Nursi of ng al & rn C u a o r e J Reiners, J Nurs Care 2012, 1:5 Journal of Nursing and Care DOI: 10.4172/2167-1168.1000119 ISSN: 2167-1168 Review Article Open Access Understanding the Differences between Husserl’s (Descriptive) and Heidegger’s (Interpretive) Phenomenological Research Gina M. Reiners* University of Saint Joseph, 1678 Asylum Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06117, USA Abstract Phenomenology is one of several qualitative research traditions. Undergraduate and graduate nursing students have sought to understand the differences between Husserl’s descriptive and Heidegger’s interpretive phenomenology. This article is a basic resource for nursing students that describes and interprets the differences between the two philosophical phenomenological schools of thought. The origin of phenomenology is presented. A descriptive and an interpretive article from two peer reviewed nursing journals are compared and contrasted based on their purpose, data collection and data analysis. The selected articles were chosen based on their topic of relevance related to nursing students in educational settings. Keywords: Phenomenology, Research, Qualitative research philosophy of phenomenology allied closely with the naturalistic paradigm. Phenomenologists assumed that knowledge was achieved Introduction through interactions between researchers and participants. Therefore, phenomenological research was considered subjective, inductive, and Nursing is concerned with delivering quality care and dynamic. Consequently, participant and researcher engagement has understanding people. In order for nurses to appreciate the depth of offered researchers an understanding about phenomenon not typically their patients, they engage in recognizing and validating the whole studied [2]. person and their unique experiences. Many nurses are interested in conducting phenomenological research, perhaps, because it takes Husserl (descriptive) versus Heidegger (interpretive) into consideration the values of the individual’s experience and phenomenology their whole being. Consequently, when nurses consider conducting phenomenological research they need to choose the most appropriate Phenomenology is an inductive qualitative research tradition approach, so that the value of their research is not compromised [1]. rooted in the 20th century philosophical traditions of Edmund Husserl (descriptive) and Martin Heidegger (interpretive). Edmund Husserl The aim of this article is to present an educational resource for nursing (1859-1938), a German mathematician, founded the philosophical students, which illustrates the differences between Husserl (descriptive) movement of phenomenology. Husserl believed that phenomenology and Heidegger (interpretive) phenomenological philosophy through suspended all suppositions, was related to consciousness, and was the description of two peer reviewed nursing articles that employ based on the meaning of the individual’s experience [3]. The experience either phenomenological approach in a nursing educational setting. of perception, thought, memory, imagination, and emotion, involve The two selected articles were based on research topics that would what Husserl called “intentionality”, which is one’s directed awareness be most relevant for nursing students, which could foster greater or consciousness of an object or event. Thus, the critical question for understanding of interpretive and descriptive phenomenology. Husserl was: What do we know as persons? Consequently, Husserl Consequently, will nursing students who use a resource that examines developed descriptive phenomenology, where everyday conscious the differences between Edmund Husserl (descriptive) and Martin experiences were described while preconceived opinions were set aside Heidegger (interpretive) philosophies of phenomenology increase their or bracketed [4]. understanding of the two phenomenological schools of thought? This Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), Husserl’s student, rejected the article is not about original research and will not answer that question, theory of knowledge known as epistemology, and adopted ontology, because this article is a guide for nursing research students and any other the science of being. Heidegger developed interpretive phenomenology researchers who want to better understand the two phenomenological by extending hermeneutics, the philosophy of interpretation [3]. approaches. The question for this article is: What are the differences He broadened hermeneutics by studying the concept of being in the between the philosophical traditions of Husserl and Heidegger? world rather than knowing the world. Hermeneutics moves beyond the The origins of phenomenology description or core concepts of the experience and seeks meanings that are embedded in everyday occurrences [5]. Thus, the critical question The underlying philosophy of phenomenological research evolved through protest of the positivist paradigm. Reflected in 19th century thought, the principles of positivism postulated that researchers could *Corresponding author: Gina M. Reiners, Assistant Professor of Nursing, Uni- study reality. The positivist paradigm asserted that reality was ordered, versity of Saint Joseph, 1678 Asylum Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06117, USA, rational, and logical. Consequently, positivists assumed objectivity Tel: 860-231-2080 (Off) & 203-271-2980 (Res); Fax: 860- 231- 6755; E-mail: measured knowledge and was independent of human interaction. [email protected] Furthermore, quantitative research negated human subjectivity through Received July 10, 2012; Accepted August 25, 2012; Published August 27, 2012 strictly controlled collection and data analysis methods. Logically, the Citation: Reiners GM (2012) Understanding the Differences between Husserl’s findings of quantitative research were based on the tenets of empiricism (Descriptive) and Heidegger’s (Interpretive) Phenomenological Research. J Nurs and reductionism [2]. Care 1:119. doi:10.4172/2167-1168.1000119 The naturalistic paradigm, the countermovement of the Copyright: © 2012 Reiners GM. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted positivist paradigm, presumed that reality was not fixed but based use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and on individual and subjective realities. As one would suspect, the source are credited. J Nurs Care Volume 1 • Issue 5 • 1000119 ISSN: 2167-1168 JNC, an open access journal Citation: Reiners GM (2012) Understanding the Differences between Husserl’s (Descriptive) and Heidegger’s (Interpretive) Phenomenological Research. J Nurs Care 1:119. doi:10.4172/2167-1168.1000119 Page 2 of 3 for Heidegger was: What is being? Heidegger, who was interested Method in interpreting and describing human experience, believed that bracketing was not warranted because hermeneutics presumed prior Data collection understanding [4]. Two relevant educational peer reviewed nursing articles were Heidegger believed it was impossible to negate our experiences selected based on either Husserl’s descriptive phenomenological philosophy or Heidegger’s interpretive phenomenological philosophy. related to the phenomenon under study, for he believed personal Each article was reviewed and analyzed based on either the tenets of awareness was intrinsic to phenomenological research. Heidegger Husserl’s or Heidegger’s philosophy. rejected understanding how we know as humans, but accepted knowing as what it means to be [4]. According to Dahlberg, Drew and Nystrom Data analysis [4], “Heidegger asserted that human existence is a more fundamental A reading guide was constructed for the systematic review of the notion than human consciousness and human knowledge. His two articles. philosophy makes it clear that the essence of human understanding is hermeneutic, that is, our understanding of the everyday world is 1. Description or presentation of phenomenological approach. derived from our interpretation of it”. 2. Presentation of the design and analysis (aim/purpose, research When would a researcher choose to use either Husserl’s descriptive questions, process of analysis and the researcher’s role or Heidegger’s interpretive phenomenology? Researchers who [bracketed or not bracketed]). choose to understand and conduct either descriptive or interpretive A study based on Husserl’s descriptive philosophy phenomenological research need to be interested in how an individual’s consciousness perceives their description or interpretation of an Papp and Markkanen [6] conducted a qualitative study entitled, object or an event. Hence, in the moment of perceiving, the individual “Clinical Environment as a Learning Environment: Student Nurses’ implicitly describes or interprets the meaning of the experience through Perceptions concerning Clinical Learning Experiences”. The design of patterns that embody the gestalt of the phenomenon [6]. the Papp and Markkanen [6] study was based on Husserl’s descriptive phenomenological philosophy, where the directed awareness Interpretive phenomenology is used when the research question (intentionality) of the students’ perceptions of their clinical experiences asks for the meaning of the phenomenon and the researcher does not and the researchers’ bracketed engagement guided their findings. bracket their biases and prior engagement with the question under The goal of the Papp and Markkanen [6] study was to describe the study. Descriptive phenomenology is used when the researcher