Using Phenomenography: Reflections on Key Considerations for Making Methodological Decisions

Phenomenography is an emerging method in the engineering education research community. Critical variations exist across studies regarding the use of phenomenography as a methodological approach. Beyond many of the documented variations, including the Swedish and Australian approaches, many nuances are not necessarily explicit in existing studies. The authors of this study contributed to this area of scholarship through individual reflection, collaborative discussion, and synthesis of their experiences of making methodological decisions while designing and conducting phenomenographic studies in engineering education. The results of this work include the identification of five key considerations: Nature of phenomenon, Application of outcome space, Development of outcome space, Treatment of data, and Stance towards participants. Reflections on each of these considerations are summarized and provided in full. Our analysis of the reflections revealed that the application of the phenomenographic methodology must respond to nuances in individual contexts. Thus, the primary contribution of this paper is the identification of five key considerations that can help guide a phenomenographic research approach, and transparency of how five emerging phenomenographic researchers have dealt with these considerations.