Understanding phenomenology: the lived experience

This article details the use of Phenomenology as a research method which is to fully describe a person's lived experience of an event or experience. It stresses that only those that have experienced phenomena can communicate them to the outside world. It therefore provides an understanding of an experience from those who have lived it. The two schools of phenomenology which are described are utilized in both midwifery and nursing research. These are Husserlian and Heideggerian (Hermeneutics) phenomenology. The main focus in this article, however, is on the Husserlian approach, its background, data collection, data analysis methods and its application to midwifery research.