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Phenomenology For Educators: Max Van Manen And "Human Science" Research, James Magrini

James M Magrini

Phenomenology, in qualitative educational research, tends to be misunderstood. There are many reasons for this, not the least of which is that scholars/researchers working in the field often emulate and imitate the dense writing styles of the philosophical forerunners in phenomenology such as Hegel, Brentano, Husserl, Heidegger, and Merleau-Ponty. Thus the writing is beyond the comprehension of many education professionals and practitioners. Phenomenology need not be highly complex, and thus I have sought to provide a summary of the main themes from Max van Manen's (1990) Researching Lived Experience: Human Science for an Active Sensitive Pedagogy in highly accessible terms, …