ARTS-BASED PHENOMENOLOGICAL RESEARCH:
METHODOLOGICAL PROCESS

The majority of the artwork displayed on this website has been produced using the following arts-based phenomenological research methodological process, inspired by Van Manen, Finlay, and McMorrow’s hermeneutic approaches to phenomenology . Click on the links to view video lectures of how to conduct each step:

Step 1: Write a detailed, descriptive anecdote about your lived experience of a particular human phenomenon: a written snapshot of a specific moment or situation in your life that really captures that phenomenon for you. Alternatively, collect multiple research participants’ descriptions of lived experience about your phenomena of inquiry, through written anecdotes or interviews.

Step 2: Highlight meaning units within the written description(s)–words that convey something meaningful and essential about the particular human phenomenon under inquiry. “Code” those meaning units by giving them a label that best captures their meaning. Then, group those codes into categories based on shared meanings. Finally, label those categories with a phrase of words that best capture a thematic insight about the human phenomenon under inquiry. Try to identify around 4-6 themes that, when taken together, co-constitute essential meanings of the phenomenon for human beings.

Step 3: Create artwork that expresses, in a direct and evocative way, the essential themes you developed about the particular human phenomenon under inquiry. In other words, transform your phenomenological research findings into phenomenological art.

PUBLISHED SCHOLARSHIP ON ARTS-BASED PHENOMENOLOGY

Gupta, N. (2020). Teaching phenomenological research as a method of therapeutic art-making: A Covid-19 case study. Qualitative Methods in Psychology Bulletin: Special issue on creative and multimodal approaches to Qualitative Research, Issue 30 Autumn 2020.

Gupta, N. (2020). Illuminating the trauma of the LGBTQ closet: A cinematic-phenomenological study and film about existential rights. Qualitative Research in Psychology.

Gupta, N. (2019). The phenomenological film collective: Introducing a cinematic-phenomenological research method for social advocacy filmmaking. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 13(4)

Gupta, N. (2018). Harnessing phenomenological research to facilitate conscientização about oppressive lived experience. The Journal of Humanistic Psychology; Special issue: Radical Humanism, Critical Consciousness, and Social Change. Onlinefirst.

Gupta, N. (2018). Stories of faith, stories of humanity: Fusing phenomenological research with digital storytelling to facilitate interfaith empathy. Qualitative Research in Psychology. DOI: 10.1080/14780887.2018.1442705

Mahone, D. (2015). The Visible and Invisible Aspects of Miscarriage: A Phenomenological, Hermeneutic, Imaginal Study (Doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/etd/856

Gupta, N. (2015). The cinematic chiasm: Evoking societal empathy through the phenomenological language of film. Janus Head: Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature, Continental Philosophy, Phenomenological Psychology, and the Arts, 14(2), 35-48.