Definition.
Phenomenological Practice-as-Research (PPAR) is a research methodology which adapts and integrates:
- the hermeneutic phenomenology of Max van Manen, and
- the practice-as-research approach as highlighted in the work of Emily Pott and Robin Nelson
In contrast to practice-as-research which considers an art form as the central practice, PPAR focuses on phenomenology, itself, as a reflective practice capable of revealing research insights.
Initially developed for my doctoral thesis, I undertook a PPAR study of the fiction-writing process. Phenomenological experiencing can be applied in virtually any human endeavor, however, ranging from the arts to spiritual practice, from sports performance to business tasks.
PPAR emphasizes the development of the researcher’s ability to perceive a wider range of experiences within a given phenomenon. For instance, the experience of seated meditation is comprised of a vast number of smaller experiences: the encroachment of distraction, the sensations involved in maintaining bodily stillness, and so on. The refinement of one’s ability to perceive subtleties like these is at the heart of phenomenological practice.
The central tasks of PPAR include:
- Creating a pre-reflective log of one’s lived experiences in the area under study. This material comprises the study’s raw data.
- Developing a secondary log of exploratory writing which sifts the pre-reflective log for key images and essential components of the experience under study. This is akin to an analysis stage.
- Composing a rich, written phenomenological report drawn from items (a) and (b). This account constitutes the findings section of the PPAR project. It is intended to capture the deep essence of the experience, so that even readers unfamiliar with it can develop a ‘felt sense’ of the phenomenon. Ideally, this account will invoke wonder in the reader, as well as exploring the meanings inherent in the experience under study.