An annotated bibliography of phenomenographic research : Selected publications to 1997

Abstract

PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION: We are reminded frequently by phenomenographic theorists such as Ference Marton and Lennart Svensson that the object of phenomenographic research is human
experience as it is remembered from a second-order perspective. The distinctive relational nature of phenomenography in which the subject and the object of the
research are investigated for their relationships in a particular context and the search for qualitative variations in these relations suggest strengths for a research
methodology which can no longer be denied in educational and social science research. Additionally, the capacity for phenomenographic studies to adopt a supraindividual
orientation in the empirical investigation of human experience is an attraction for this methodology.
Some people become frustrated with phenomenographic investigations because they focus on answering What? questions and not How? or Why? types. This is
because they aren t satisfied with the revelation of qualitative variations in people s experience of selected phenomena. Other researchers are contented to use the
revealed differences as a basis for the consideration of pedagogical implications of these results. Whether the outcomes of the phenomenographic research are seen as
the endpoint of the research or as a means to another end is really not the issue for the phenomenographic study has usually yielded valuable, rich results which have
offered an alternative description of people s experience of the phenomenon. The power of phenomenography resides in its revelation of the variation in the experience.
The annotations in this publication are intended to offer prospective qualitative researchers and/or post-graduate research students a helping hand to enter the
sometimes challenging research conversation that is centred around phenom