phenomenology provides a closer fit conceptually with clinical nursing and with the types of
research questions that emerge from clinical practice than quantitative research (Davis, 1978). The
emphasis in phenomenological research is on the meaning of lived experience. Other people’s
experiences and reflections on their experiences are “borrowed” so that the researcher will be better
able to understand the deeper meaning or significance of an aspect of human experience (van
Manen, 1984).
For decades logical positivism has dominated scientific inquiry in nursing. The logical positivists’
view of science is not congruent with the discipline of nursing which describes its philosophy as
holistic and interactive and its epistemology as knowledge based on experiencing human persons
(Ray, 1990). Phenomenology affords nursing a new way to interpret the nature of consciousness and
of an individual’s involvement in the world.
In this article, phenomenology as both a philosophy and as a method is addressed, along
499
500 C’. T. BPC‘K

with some of the difficulties involved in researching subjectively, such as bracketing. The latter half
of this article focuses on the use of phenomenology in nursing research. The results of a computer
search of CINAHL database (1983-l 993) to retrieve these phenomenological studies are shared.

The goal of phenomenology is to describe human experience as it is lived (Merleau-Ponty, 1964).

Phenomena are described as they are consciously experienced without theories about their cause and
as free as possible from unexamined preconceptions and pre-suppositions (Spiegelberg, 1975).
Critical to the success of phenomenological research is this heightened awareness of the researcher’s
consciousness. In order to accomplish this, the process of reduction is necessary which involves
recovering our original awareness of a
lived experience through bracketing (Merleau-Ponty, 1956). Bracketing involves a researcher
exposing his/her presuppositions about the phenomenon under study, making them appear so that
the researcher can deliberately abstain from them. In order to describe lived experience the
researcher needs to be astonished before the world (Merleau-Ponty, 1956). Through this
astonishment, the layers of meaning provided by a researcher’s know-ledge and interpretation are
preserved and set aside. Complete reduction, however, is not possible since a researcher’s
consciousness is engagement in the world (Merleau-Ponty, 1964). One can never completely
accomplish the task of reduction because “one never gets beyond time” (p. 49). It is impossible for a
researcher to be completely free of bias in reflection on the experience being studied but it is
possible to control it.
In phenomenology the researcher’s self is the major instrument for collecting data. It is through
the developing relationships that occur in the in-depth interviewing process that essential
descriptions of a lived human experience are obtained. Bergum (1991) views phenomenological
research as an interactive involvement of both the “researcher” and the “researched”. A problematic
area phenomenologists grapple with, however, is when to use self and when to use bracketing.
Lipson (1991) views this as a paradoxical struggle to both keep yourself as the researcher in there
and out at the same time.
Bracketing can be viewed as the tool a researcher uses to meet the ethical dictum of
phenomenology (Swanson-Kauffman and Schonwald, 1988). This ethical component of
phenomenology centers on accurately portraying the reality of the phenomenon under study as it is
lived and described by the researcher’s participants.
How can researchers best suspend or bracket their beliefs about the phenomenon being studied so
as to control their bias? van Manen (1984) warns that if you just try to ignore what you already
know, your presuppositions may persistently creep back into your reflections. Instead he suggests
that researchers make explicit their beliefs, bias, and assumptions so that they do not just try to
forget them but rather turn this preconceived knowledge against itself so that the “shallow or
concealing character” can be exposed (p. 46).
Schutz (1973) acknowledges that bracketing is not a simple task but that it is within human
capability. Lengthy periods of undisturbed time are needed to strip away the layers of meaning.
Boyd (1993) suggests that reduction as a technique can be used in degrees. Separate layers of our
interpretations or experience can be painstakingly peeled away one at a time.

To facilitate bracketing Paterson and Zderad (1988) suggest some approaches for opening up
one’s own perspective in order to break through one’s tunnel vision of routine. Through deliberate
practice an individual can develop the habit of identifying and exposing one’s own biases by putting
beliefs and notions out on the table. By repeatedly asking, “What am I taking for granted?“, a
person can be helped in reflecting on and articulating experi-
 PHENO MENOLOGY: ITS USE 501

ences with the phenomenon under study. Other approaches for increasing openness to one’s own
perspective include noting whether the phenomenon is being experienced actively or passively and
whether it is being viewed objectively or subjectively.
A considerable amount of self-knowledge is required for a researcher to identify and suspend
personal bias in regards to the phenomenon of study. A journal in which a researcher can reflect on
personal feelings and self-questioning can help to maintain a heightened level of awareness
throughout a research project (Drew, 1989). Such atten-tiveness permits new understandings of the
phenomenon being studied that can go beyond the reality of the researcher’s presuppositions.

In phenomenology, experience is not limited to sensory awareness as it is in traditional science.

Instead, experience incorporates multiple modes of awareness known as integral evidence which,
Husserl(l962), refers to as the principle of intentionality. The observer is not separate from the
observed. Subject and object are united in being in the world. A basic philosophical assumption of
phenomenology is that one can only know what one experiences by attending to perceptions and
meanings that awaken conscious awareness.
The philosophy of phenomenology presents a dramatic difference from the logical positivist
tradition in which the observer is separate from the observed and phenomena are described without
any subjective interpretation (Reeder, 1984). In attempting to ensure their research is objective,
logical positivists screen out certain aspects of life such as feelings and intuition which are vitally
important to nursing. Even the most rigorously designed quantitative study, though, can still be
subjective in relation to the researcher’s theoretical stance. questions asked, and interpretation of
findings (Lipson, 199 1).
Phenomenological assumpi:ons in comparison to those of logical positivism have impor-tant
implications for how the production of knowledge is viewed. In phenomenology meaning is
constructed as an intersubjective phenomenon (Schutz, 1967). Through inter-actions between
people, such as between researcher and informant, meaning is created. In direct contrast to this
perspective is that of the natural sciences which see “social facts as located in the social structure,
independent of the interpretive schemes of societal members” (Anderson, 1991, p. 29). In logical
positivism a reductionist approach is espoused in which data are reduced or broken down into parts
in order that these units be examined individually.

Phenomenology and clinical nursing practice parallel each other in a number of ways. Both
emphasize observing, interviewing, and interacting with clients so that a deeper understanding of the
client’s experience can be grasped. The use of self as a data collection instrument in
phenomenological research is similar to nurses’ therapeutic use of self in clinical practice. Some of
the activities that are an intrinsic part of nursing practice, such as striving to understand the meaning
of individual experiences with illness, are an excellent fit with the phenomenological approach.
Also, in phenomenology the social nature of the research act is realized. No longer is the view of
subject as object meaningful, just as in nursing practice the view of client as object is not
meaningful.
Nurse researchers are realizing that the perspective of humans espoused by the quan-titative
methods is not comprehensive. Its reductionist perspective does not allow for researching human
phenomena as holistic. The phenomenological approach offers nurse researchers lens for viewing
rather than hammers (Psathas, 1973). As nurses begin to recognize the incongruities between their
philosophy of nursing and their research methods, there is a growing acceptance of phenomenology
as an alternative research method. The trend is evidenced by an increase in publications of
phenomenological research studies in
502 C.T BECK

nursing literature. In the 1970s a trickle of phenomenological research studies were pub-An
lished in nursing journals. upsurge of phenomenological studies appearing in the nursing latter
literature occurred in the 1980s and this trend is continuing into the 1990s.

Phenomenological studies in nursing

A computer search of the CINAHL database for the years 1983-l 993 was conducted to retrieve
these phenomenological studies. In reviewing the literature, three variations of the
phenomenological method used most often by nurse researchers were Colaizzi (1978) Giorgi
(198.5) and VanKaam (1966). During this review of published nursing literature additional
phenomenological studies were found in which nurse researchers utilized more general steps of
phenomenological analysis and did not use a specific modification. This review focuses on the
nursing studies in which the phenomenological methodologies of Colaizzi, Giorgi, and VanKaam
had been used. Thirteen nursing research studies using Colaizzi’s method, nine studies employing
Giorgi’s method, and five studies utilizing Van-Kaam’s modification were located. A comparison of
these three phenomenological methods can be found in Table 1 (Beck, 1994). The last column in
Table 1 focuses on the credibility of the studies. Lincoln and Guba (1985) proposed that credibility
is the qualitative researcher’s substitute for quantitative research’s internal validity. This criterion
addresses whether researchers carried out their inquiry in such a way that their results will be found
credible, that is, that they have represented the phenomena under study adequately. Steps that the
researchers had taken to ensure that their findings were credible are identified in Tables 2-4.

Colaizzi
Search of the computerized CINAHL database revealed 13 studies in which Colaizzi’s method
had been used (Table 2). In four of those phenomenological studies caring was investigated. The
essential structures of caring and noncaring nurse-client interactions were the focus of a study by
Riemen (1986). Three themes emerged when Riemen clustered the significant statements: the
nurse’s presence, the client’s response, and consequences. Forrest (1989) explored the lived
experience of caring as perceived by 17 nurses. In a phenom-enological study involving 47
undergraduate nursing students, Beck (1991a) sought to answer the question, What is the essential
structure of a caring nursing student-faculty interaction? Three clusters of themes emerged: attentive
presence, sharing of selves, and consequences. The meaning of caring in nursing practice for six
registered nurses was highlighted in a study by Clarke and Wheeler (1992). Being supportive,
communicating, pressure, and caring ability were the four caring categories that were uncovered.

Colaizzi’s (1978) method has also been used by nurse researchers to study the meaning of varied
lived experiences of persons across the age continuum from adolescents to the elderly. Haase (1987)
investigated the components of courage in nine chronically ill ado-lescents who described their
experiences of courage during an interview. Sowell et al. (1991) interviewed eight men concerning
their lived experience of survival and bereavement following the death of a lover from AIDS.
Following analysis of themes and clusters of
these themes, three categories evolved: isolation/disconnectedness, emotional confusion, and
acceptance/denial.
Rose (1990) conducted a phenomenological study of women’s inner strength while Coward
(1990) investigated self-transcendence in five women with advanced breast cancer.
 503
PHENOMENOLOG Y: ITS USE

Table I. Comparison of three phenomenological methods

Colaizzi Giorgi Vankaam

I Read all of the subjects’ descrip-tions
in order to acquire a feeling for them.
1. One reads the entire description in
order to get a sense of the whole.
I. Listing and preliminary grouping
of descriptive expressions which must be
agreed upon by expert judges. Final
listing presents per-centages of these
categories in that particular sample.

2. Return to each protocol and extract
significant statements.
2. Researcherdiscriminatesunits
from the participants’description
of the phenomenonbeing studied.
Researcher does this from within a
psychologicalperspective and with
a focus on the phenomenon under study.
2. In reduction the researcher reduces the
concrete, vague, and overlapping
expressions of the par-ticipants to more
precisely descrip-
tive terms. There again inter-subjective
agreement among judges is necessary.

3. Spell out the meaning of each
significant statement, known as for-
mulating meanings.
3. Researcher expresses the psycho-
logical insight contained in each of the
meaning units more directly.
3. Elimination of these elements that are
not inherent in the phenom-enon being
studied or which rep-resent a blending of
this phenom-
enon with other phenomena that
most frequently accompany it is done.

4. Organize the formulated mean-ings 4. Researchersynthesizes all of the 4. A hypotheticalidentificationand

into clusters of themes.
a. Refer these clusters of themes
back to the original protocols in order to
validate them.
b. At this point discrepancies may be
noted among and/or between the various
clusters. Researchers must
refuse temptation of ignoring data or
themes which do not fit.
5. Results so far are integrated into an
exhaustive description of pheno-menon
under study.
transformed meaning units into a
consistent statement regarding the
participant’s experiences. This is referred
to as the structure of the experience and
can be expressed on a specific or a
general level.
descriptionof the phenomenon being
studied is written.
5. The hypothetical description is applied
to randomly selected cases
of the sample. If necessary, the
hypothesized description is revised.
This revised description must be tested
again on a new random sam-ple of cases.

6. Formulatetheexhaustive 6. When operations described in previous

descriptionof theinvestigated steps have been carried out
phenomenonin as unequivocala successfully, the formerly hypo-
statement of identification as pos-sible thetical identification of the
phenomenon under study may be
considered to be a valid identi-fication
and description.
7. A final validating step can be achieved
by returning to each sub-ject asking about
the findings so far.

Reprinted with permission: Beck, C. T. Reliability and validity issues in phenomenology. Wesfrrn Journal of Nursing Research. 16,
254-267 (1994).

Thirteen theme clusters evolved. An example of one of these theme clusters is: “self-
transcendence is associated with increased appreciation of things dear and with the environ-
ment” (p. 166).
Through interviewing seven mothers, Beck (1992a) explored the lived experience of
postpartum depression. Eleven theme clusters emerged and were integrated into an
essential
504 C. T. BECK
Table 2. Nursing research studies using Colaizzi’s phenomenological method

Authors/year

published Topic Sample Data sources Credibility

Riemen/ 1986 Nurses’ noncaring 10 nonhospital- Interview 8 of the nurses validated the

and caring in the ized adults over exhaustive description

Haase/l987 clinical setting 18 years of age
Components of 9 chronically ill Interview 2 doctorally prepared judges
courage in adolescents validated formulated meanings
chronically ill and 3 of the adolescents
Forrest/l989 adolescents confirmed exhaustive descriptions
Experience of caring 17 hospital staff Interview Validation sought from
nurses participants to compare
descriptive results
Coward/l 990 Self-transcendence 5 women with Written 3 of the women validated the
in women with stage IV breast description and exhaustive description and so
advanced breast cancer interview did the expert in
cancer phenomenological analysis
Rose/l990 Women’s inner 9 women who Interview 8 of the women clarified meanings
strength experienced inner of significant statements and
strength validated themes
Trite/ 1990 Meaningful life 11 elderly Interview 4 of 11 participants validated
experiences to persons ranging formulated meanings and 2
the elderly in age from 65 to other phenomenological
87 years Written researchers
Beck/ 199 1 Nursing student- 47 under- Master’s prepared nurse followed
faculty caring graduate nursing description audit trail and all 47 nursing
students students validated exhaustive
description
Sowell et al./ Survival and 8 men who have Interview 5 member research team analyzed
1991 bereavement lost a loved one transcripts
following the death from AIDS
of a lover from
199 1 AIDS
Wolf/ Nurses’ experiences 8 nurses who Interview All 8 nurses received exhaustive
giving postmortem had given descriptions in the mail and
care to patients who postmortem care returned them with written
have donated organs to organ donors Interview comments
Beck/ 1992 Postpartum 7 mothers with 3 of the 7 mothers confirmed
depression postpartum exhaustive description and
depression master’s prepared nurse followed
audit trail
Clarke and Caring in nursing 6 staff nurses 2 interviews All 6 nurses validated the
Wheeler/l992 practice exhaustive description during
second interviews
Phipps/l993 Couples’ infertility 8 infertile Interview All couples reviewed the
couples exhaustive description without
any revisions; consultant with
expertise in phenomenology
Interview and a reviewed audit trail
Price/l 993 Body listening 9 healthy adults Partially met during interview to
and 9 chroni- 6-week diary review diary data; format
cally ill adults validation of the exhaustive
description was not done
 PHENOMENOLOGY:ITS USE 505

structure of postpartum depression which reflected that this phenomenon was a living nightmare
filled with uncontrollable anxiety attacks, consuming guilt, and obsessive think-ing. Mothers
contemplated not only harming themselves but also their infants. The mothers were enveloped in
loneliness and the quality of their lives was further compromised by a lack of emotions and all
previous interests. Fear that their lives would never return to normal was all-encompassing.

The purpose of Phipps (1993) study was to describe the lived experience of infertility for eight
couples. Examples of some common categories of both male and female experiences with infertility
included: evaluation of the meaning of childlessness, coping, investment, and perseverance. Price
(1993) explored body listening; that is, how adults understand their internal body experience. Nine
healthy adults and nine adults with either asthma or multiple sclerosis kept a &week diary and were
also interviewed. Perception of energy patterns was central to both the healthy and chronically ill
adults. Trite (1990) investigated meaningful life experiences for 11 elderly individuals. A
meaningful life experience for the elderly involved a concern for others and a perception by the
elderly that they were helpful to those other persons.

Three of the phenomenological studies using Colaizzi’s (1978) method focused on the lived
experience of nurses themselves rather than the patients. Two of these studies involved caring
research described earlier (Clarke and Wheeler, 1992; Forrest, 1989). The third study examined
nurses’ experiences giving postmortem care to patients who have donated organs (Wolf, 1991).
Examples of some clusters of themes that evolved are: dual responsibilities of nurses to donor and
recipient families, the family’s extraordinary gift of life from death. and the emotional difficulty for
nurses at the donor’s death.

Nine nursing studies which had employed Giorgi’s (1985) phenomenological method were
retrieved from the CINAHL database (Table 3). In some of the studies listed in Table 3 the
researchers included additional steps of validation that Giorgi (1989) did not purport such as
validating the emerging themes with the participants (Dobbie, 1991) or with another researcher
(Porter and Clinton, 1992). These credibility steps that are not consistent with Giorgi’s method are
not included in this table.
The relentless drive to be ever thinner was examined in Santopinto (1989) phenom-enological
study. From the written descriptions of this phenomenon by two women, the central finding
discovered was that “the relentless drive to be ever thinner is a persistent struggle toward an imaged
self lived through withdrawing-engaging” (p. 29). Banonis ( 1989) explored recovering from
addiction of three participants. Data analysis revealed that this phenomenon involved struggling to
pull oneself out of the depths of darkness into the comfort of light.

Family members’ views of relationships between health care providers and recipients with
chronic illness were examined by Thorne and Robinson (1988). This phenomenological study
combined data from two separate qualitative investigations using Giorgi’s meth-odology. Analysis
of the transcriptions of the interviews from both studies yielded a conceptualization of these
relationships as an evolving process which includes three stages: naive trusting, disenchantment,
and guarded alliance.
Giorgi’s (1985) phenomenological method was used to describe the lived experience of 20
emergency department nurses’ encounters with patients who attempted suicide (Pallik-
506 C. T. BECK
Table 3. Nursing research studies using Giorgi’s phenomenological modification

Authors/year

published Topic Sample Data sources Credibility

Thorne and Health care 26 family Interviews Bracketing

Robinson/l988 relationships in members

chronic illness
Banonis/ 1989 Recovering from 3 nurses Written
addiction descriptions and
Santopintoll989 Relentless drive to interviews
2 women Written Bracketing and returned to
be ever thinner descriptions and participants to clarify areas of
Bennett/l991 Adolescent girls’ interviews ambiguity in descriptions
5 adolescent girls Interviews
experience of
witnessing marital
violence
Henderson and Experiences of new 22 fathers Interviews
Brouse/l991 fathers during the
first 3 weeks of life
Dobbie/l991 Women’s midlife 10 women Interviews Follow-up telephone interview
experience to clarify handwritten description
Palhkkothayil Emergency 20 nurses Interviews Bracketing
and department nurses’
Morgan/l991 encounters with
patients who
attempted suicide
Porter and Adjusting to the 243 nursing Interview
Clinton/l992 nursing home home residents
Ericksen and Witnessing family 13 children 1-2 interviews
Henderson/ 1992 violence
Samarel/ 1992 Receiving 20 adults 2 interviews Bracketing; second interview to
therapeutic touch clarify information shared in the
first interview

kathayil and Morgan, 1991). Findings revealed that both the nurse and the suicide attempter brought
a set of characteristics to the situation. The nurse and the suicide attempter came together in a
system having its own unique characteristics.
In two of the studies employing Giorgi’s (1985) method of phenomenological analysis, the
meaning of children’s witnessing family violence was explored. Adolescent girls’experi-ence of
witnessing marital violence was investigated in the study by Bennett (1991). The following seven
core themes emerged: remembering, living from day to day, feeling the impact, escaping,
understanding, coping, and resolving or settling. Ericksen and Henderson (1992) conducted a
phenomenological study to describe the experience of 13 children, ages 4-12 years, who witnessed
family violence. Giorgi’s (1985) process of analysis was followed and revealed three components of
the children’s experience: living with violence, living in transition, and living with mom.

Henderson and Brouse (199 1) examined the experiences of 22 new fathers during the first
3 weeks of their infants’ lives. The fathers described their experience as a three-stage process:
(a) coming to the experience of fatherhood with preconceptions about how it would be, (b) the
uncomfortable reality, and (c) a conscious decision to take control and work at gaining the skills
required for their view of fathering.
A phenomenological study by Dobbie (1991) examined the midlife spiritual experience
 PHENOMENOLOGY:ITSUSE

507

of 10 women who were members of the United Church of Canada. Data analysis of their interviews
revealed that the women’s spiritual experience in midlife transition was organized within two
simultaneous and inter-related experiences: an evolving consciousness of self and children, and an
evolving consciousness of God.
The purpose of research by Samarel (1992) was to describe the patient’s experience of receiving
therapeutic touch (TT) treatments. Giorgi’s (1985) operations of phenom-enological analysis
revealed that the experience of a TT treatment was one of developing physiological and
mental/emotional self-awareness in addition to developing awareness of others’ roles and
relationships with the participants.
Porter and Clinton (1992) used the following research question to guide their phenom-enological
study: How do older adults experience the changes associated with living in a nursing home?
Giorgi’s (1985) method was used to analyze the responses of 243 persons and yielded two meaning
units: adjustment approach and adjustment influences.

Van Kaam
Five nursing research studies were retrieved from the CINAHL database in which VanKaam’s
(1966) method had been used (Table 4). Carter (1989) studied themes associated with bereavement
in narrative accounts of 30 adults who had experienced the death of a loved one. Five core themes of
bereavement emerged: being stopped, hurting, missing, holding, and seeking.

The lived experience of health was explored in two phenomenological studies: one with the oldest
old (Wondolowski and Davis, 1991) and one with nursing students (Beck, 1991b). By means of
VanKaam’s analysis, three common elements of the meaning of health for the oldest old emerged:
abiding vitality, generating fulfillment, and rhapsodic reverie (Won-

Table 4. Nursing research studies using Vankaam’s phenomenological method

Authors/year

published Topic Sample Data sources Credibility

Carter! 1989 Themes of grief 30 adults who Interview Second reader agreement with

experienced researcher on themes ranged

death of a loved from 62 to 88%. Feedback from
one 5 of the participants.
Wondolowski Health in the oldest 108 men and Written All data analysis activities were
and Davis/l990 old women ages 80 to descriptions and verified by a known researcher in
lOOf interview if phenomenological method
difficulty
writing
Beck/ 199 I Nursing students’ 56 under- Written Master’s prepared nurse verified
experience of health graduate nursing descriptions every step of data analysis
students
Beck! 1992 Caring between 31 senior nursing Written Master’s prepared nurse verified
nursing students students descriptions each step of data analysis
and
physically/mentally
handicapped
children
Beck/l992 Caring among 53 under- Written Master’s prepared nurse verified
nursing students graduate nursing descriptions all steps in data analysis
students
508 C. T. BECK

dolowski and Davis, 1991). Beck (199lb) also explored the meaning of health but this
phenomenological study focused on its meaning for 56 undergraduate nursing students. Three
necessary constituents of health were identified: optimal unfolding, peaceful con-tentedness, and
perpetual vigilance.
The remaining two studies located which used VanKaam’s (1966) phenomenological
methodology explored the meaning of caring. The essence of a caring experience 36 nursing
students had with an exceptional child was examined by Beck (1992b). Six necessary constituents of
caring evolved: authentic presenting, physical connectedness, reciprocal sharing, delightful
merriment, bolstered self-esteem, and an unanticipated self-trans-formation. Beck (1993) also
investigated caring among 53 nursing students. Four necessary constituents emerged related to
caring among nursing students: authentic presenting, selfless sharing, fortifying support, and
enriching effects.
From this review of the use of phenomenology in nursing research, the richness of the data that
can emerge from this qualitative method is evident. Through phenomenological research, a deeper
understanding of the essence of the phenomenon under study is disco-vered. The studies reviewed
in this article illustrate the breadth of applicability of this qualitative method for nursing.
Phenomenological research has been conducted with per-sons ranging from as young as 4 years old
to as old as 102 years. Diverse clinical specialties of nursing have already proven fertile areas for
phenomenological research such as medical-surgical, maternal-child, gerontological, and emergency
room nursing.
Through phenomenological research a baseline could be provided encompassing a tho-rough and
accurate description of nursing phenomena which would help clarify nursing concepts (Boyd,
1993). Nursing theories incorporating these clarified concepts and research studies deduced from
these theories would be more relevant to nursing because they could be closely based to nursing’s
lived world.
Because nursing is primarily a social act between nurse and client, phenomenological perspective
can help increase nurses’ understanding of their clients by entering into their lifeworld. Conducting
phenomenological research will also help nurses to learn the art of unknowing which Munhall(l993)
has identified as the fifth pattern of knowing. Unknowing is similar to bracketing in phenomenology
and also calls for a great amount of introspection. In order for a nurse to engage in an authentic
encounter with patients, the art of unknowing must be practiced wherein the nurse “situates
knowingly in one’s own life and interacts with full unknowingness about the other’s life” (Munhall,
1993, p. 125). This fifth pattern of knowing, just as phenomenological research, enables nurses to
understand the essential meaning that patients’ experiences hold for them.

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(Received 2 December 1993; infinalform 17 March 1994; acceptedfor publication 28 April 1994)