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Abstract
This article reviews the philosophical tenets of phenomenological qualitative research design as amethod in social sciences from epistemological and methodological points of view. Asconstructivism increasingly dominates the educational landscape and understanding individuallyconstructed realities become more important, phenomenology, which aims to understand themeaning of the experience from the perspective of the subjects, gained attention as a researchmethod both in social and educational research. The review is in two folds: the first section of thestudy focuses on two phenomenological approach, namely, transcendental and hermeneuticphenomenology, that seek to understand human experience as it is lived; the second sectionexamines how phenomenology is employed in science education research. Phenomenologicalresearch studies in science education is examined within three broad categories according to subjectof the research: a) science education as a phenomenon; b) understanding of individual experiencesand cognitive development in science education; and c) studies aiming to converge phenomenologyand education. Any phenomenological research, no matter under which category it falls in terms ofthe subject it explores, helps to establish connections between scientific world and daily life inscience education. No matter which pillar of the bridge is chosen to investigate, the starting pointshould always be real lives because phenomenology exists to explore Therefore, every singlephenomenological study about a sociocultural phenomenon such as science and education would beinherently unique and different from each other.
Keywords
Abstract
This article reviews the philosophical tenets of phenomenological qualitative research design as amethod in social sciences from epistemological and methodological points of view. Asconstructivism increasingly dominates the educational landscape and understanding individuallyconstructed realities become more important, phenomenology, which aims to understand themeaning of the experience from the perspective of the subjects, gained attention as a researchmethod both in social and educational research. The review is in two folds: the first section of thestudy focuses on two phenomenological approach, namely, transcendental and hermeneuticphenomenology, that seek to understand human experience as it is lived; the second sectionexamines how phenomenology is employed in science education research. Phenomenologicalresearch studies in science education is examined within three broad categories according to subjectof the research: a) science education as a phenomenon; b) understanding of individual experiencesand cognitive development in science education; and c) studies aiming to converge phenomenologyand education. Any phenomenological research, no matter under which category it falls in terms ofthe subject it explores, helps to establish connections between scientific world and daily life inscience education. No matter which pillar of the bridge is chosen to investigate, the starting pointshould always be real lives because phenomenology exists to explore Therefore, every singlephenomenological study about a sociocultural phenomenon such as science and education would beinherently unique and different from each other.