Quantitative research is systematic and standardized and seeks to explain and predict. Although quantitative research has its benefits, it was not the best fit for the focus of this study because the goal was to understand the experiences of these women as opposed to explaining or predicting them. A quantitative study focused on numbers and variables would be void of emotions and back stories which would not provide space for this marginalized group to share their experiences.
Phenomenology.Phenomenological research methods were used for this study because they are well suited to study the lived experiences of Black women who earn a Ph.D. in social work. Phenomenology is an inductive, subjective, and descriptive method that “seeks to explore, describe, and analyze the meanings of individual lived experiences” (Patton, 2002, p.104); as well as understanding the perception of the experience (Munhall, 2012). It is used to describe rather than explain the meaning for several individuals of their lived experiences of a phenomenon (Creswell, 2007). This method also leads to a more ethnically sensitive epistemology and ontology of practice (Adams & van Manen, 2008).
Case study and Narrative inquiry were both considered as methodologies for this study but were found not to be the best fit. Case studies focus on issues explored through one or more cases within a bounded system (Creswell, 2007). Case studies draw on a researchers ability to extract depth and meaning in context. The bounded system is explored over time through detailed, in-depth data collection from multiple sources of information and reports provide a case description and case-based themes (Creswell, 2007; Padgett, 2008). Phenomenology was chosen over case study because the focus was the lived experience of the event, instead of the event itself.
Narrative inquiry is a diverse set of methods that are interested in how something is said as well as what is said (Padgett, 2008). The focus is on the stories both written and spoken, lived and told by individuals over time (Creswell, 2007). Narrative inquiry believes that storytelling is essential to understanding people lives and that all people construct narratives as a process in constructing and reconstructing identities (Marshall & Rossman, 2011). Stories are gathered from letters, journals, diaries, observations, interviews, photos, memory boxes, etc. This method is best used when capturing stories or lived experiences of one or a small number of people (Creswell, 2007). This methodology was not chosen for this study because it focused on the lived experiences of a larger number of people, their perception of their experience, and the essence of their experience.
Phenomenology comes from the work of Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty (Creswell, 1998; Lewis & Saehler, 2010). There are varying perspectives of phenomenology, but the philosophical assumptions rest on the common thread of the study of lived experiences of people, the view that these experiences are a conscious one, and the development of the descriptions of the essences of the experiences (van Manen, 1990).
Giorgi (1997) identifies three steps in phenomenological research methods: (1) description, (2) reduction, and (3) search for essences. A phenomenological description is intended to mirror and express the participant’s conscious experience (Sadala & Adorno, 2002). Reduction is the practice of suspending the researcher’s knowledge about the phenomenon being researched to understand the phenomenon from the participants’ perspective (Giorgi, 1997). A form of reduction is bracketing (epoche), in which the researcher suspends their judgment and experiences to take a fresh perspective of the phenomenon under examination (Creswell, 2007; Lewis & Staehler, 2010). The search for essence or finding common themes is achieved with the textural and structural des
