Using Transcendental Phenomenology to Explore the “Ripple Effect” in a Leadership Mentoring Program - Information

Using Transcendental Phenomenology to Explore the “Ripple Effect” in a Leadership Mentoring Program
Tammy Moerer-Urdahl
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
John W. Creswell
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
International Journal of Qualitative Methods 2004, 3(2)
2004 paper

Online version available at  http://wigan-ojs.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/IJQM/article/viewFile/4470/3594


Transcendental phenomenology, based on principles identified by Husserl (1931) and
translated into a qualitative method by Moustakas (1994), holds promise as a viable procedure for
phenomenological research. However, to best understand the approach to transcendental
phenomenology, the procedures need to be illustrated by a qualitative study that employs this
approach.

 This article first discusses the procedures for organizing and analyzing data according
to Moustakas (1994). Then it illustrates each step in the data analysis procedure of transcendental
phenomenology using a study of reinvestment or the “ripple effect” for nine individuals who have
participated in a youth leadership mentoring program from the 1970s to the present.
Transcendental phenomenology works well for this study as this methodology provides logical,
systematic, and coherent design elements that lead to an essential description of the experience