Part 3A Background Theories of Qualitative iReseardh

Phenomenologicai life-world Analysis

Ronaid Hitzier and Thomas.S. Eberle

1 The idea of a life-world phenomenology 67 2 From meaning-constitution to understanding the other 68 3 On the sociological relevance of life-world analysis 69

'I THE IDEA OF A UFE-WORLD to achieve an 'adequate' methodological PHENOMENOLOGY self-awareness. Life-world, in Edmund HusserJ's sense, is the The variant of life-world phenomenology, original domain, the obvious and unquestioned which was developed by Alfred Schiitz on the foundation both of all types of everyday acting basis of ideas derived from Husserl and re­ and thinking and of all scientific theorizing and imported to Europe from the USA by Thomas philosophizing (d. also Welz 1996). In its con­ Luckmann, is today without question one of the crete manifestations it exists in all its countless most important background theories of qualita­ varieties as the only real world of every indivi­ tive research (d. also Brauner as early as 1978). dual person, of every ego. These variations are The main objective of this mundane phenome­ built on general immutable structures, the nology is to reconstruct the fonnal structures of 'realm of immediate evidence'. the life-world. Alfred Schiitz adopted this idea of Russed's and From a historical point of view, Husserl's diag­ attempted to discover the most general essential nosis (1936) of the crisis in European scholar­ features of the life-world, in respect of the parti­ ship fonns the scientific background to this cular problems of social as opposed to natural focus on the life-world. For him, the crisis con­ sciences (d. Schiitz and Luckmann 1973, 1989). sisted of the fact that the scientific protagonists The general aim of life-world analysiS, ori­ have (or at least had) forgotten that all science ented to the epistemological problems of the is rooted in the life-world. For Russerl, the social sciences, is therefore to analyse the under­ explanation of the life-world essence of science standing of meaning-comprehension by means therefore provided the only way to overcome of a fonnal description of invariable basic struc­ the crisis in science. For when the 'meaning­ tures of the constitution of meaning in the basis' of the life-world is (again) revealed, scien­ subjective consdousness of actors. tific idealizations will- in Hussed's opinion - no Unlike the nonnal objective and inductive longer be reified, and science will be able understanding of science, phenomenology 8 A COMPANION TO QUALITATIVERESEARCH PHENOMENOLOGICAl LIFE-WORLDANALYSIS e

begins with experience of the individual and actors relate to their actions. Consequently, analyses the way we understand the other from As Schiitz has shown, however, the perspective develops this in a reflexive form. The mundane Schiitz recognizes. the principal problem of a a quasi-natural perspective. His basic question of another actor· can only be captured approxi­ phenomenology of Schiitz and his followers, methodological basis for the social sciences in is: bow can other human beings be understood mately. Complete adequacy therefore remains therefore, is not a sociological approach in the analYSing the processes of meaning-creation if there is no direct access to their conscious- an unachievable ideal for interpretative social strict sense of the word, but a proto-sociological and meaning-interpretation together with the .• ;ness? His analysis shows that the alter ego can sciences. enterprise that underlies actual sociological incremental constitution of human knowledge. only be understood in a 'signitive' way, that is, work (cf. Hitzler and Honer 1984; Knoblauch In other words: mundane phenomenology; in through he signs and indications. The act of 1996a; Luckmann 1993). It is therefore inter­ the methodological sense, is 'constitution analy­ understanding therefore always consists. of .a :3 ON THE SOCBOL.OGICAL RELEVANCE ested in the epistemological explanation of the sis'. All meaning configurations - according self-explanation on the part of the interpreter. OF LIFE-WORLD ANALYSIS 'foundation' of the life-world, which is on the to Schiitz's main thesis (1932) - are constituted on the basis of a biographically determined one hand a point of reference and on the other in processes of meaning-creation and under­ reservoir of knowledge, adapted to his/her situ­ If one sees phenomenological life-world analysis hand an implicit basis for research work in the standing. To explain social phenomena from·. ational relevance system. In consequence of as both proto- and para-sociological epistemology, social sciences. the actions of participating individuals therefore this, no more than fragmentary excerpts of the it then appears to be of immediate relevance to Nevertheless both 'normal' science and mun­ implies referring back to the subjective meaning other's subjective context are ever accessible to any kirid of sociology based on the notion that dane phenomenology - in the extended sense of which these actions have for the actors the interpreter. Every meaning-interpretation 'our experience rather than 'objective' factual con­ I, the term -- proceed empirically (cf. Luckmann themselves. can therefore be no more than an approxima­ tent is dedsive in the way we define situations: 1979). Of course, the specific 'difference' in In this process of reconstruction, Schiitz tion, the quality of which depends on the degree we are, to use Schiitz's (1962) term, 'activity cen­ phenomenological empiricism consists of the builds on the transcendental phenomenology of . of familiarity with, and the 'temporal proxinrity' tres' of our respective situations and thereby also researcher beginning with his/her own subjec­ Edmund Husser!: the meaning of experiences of, the particular alter ego in the consciousness of capable of subjective definition - and, in our rela­ tive experiences. Whatever phenomenological is determined by acts of consciousness. A. the interpreter. tion to one another, alternating between high­ "operations', and on the basis of whatever epis­ meaning-relation arises when (individual) expe­ Unlike (transcendental) phenomenology, the level agreement and crass opposition. temological interests, are then carried out, it is riences are brought together to form a unit by social sciences are therefore obliged to take Accordingly, if our everyday world consists the personal subjective experiences that a~eand syntheses of a higher order. 1he total coherence account, in methodological terms, of the seman­ not simply of 'brute facts' but of (manifold) remain the only source of data, because they of the experience then forms the quintessence tic pre-constitution of the social world. This meanings, then the essential task of sociology is alone are evident. On the basis of this 'special' of all subjective meaning-relations, and the means .that the theories and methods of social to understand, in a reconstructive way, how type of data, phenomenology advances towards specific meaning of an experience arises from science are 'second order' constructs which meanings arise and continue, when and why controlled abstraction formulations of the basic the way in which it is classified within this total (must) derive from 'first order' everyday con­ they may be described as 'objective', and how layers of the processes of consciousness and coherence of experience. structs. Schiitz expresses this in the form of two human beings adapt interpretatively these reveals the universal structures in subjective Actions are experiences of a particular kind: methodological postulates: the postulate of sub­ socially 'objectivized' meanings and recover constitution-behaviour. their meaning is constituted by the design that jective interpretation, and the postulate of from them, as if from a quarry, their 'subjective' But Schiitz not only analyses the life-world in anticipates the resulting action. For this reason adequacy. significations, thereby collaborating in the further respect of how it is constituted meaningfully in Schiitz keeps acting and action strictly apart. The postulate of subjective interpretation construction of 'objective reality' (cf. Berger and the subjective consciousness: he also sees it as The meaning of acting is determined by the requires sodal scientifi.c explanations to relate Ltickmann 1966). The empirical programme of produced by the actions of people (d. also Srubar meaning of the projected action. The goal of an to the subjective meaning of an action. From phenomenology therefore includes, from the 1988). This also explains the high level of com­ action is the 'in-order-to' motive of the action, the point of view of theory-construction this point of view of research practice, the systematic patibility of phenomenologicallife-world analy­ while the stimulus or the reasons for the action­ means that on the basis of typical patterns of an reconstruction of multiple qualities of experience sis with many of the problems of interpretative design form the 'because' motive. Weber's 'sub­ observed sequence of actions a model of an (see 3.8). sociology in general and with the theoretical jectively intended meaning' is, in this respect, . actor is constructed to whom an awareness of In this sense the life-world is in no way a mar­ perspective of American pragmatism (cf. partic­ nothing more than a self-explanation on the typical in-order-to and because motives is attrib­ ginal theme in the social Sciences, but their sys­ ularly Schiitz 1962, 1964). part of the actor of his/her own actiop.--design. uted. The postulate of adequacy requires that the tematic central pro.blem: since perception, This self-explanation always derives from a social scientist's constructs be consistent with experience and action constitute an original process of 'now and in this way', and therefore the constructs of the everyday actor. They must sphere that is only 'really' accessible to the per­ :2 /FROM MEANING-CONSTITUTION TO necessarily remains 'relative': interpretations of therefore be comprehensible and give an accu­ ceiving, experiencing or acting subject, the so­ UNDERSTANDING THE OTHER meaning vary, according to the time when they rate explanation of acting. Complete adequacy called factual realities are only truly evident as occur, 'according to the momentary situational is achieved when the concrete meaning­ phenomena of the subjective consciousness. Of Throughout his life Schiitz worked on the interest in the explanation, and also according orientation of actors is captured accurately. In this course this experience can always 'deceive' in problem of a sound philosophical basis for to the underlying reservoir of knowledge spe­ way we explain the subjective perspective of the the face of an 'objectively' defined factual con­ interpretative sociology. As his starting point he cific to a particular biography and marked by individual actors at truly the ultimate reference tent. Nevertheless, it may be said to determine selected Max Weber's definition of sociology as typological and relevance structures. point for social science analyses, because 'hold­ our behaviour 'objectively'. For not only is our a 'science that seeks to interpret social action In analysing the understanding of the other ing on to the subjective perspective' offers, consciousness necessarily intentional ('about and thereby provides a causal explanation for its Schiitz departs from the level of transcendental according to Schiitz (e.g. 1978), the only really something'), but also the correlates of this sequencing and its effects' (Weber 1972: 1). phenomenology: with his (everyday) 'general sufficient guarantee that social reality is not intentionality - at least in everyday experience - According to Weber, what has to be understood thesis of the alter ego' (Schiitz 1962) he presup­ replaced by a fictitious non-existent world are meaningful (cf. Schiitz 1967 for further is the 'subjectively intended meaning' that poses the existence of the fellow human and constructed by some sdentific observer. discussion). e f.>,.COMPANION TO QUAUTATIVERESEARCH PHENOMENOLOGICALLlFE-WORW ANALYSIS G

Because the life-world reveals at every moment from individual worlds by virtue of the fact that known meanings and those of factual contents epistemologically relevant antagonism in social fundamentally more experiential possibilities ,the former are pre-determined and not inten­ ,currently known 'only' to experts are diverging: research is not between qUalitative and quanti­ than an individual can truly bring into any the­ tionally constituted, whereas the latter are goal­ the quantities of specialist knowledge are tative, nor even between standardized and nOll­ matic focus, the individual is constantly and directed (for example, the world of the employed increasingi they are becoming ever more standardized, investigations, but between inevitably selecting from the total of possible person, of the family member, of the citizen, specialized and are increasingly remote from hermeneutic and scientistic methodologies and experiences available at any given moment (d. and so on). Every immediate experience, every general knowledge (d. Hitzler et a1. 1994). It fol­ methods. Esser 1996). It is not generally important to us present world, according to Marx (1987:' 129), lows 'from this that contexts can be divided that, in consequence, our experience and ac.tion has 'the content of an individual world'. between what everyone knows and what is is always the result of elective procedures, because For a variety of reasons, HitzIer and Honer known by relatively, few people. If; however, as ~OTE we are constantly concerned with completing (e.g. 1984, 1988, 1991), following Benita Schiitz and Luckmaim (1973: 318) affirm, 'in a our actual experience meaningfully or with cre­ Luckmann (1970), prefer the term 'small sodal borderline case, the province of common knowl­ 1 In contrast, the testing of hypotheses in the ating a structure for every selected perception. life-worlds', but in a broad sense are referring to edge and common relevances shrinks beyond a deductive-nomological explanatory model presup­ This means that in respect of the meaningfulness the same phenomenon: a small sodallife-world critical point, communication within the poses - quasi-implicitly - that hUIIlan beings under of experiences we distinguish, according to our or an individual world is a fragment of the life­ society is barely possible. There emerge" societies the same conditions will act in the sarrte way. In societies with a predominantly traditional orienta­ respective subjective relevances, between the world, with its own structure, within which' within the society".' 'tion this is indeed often the case, but in modern important and the unimportant, or between the experiences occur in relation to a spedal inter­ This is again a very significant insight in societies, only in the area of routine actions. As relevant and the irrelevant. subjective reservoir of knowledge that is obliga­ respect of the repeatedly postulated need for an modern societies are marked by de-traditionalization, This meaningfulness can be distinctly tory and pre-existent. A small sodal life-world ethnological attitude on the part of the sodo­ an increase in options and individualization (Gross situation-spedfic and short-term, but if can also is the correlate of the subjective experience of logist towards his/her own culture; for it means 1994, 1999), and actors frequently re-interpret their be (almost) completely independent of situation reality in a partial or temporally restricted that under such conditions, for every type of situations, so their knowledge and behaviour and permanent; it can be of purely subjective or clilture. This kind of world is 'small', therefore, grouping, for every collective, even within a becomes more contingent, the prognostic capability of general sodal 'validity' (to an extent that not because it is concerned only with small sodety, different kinds of knowledge and, above of 'if-then' statements becomes more disturbed and always has to be determined). This is because all spaces or consists of very few members. A small all, different hierarchies of knowledge types are exploratory-interpretative research design becomes individual human beings live in their own life­ social life-world is described as 'small' rather or at least might be relevant.' And as the mani­ more necessary (cf. also Hitzler 1997, 1999b). world as the sum total of their concrete world of because the complexity of possible sodal rele­ fold life-worlds and the small social life-worlds experience. However, all concrete manifesta­ vances is reduced within it to a particular system of other people become object of scientific the !FURTHERREADING tions of life-world structures also have inter­ of relevance. And a small social life-world is interest, the problem of how and' how far one subjective features. To come to terms with our called 'sodal' because this relevance system is can succeed in seeing the world through the normal everyday life we make use of a large obligatory for .successful participations. Empiri­ eyes of these other people (cf. Plessner 1983), Knoblauch, H. (2002) 'Communication, Contexts number of shared meaning schemata, our cal examples of the analysis of small social life­ and and in reconstructing the subjectively intended and Culture. A Communicative Constructivist various subjective relevance systems overlap at worlds may be found in Honer (e.g. 1994a), meaning of their experiences, becomes virulent Approach to Intercultural Communication', in many points. RitzIer (1993, 1995), RitzIer et a1. (1996), HitzIer 'only' from a methodological viewpoint not but A. di Luzio, S. Gunthner and F. Orletti (edsl, Shared beliefs first of all fadlitate and deter­ and pfadenhauer (1998) Knoblauch (e.g. 1988, also, and more particularly, in terms of method. Culture in Communication. Analyses of mine our everyday life; which is always a matter 1997) and Soeffner (e.g. 1997). Admittedly Schfitz himself was never con­ In tercultura i Situations. Amsterdam: John of living together. To a certain extent the subject Therefore, while, in prlndple, every person is cerned with the methods of empirical social Benjamins, pp. 3-33. 'shares' his/her respective concrete life-world indeed given his/her own and unique life-world, research. Such implications of life-world analysis with others. To put this more predsely: the cor­ from an empirical point of view the individual are already to be seen, however, in the works of Maso, I. (2001) 'Phenomenology and Ethno­ relates of an individual's experience correspond subjective life-worlds seem only relatively origi­ Harold Garfinkel in particular (1967a; see 2.3) graphy', in P. Atkinson, A. Coffey, S. Deiamont, to the correlates of the experience of others in nal, because human beings typically refer back and Aaron V. Cicourel (1964). In Germany, J. Lofland and L. Lofland (eds), Handbook ot ways that may be typologized. From this, mean­ to, sOdo-historically 'valid' meaning schemata Schiitz's matrix is most often used for the system­ Ethnography. Lonqon: Sage. pp. 136-144. ing schemata may be created, which are shared and concepts of action in the process of orienta­ ,atic analysis of the way sodal scientific data come by different subjects and are therefore inter­ tion within their own world. about (cf. Luckmann and Gross 1977), for the Psathas, G. (1989) Phenomenology ana subjectively valid, and these correlate to a greater Particularly in modem societies, small sodal analysis of communicative genres (see 5.18), for Sociology: Theory and Research. Washington, or lesser extent with individual, biographically life-worlds are therefore the subjective corre­ the explanation of hermeneutic reconstruction DC: Center for Advanced Research in Pheno­ conditioned, meaning structures. To put this spondences to cultural objectivizations of reality procedures (see 3.5, 5.16) and to provide a theo­ menology and University Press of America. rather differently: human sodal practice is - showing mUltiple sodal diverSity, as is mani­ retical base for ethnographic sociology (see 3.8). inevitably - a practice of interpretation, of decod­ fested, 'for example, in divergent language and Against the background of the above outline ing signs and symbols, and essentially of speaking environments (d. Luckmann 1989; it becomes increasingly evident that the communication (cf. Luckmann 1986, 1989). Knoblauch 1995, 1996b). The most important In this sense, writers such as Werner Marx result of this is that the relevance structures of (1987) understand the life-world as a plurality different members of society can only be the of sometimes dearly defined, and sometimes same in a very conditional and 'provisional' way. undetermined, purposive individual worlds. Marx Moreover, in connection with the developing argues that Husserl distinguishes the life-world division of labour, the proportions of generally A Companion to QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Edited by Uwe flick, Ernst vcn Kardorff and Ines Steinke

Translated by Bryan Jenner

UNIVERSITAT ST. GALlEN ($) SAGE Publications HOCHSCHULE FOR WIRTSCHAFTS-, London $ Thousand Oaks,. New Delhi RECHTS- UNO SOZIALWISSENSCHAFTEI\i BIBLlOTHEK Translation © 2004

This English edition first published 2004

Originally published in the series "rowohlts enzyklopadie" under the title Contents QUALITATIVEFORSHCHUNG - Ein Handbuch

Copyright © 2000 Rowohlt Ttaschenbuch Verlag GmbH, Reinbek bei Hamburg Notes on Editors and Contributors ix Apalt from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, Preface or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and xii Patents Act, '1988, this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form, or by any means, only with the prior permission in writing of the PART 1 INTRODUCTION 1 publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers. 1 What is Qualitative Research? An Introduction to the Field 3 Uwe Flick, Emst von Kardorff and Ines Steinke SAGE Publications Ltd 1 Oliver's Yard 55 City Road PART 2 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN ACTION: PARADIGMATIC RESEARCH STYLES 13 London EC1Y lSP Introduction 15 SAGE Publications Inc. 2455 Teller Road 2.1 Anselm Strauss 17 Thousand Oaks, Califomia 91320 Bruno Hildenbrand

SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd 2.2 Erving Goffman 24 B-42, Panchsheel Enclave Herbert Willems Post Box 41 09 2.3 Harold Garfinkel and Harvey Sacks 29 New Delhi 110017 )org R. Bergmann

British Library Cataloguing in Publication data 2;4 Paul Willis and the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies 35 Rolf Lindner A catalogue record for this book is available 2.5 Paul Parin, Fritz Morgenthaler and Goldy Parin-Matthey 40 from the British Library Maya Nadig and )ohannes Reichmayr 2.6 Clifford Geertz ISBN 0 7-619 7374 5 47 !SBN 0 7619 7375 3 (pbk) Stephan Wolff 2.7 Norman K. Denzin: life in Transit 53 Library of Congress Control Number 2003112201 Yvonna S. Lincoln 2.8 Marie Jahoda 58 Christian Fleck

PART 3 THE THEORY OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 63

Introduction 65

3A: BACKGROUND THEORIES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 67

3.1 Phenomenological life-world Analysis 67 Ronald Hitzler and Thomas S. Eberle 3.2 Ethnomethodology 72 Typeset by C&M Digitals (P) Ltd., (hennai, India Printed in Great Britain by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow )org R. Bergmann 0 CONTENTS CONTENTS 8

3.3 Symbolic Interactionism 81 5.1 Ways into the Field and their Variants 195 Nprman K. Denzin Stephan Wolff 3.4 Constructivism 88 Uwe Flick 58: COLLECTINGVERBAL DATA 3.5 Social Scientific Hermeneutics 95 203 Hans-Georg Soeffner 5.2 Qualitative Interviews: An Overview 203 Christel Hopt 3B: QUALITATIVERESEARCH PROGRAMMES 101 5.3 Interviewing as an Activity 209 3.6 Qualitative Biographical Research 101 Harry Hermanns Wintried Marotzki' 5.4 Group Discussions and Focus Groups 214 3.7 Qualitative Generation Research 108 Ralt Bohnsack /-Jeinz Bude 3.8 life-world Analysis in Ethnography 113 5C: OBSERVINGPROCESSES AND ACTIVITIES 222 Anne Honer 3.9 Cultural.5tudies 118 5.5 Field Observation and Ethnography 222 Rainer Winter Christian LOders 3.10 Gender Studies 123 5.6 Photography as Social Science Data 231 Regine Gildemeister Douglas Harper 3.11 Organizational Analysis 129 5.7 Reading Film: Using Films and Videos as Empirical Lutz von Rosenstiel Social Science Material 237 3.12 Qualitative Evaluation Research 137 Norman K. Denzin Ernst van Kardorff 5.8 Electronic Process Data and Analysis 243 l6rg R. Bergmann and Christoph Meier PART 4 METHODOLOGY AND QUALITATIVERESEARCH 143 5D: ANALYSIS,INTERPRETATION AND PRESENTATION Introduction 145 248 5.9 The Transcription of Conversations 4.1 Design and Process in Qualitative Research 146 248 Sabine Kowal and Daniel C O'Connell Uwe Flick 5.10 The Analysis of Semi-structured Interviews 4.2 Hypotheses and Prior Knowledge in Qualitative Research 153 253 Christiane Schmidt Wemer Meineteld 5.11 4.3 Abduction, Deduction and Induction in Qualitative Research 159 The Analysis of Narrative-biographical Interviews 259 Gabriele Rosenthal and Wolfram Fischer-Rosenthal la Reichertz 5.12 4.4 Selection Procedures, Sampling, Case Construction 165 Qualitative Content Analysis 266 Philipp Mayring Hans Merkens 5.13 Theoretical Coding: Text Analysis in Grounded Theory 4.5 Qualitative and Quantitative Methods: Not in Opposition 172 270 Andreas B6hm Udo Kelle and Christian Erzberger 5.14 Computer-assisted Analysis of Qualitative Data 4.6 Triangulation in Qualitative Research 178 276 Udo Kelle Uwe Flick 5.15 Analysis of Documents and Records 4.7 Quality Criteria in Qualitative Research 184 284 Stephan Wolff ines Steinke 5.16 Objective Hermeneutics and Hermeneutic Sociology of Knowledge 290 PARTS DOING QUALITATIVERESEARCH 191 lo Reichertz 5.17 Conversation Analysis 296 introduction 193 Jorg R. Bergmann 5.18 Genre Analysis 303 SA: ENTERINGTHE FIELD 195 Hubert Knoblauch and Thomas Luckmann 8 CONTENTS

5.19 Discourse analysis 308 lanPBrker 5.20 Deep-structure Hermeneutics 313 Hans-Dieter Konig 5.21 The Art of Interpretation 321 Heinz Bude 5.22 The Presentation of Qualitative Research 326 Eduard Matt

PART 6 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN CONTEXT 331

Introdluction 333

6A: THE USE OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 334

6.1 Research Ethics. and Qualitative Research 334 Christel Hopf 6.2 leaching Qualitative Research 340 Uwe Flick and Martin Bauer

6.3 ..Utilization ·of Qualitative Research 349 Ernst van Kardorff

513: THE FUTURE AND CHALLENGES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 354

6.4 The Future Prospects of Qualitative Research 354 Hubert Knoblauch 6.5 The Challenges of Qualitative Research 359 Christian Wders 6.6 . The Art of Procedure, Methodological Innovation and Theory-formation in Qualitative Research 365 Alexandre Metraux

PART 7 RESOURCES 371

7. 'I Resources for Qualitative Researchers 373 Heike Ohlbrecht

References 381

Author ·'ndex 421

Subject Index 428