Different understandings of the nature of ‘structural relationships’ in phenomenographic research: views of educational researchers

Phenomenography, as a qualitative research methodology, is distinguished by its simultaneous focus on investigating (a) variation in ways of experiencing phenomena in the world, and (b) structural relationships that link and separate the different ways of experiencing. The focus on structural relationships is often regarded as the most distinctive and useful aspect of the methodology, but it is also the least well understood aspect. To help explicate the nature of structural relationships in phenomenographic research, this paper reports the outcomes of an empirical study of different understandings of structural relationships amongst educational researchers. Structural relationships were variously described as: (1) hierarchical relationships; (2) hierarchically-inclusive relationships; (3) meaning-structure relationships; (4) part-whole relationships; and (5) multi-faceted relationships. The outcomes of the study highlight a number of critical aspects of the notion of structural relationships that researchers need to become aware of in order to use the methodology in a sophisticated way.