Phenomenology
A qualitative approach that examines how people experience and make meaning of a phenomenon, as described in their own accounts.
Phenomenology investigates the lived experience of a phenomenon, such as receiving a diagnosis or being a first-generation student, from the perspective of those who have lived it. Data usually come from in-depth interviews with a small number of participants who share the experience. Analysis seeks the essential structure of that experience, and researchers deliberately examine, or bracket, their own assumptions along the way.
In a thesis, phenomenology fits questions about what an experience is like from the inside. Its small samples are a feature, not a flaw, but they must be defended: depth per participant replaces breadth across participants. Show prolonged engagement with each account, quote participants generously, and be explicit about how you handled your own preconceptions, since that reflexive work carries much of the study's credibility.
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