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Husserlian Phenomenology and Colaizzi's Method of Data Analysis: Exemplar in

Qualitative Nursing Inquiry Using Nursing As Caring Theory

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Husserlian Phenomenology and Colaizzi’s Method of Data Analysis: Exemplar in Qualitative Nursing
Inquiry Using Nursing As Caring Theory
Evalyn E. Abalos, PhD, RN, Silliman University; Reynaldo Y. Rivera, PhD, Silliman University; Rozzano C. Locsin, PhD, RN,
FAAN, Florida Atlantic University; Savina O. Schoenhofer, PhD, MEd, MN, BSN, University of Mississippi

Abstract and the procedural or methodological

This paper discusses qualitative nursing inquiry from the perspective of Husserl’s interpretations that serve as guidelines for
phenomenology, Colaizzi’s method of data analysis, and Boykin and Schoenhofer’s theory of research approaches are offered by Colaizzi,
Nursing As Caring. Another important purpose of the paper is to clarify in understandable terms Giorgi, Paterson and Zderad, Spiegelberg,
distinctions between descriptive and interpretative phenomenology. There are four sections: Streubert, Van Kaam, and Van Manen (Speziale
Overview of Phenomenology, Critique of Husserl’s Phenomenology, Colaizzi’s Method of Data & Carpenter, 2007). In discourses, the term
Analysis, and an exemplar of application using the study of the lived experience of commercial phenomenology has often been used
sex workers. Discussion of the research is grounded in the assumptions of Boykin and interchangeably with the word hermeneutics.
Schoenhofer’s theory of Nursing As Caring and guided by a conceptual model to facilitate Hermeneutics is also sometimes called
translation to practice. interpretive phenomenology, Heideggerian
phenomenology, or existential phenomenology
Keywords: Husserlian phenomenology, Colaizzi, positivism (Giorgi, 2005). Consequently, there (Colaizzi, 1973). However, the best way to look at
Nursing As Caring, commercial sex worker was a ‘‘shift of focus away from the thing and Heidegger’s methodology is to understand his
nature, toward human beings and their worlds’’ approach as phenomenological hermeneutic
Introduction (Giorgi, 2005, p. 76). How does the naturalistic ontology. This assertion is premised on
The issue about phenomenology as a paradigm differ from the positivistic paradigm? In Heidegger’s presupposition that ‘‘language is the
philosophy and as a research method continues house of being (where) human beings
terms of ontology (nature of reality), positivism
to generate scholarly discourse particularly in dwell. . .those who create with words are the
adheres to the assumptions that an objective
nursing research circles. Often the focus of guardians of this home’’ (Heidegger, 1998a, p.
reality exists (Polit & Beck, 2008) in the form of
discussion is Husserlian phenomenology 239).
concepts, theories, and formulas. In contrast, the
grounding Colaizzi’s phenomenological approach. Heideggerian phenomenology is anchored in
naturalistic paradigm reflects a belief in subjective
Reflecting and clarifying issues about the ‘‘letting be’’ and the ‘‘self-showing’’ of being
and multiple realities, as reality is a mentally
phenomenological approaches is critical to the from its stubborn hiding in the phenomenon (or
constructed idea by the individual (Polit & Beck,
maintenance of rigor and value of qualitative ‘‘the things in themselves’’). Furthermore, the
2008). The epistemological assumption of the
research in nursing for knowledge development. question concerning the ‘‘meaning of being’’ is
positivistic paradigm, the relation between the
The purpose of this paper is to present and the subject of inquiry in Heidegger’s fundamental
inquirer and those being studied, is that the
explicate the use of Husserlian phenomenology ontology (Heidegger, 1962). Thus, the description
researcher is independent from the subjects and of hermeneutic phenomenological ontology as the
and Colaizzi’s method of data analysis in that findings are not influenced by the researcher
qualitative nursing inquiry. Another important method of Heidegger’s approach to the study of
(Polit & Beck, 2008). Furthermore, the orientation everyday human experience is the correct
purpose of the paper is to clarify in is focused on the outward appearances of people
understandable terms distinctions between understanding of what is popularly known as
rather than on the search for essence. The hermeneutic phenomenological approach.
descriptive and interpretative phenomenology. A
naturalistic paradigm adheres to the belief that
model is presented depicting the conceptual lens,
research findings are a creation of an interactive Critique of Husserlian Phenomenology
using a research exemplar grounded in the
process between the researcher and the Descriptive phenomenology was founded by
significance and relevance of the Nursing As
participants and thus is associated with qualitative Edmund Husserl. Essence is defined by Husserl
Caring theory of Boykin and Schoenhofer (2001).
research methodology (Polit & Beck, 2008). While as ‘‘the very central core of reality’’ (Lauer, 1958,
positivism is referred to as reductionist because it p. 20). It may be understood as meaning since
Overview of Phenomenology
studies parts or the processes that constitute the ‘‘to say that one has grasped the essence of
Phenomenology is not only a philosophy but
parts of the whole phenomenon, the naturalistic something is to say that one has grasped its
also a research methodology. It emerged in the
paradigm is referred as constructivism (Giorgi,
first decade of the 20th century as a philosophy meaning’’ (Lauer, 1958, p. 21).
consisting of three phases. Speziale and 2005; Polit & Beck, 2008). On the other hand, consciousness which is
Carpenter (2007) described these phases, with Phenomenology is the study of essences ‘‘the kind of being which things exercise. . .and
the first being the preparatory phase in which through their appearances (Lauer, 1958). It directly available to the investigator’’ (Lauer,
intentionality was the focus, and with Franz studies phenomena–things as they appear in a 1958, p. 7) is the ‘‘medium between human
Brentano as the prominent figure. With the person’s experience or ways persons experience beings and the world’’ (Giorgi, 2005, p. 76). The
German phase, the concepts of essences, things–thus, there are meanings in experience. concept of the pure consciousness can be
intuiting, and phenomenological reduction were These meanings are the essences of human understood in the articulation of Giorgi (2005): ‘‘In
developed, and Edmund Husserl and Martin experience. The conscious experience is lived by order to concentrate on the contribution of
Heidegger were the dominant figures. The French the person referred to as the subjective or the first consciousness, Husserl wanted to capture it in
phase was focused on the development of the person point of view (Smith, 2008). the purest state possible. Consequently, he came
concept of embodiment, and ‘‘being-in-the- up with the method he called the
world,’’ emerging with Marcel, Sartre, and Phenomenology as Research Method phenomenological reduction’’ (p. 77).
Merleau-Ponty as the prevailing figures. Phenomenology as a research method, is a Phenomenological reduction is holding in
Phenomenology, which is of the naturalistic ‘‘rigorous, critical, systematic investigation of abeyance the assumptions, beliefs, and biases
paradigm, came as a countermovement to phenomena’’ (Speziale & Carpenter, 2007, p. 81), about a phenomenon under investigation, thus,

2016, Vol. 20, No. 1 19

Husserlian Phenomenology and Colaizzi’s Method of Data Analysis: Exemplar in Qualitative Nursing Inquiry Using Nursing As Caring Theory
pure phenomenon is isolated from what is already
known about a particular phenomenon (Speziale
& Carpenter, 2007).
Bracketing or separating out of consciousness
what is already known about or believed about
the phenomenon being experienced is part of the
reductive process (Speziale & Carpenter, 2007;
Polit & Beck, 2008). This process entails that in
order to grasp the essential lived experience of
those being studied, the researcher should shed
all prior knowledge related to the phenomenon
being studied (Lopez & Willis, 2004). This
technique was not to eliminate the existence of
that prior knowledge (which Husserl called
transcendence) but to allow the bracketing of
knowledge (Lauer, 1958).
‘‘With epoché in operation, whatever is known
is known as essential and necessary’’ (Lauer,
1958, p. 50). To this end, only a cursory review of
literature is even suggested prior to the conduct of
the study to achieve pure description (Speziale &
Carpenter, 2007). Bracketing is done to achieve
transcendental subjectivity, which is not allowing
biases and preconceptions to interfere with the
object of the study by constantly assessing it
(Lopez & Willis, 2004). Culture, society, politics,
and the effects of these on an individual are not
central to Husserl’s thoughts (Lopez & Willis,
2004). Therefore, the descriptive phenomenology
of Husserl is the ‘‘direct exploration, analysis, and
description of particular phenomena, as free as
possible from unexamined presuppositions,
aiming at maximum intuitive presentation’’
(Spiegelberg, 1975, p. 57).
Phenomenological reduction was Edmund
Husserl’s attempt to resolve Immanuel Kant’s
thesis concerning the impossibility of gaining
access into the ‘‘things by themselves’’ which
Kant (as cited by Durant, 1967) himself described
as the noumena (or nonsensual but intelligible
reality or ‘‘transcendent esthetics’’) in his Critique
of Pure Reason. Durant (1967) explained that the
Neo-Kantians criticized Husserl’s attempt and
upheld Kant’s thesis that exalts the possibility of
retrieving ‘‘pure reason’’ from the ‘‘impure
knowledge which comes to us through the
distorting channels of our senses’’ (p. 265). For
Kant, ‘‘pure reason’’– that is, the noumena–refers
to his ‘‘a priori’’ knowledge that comes to us as
absolute, true even before our sense experience
can take place. Kant’s brilliant proof for this
possibility of a priori knowledge is mathematical
knowledge. To Kant, mathematical knowledge is
‘‘necessary and certain’’ and for which
conception of its infallibility in the future is
improbable (Durant, 1967, p. 266).
Kant in his Critique, written in 1781, asserted
his parallel thesis: ‘‘How far we can advance
independent of all experience, in a priori
knowledge. . .’’ (Durant, 1967, p. 267). But this
Kantian thesis did not find its way to Husserl’s
phenomenology. Instead, Husserl (1999) picked
20 International Journal for Human Caring
up the Cartesian certitude which played an
important role in developing his phenomenology
in the book entitled Cartesian Meditations: An
Introduction to Phenomenology.
Certainly, in order to ensure a phenomenology
that would allow him to enter into the ‘‘pure
consciousness’’ for phenomenological
description, Husserl borrowed Descartes’ infallible
doctrine of truth: ‘‘I think, hence I am’’
(Descartes, 1981, p. 27), a doctrine in which the
‘‘I am what I am’’ (or the mind) is distinguished
from the body (Descartes, 1981). For Descartes,
this infallible doctrine of certitude (‘‘I am what I
am’’) will allow the analyst to ‘‘. . .inquire in
general into what is essential to the truth and
certainty of a proposition’’ (Descartes, 1981, p.
27). Husserl borrowed this inerrable Cartesian ‘‘I
think hence I am’’ doctrine and made it the
foundation of certitude in developing his method
of phenomenological reduction for gaining access
into the ‘‘transcendent world’’ of pure essences.
The Neo-Kantians however, criticized
Husserl’s philosophy of consciousness as nothing
new, for this problematique had long been
addressed in Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason
(Kant, 2001). Heidegger consequently developed
a mode of interpretation called hermeneutic
ontological phenomenology. Heidegger was not
concerned with ‘‘facticity’’ or ‘‘factuality of such a
fact’’ in the sense of logical categories, but of the
meaning of Being in unconcealment. He was not
interested in the epoché or phenomenological
description of essences or pure consciousness
but of the grasping of the possibility that, as he
says ‘‘higher than actuality stands possibility’’
(Heidegger, 1962, p. 63). Although Heidegger
was a famous student of Husserl, he opined that
the ‘‘reduction of all objects to conscious
phenomena seemed dangerously one-sided’’
(Colaizzi, 1973, p. 2). For Heidegger, the proper
subject of phenomenology is the ‘‘meaning of
Being’’ or the meaning of human existence, of
what determines a being. Colaizzi (1973) further
describes the development of Heideggerian
phenomenology as existential in this statement:
In his search for the meaning of ‘‘being,’’
Heidegger (1962) rejects the
phenomenological reduction as an
unwarranted truncating of Being. Against
Husserl’s view that being is dependent on,
or at least coextensive with the constituting
power of consciousness, Heidegger claims
that consciousness itself is a constituted
human activity, founded upon the more
primordial level of human existence, being in
the world. To the extent that Heidegger
explicates the various modes of the unified
structure of being-in-the-world according to
their appearances as phenomena, he
remains as a phenomenologist. But in as
much as these modes are much more
extensive than merely conscious
phenomena and pertain to the totality of
human existence, phenomenology becomes
at the hands of Heidegger existential
phenomenology. (pp. 2-3)
Despite this statement, it should be noted that
Heidegger made no claim of existential
phenomenology, for, as noted above, Heidegger
is not concerned with existence but that his
objective is to answer the question concerning the
meaning of Being. It is Heidegger’s concern to get
into ‘‘the full essence of existence’’ (Heidegger,
1998b, p. 284), the being that exists in the human
being. This explains why Heidegger’s
acknowledged Magnum Opus bears the title
Being and Time, published in 1927, not the title
‘‘Existence and Time.’’
In addition, Colaizzi appears to have rejected
Husserl’s phenomenology, affirming Heidegger’s
phenomenology when he wrote in his 1973 book
entitled Reflection and Research in Psychology:
. . . it (phenomenological psychology) is the
recognition of phenomena as genuinely and
equally constituted by origins and
appearances that provides the justification
for qualifying the methods by which the two
subject matters are derived as
phenomenological (sic) methods: regarding
origins in refusing to reduce reality to what is
immediately accessible to reflective or
conceptual consciousness, our methods
actively search for origins of phenomena. (p.
119)
This discussion addresses the search for
origins of phenomena which is a more primordial
level of human existence, being-in-the world
affirms Heidegger’s phenomenological ontology
and rejects the Husserlian ‘‘phenomenological
reduction’’ of human experiences. Although
Colaizzi appears to reject Husserl’s
phenomenology, this essay maintains the
usefulness of Husserlian phenomenology as an
approach to search ‘‘pure essences’’ of human
experiences through phenomenological
description in the context of reduction. Colaizzi’s
method can still work with Husserlian science.
Colaizzi’s Method of Data Analysis
To mediate between empirical psychology and
philosophical phenomenology, phenomenological
psychology, which is a descriptive discipline, was
initiated by Husserl (Colaizzi, 1973). Colaizzi
developed a method to analyze
phenomenological qualitative data (Colaizzi,
1978). He contends that experimental method
cannot be applied to the objective investigation of
human experience but rather by ‘‘a method that
remains with human experience as it is
experienced, one which tries to sustain contact
with experience as it is given. This can be
achieved only by a phenomenological method of
description’’ (Colaizzi, 1973, p. 53).
 Husserlian Phenomenology and Colaizzi’s Method of Data Analysis: Exemplar in Qualitative Nursing Inquiry Using Nursing As Caring Theory

Colaizzi’s (1978) analytic method which is

consistent with descriptive phenomenology has Figure 1
seven steps. These seven steps are discussed Conceptual Model: The lived experience of male sex workers: A qualitative study utilizing
clearly in the following example where it is used in Husserlian phenomenology with Colaizzi’s method of data analysis
nursing inquiry:
1. Read all protocols to acquire a feeling for
them.
2. Review each protocol and extract significant
statements.
3. Spell out the meaning of each significant
statement (e.g., formulate meanings).
4. Organize the formulated meanings into
cluster of themes.
Refer these clusters back to the original
protocols to validate them.
Note discrepancies among or between the
various clusters, avoiding the temptation of
ignoring data that do not fit.
5. Integrate results into an exhaustive
description of the phenomenon under study.
6. Formulate an exhaustive description of the
phenomenon under study in as unequivocal
a statement of identification as possible.
7. Ask the participants about the findings thus
far as a final validating step.
The following research exemplar explains how
the foregoing discussion of philosophical and
Source: Adapted from Abalos, 2011
methodological issues about phenomenological
approaches illustrates the analysis of a qualitative
study of male commercial sex workers.
Grounding the discussion are the assumptions of attention–the nerves, the ears, the brain, the making her thoughts more conscious; those
Boykin and Schoenhofer’s theory of Nursing As heart, everything is at the highest quality, other- preconceptions were then deliberately set aside.
Caring, facilitated by the use of a conceptual wise there is no perceiving’’ (Krishnamurti, 1970, Consequently, the researcher is not to
model integrating philosophy, methodology and para. 32). This perception through the senses is immediately judge that the male commercial sex
nursing theoretical perspective. referred to as sense perception in the current workers’ caring needs are met through health
study. These sense perceptions consist of both education, drug rehabilitation counseling, or
An Exemplar: The Lived Experience of Male the perceived and the co-perceived appearances values inculcation, and the like. Rather, through
Commercial Sex Workers of the phenomenon. The perceived data are those in-depth interview, the nurse researcher seeks to
A qualitative study of the lived experience of which are directly observed, heard, felt, and know the male commercial sex workers as caring
male commercial sex workers was done in smelled, since to perceive, one is to distinguish persons who are ‘‘whole and complete in the
Negros Oriental, Republic of the Philippines by using the senses. Those sense perceptions as- moment’’ (Boykin, Schoenhofer, & Linden, 2010,
Abalos (2011) using a modified Husserlian sociated with judgment, biases, and prejudices p. 372).
phenomenology. The conceptual framework for that are arrived at from the perceived appearanc- After phenomenological reduction came
this study (Figure 1) used the method of phe- es are called the co-perceived. For example, the phenomenological description. To attain this, the
nomenological reduction to enable the researcher researcher, in an environment known for its active data needed to be thoroughly analyzed. For this,
to enter into the pure essence of the lived expe- illicit drug use, upon seeing the participant with the researcher employed Colaizzi’s seven-step
rience of the participants. By opting to retain reddened eyes (what is perceived), might make a analytic process. This method allowed for a rich
phenomenological reduction in the study, the judgment that this person is taking illicit drugs (co- description of the lived experience of the male
process of epoché or bracketing of predisposi- perceived). commercial sex workers.
tions and perceived data was observed. However, In order to get the pure essence of the lived In Figure 1, the two-way arrows connecting
Colaizzi’s method of phenomenological descrip- experience of the male commercial sex workers, Phenomenological Perception to Sense Percep-
tion of the revealed meaning or the manifested the researcher needed to bracket or set aside tion, Husserlian Phenomenological reduction to
dimension of human life is incorporated to form sense perception. Thus, along with the sense Bracketing, and Colaizzi’s phenomenological de-
the whole conceptual lens of the study (Figure 1). perception, the researcher’s theories, scription to Pure Consciousness all indicate that
This conceptual model (Figure 1) illustrates assumptions, preconceptions, and all prior sense perception and bracketing are continuously
the process the researcher used to understand knowledge about the phenomenon were also done throughout the data collection phase. This is
the phenomenon, the lived experience of male bracketed. also consistent with the pragmatic thinking of a
commercial sex workers. To understand the phe- Using Husserl’s concept of phenomenological continuing interplay between concepts and ob-
nomenon, the researcher had to enter into the reduction, the researcher held in abeyance beliefs servations such as the constant interplay between
world of the other, this phenomenological percep- and judgments about the male commercial sex ‘‘phenomenological perception’’ and sense per-
tion refers to what the researcher sees, hears, workers. This was done by writing the ception (perceived and co-perceived facts-of-life).
feels, and so on. ‘‘Perception implies complete researcher’s preconceptions in her journal, thus During the interview process, the researcher con-

2016, Vol. 20, No. 1 21

Husserlian Phenomenology and Colaizzi’s Method of Data Analysis: Exemplar in Qualitative Nursing Inquiry Using Nursing As Caring Theory
tinued to have the sense perceived and the sense
co-perceived appearances of the phenomenon
(lived experience of commercial sex workers).
These intruding thoughts had to be consciously
pushed aside by the researcher.
Themes were organized into a rich exhaustive
description. This exhaustive description was
shown to the participants. The result of the
validation process was integrated into the findings
of the study. The discussion of the findings of the
study is grounded in Boykin and Schoenhofer’s
Nursing As Caring theory as presented and
described in their recent published work (Boykin
et al., 2010). The theoretical assumptions
underpinning the theory structure the discussion:
Persons are caring by virtue of their
humanness. ‘‘Caring is an altruistic
expression of love and is the intentional and
embodied recognition of value and
connectedness. The full meaning of caring
cannot be restricted to a definition but is
illuminated in the experience of caring and in
the reflection on that experience’’ (Boykin et
al., 2010, p. 372)
Persons are whole and complete in the
moment. ‘‘The idea that persons are whole
and complete in the moment permits the
nurse to accept conflicting feelings and to be
open to the nursed as a person, not merely
as an entity with diagnosis and superficially
or normatively understood behavior’’
(Boykin et al., 2010, p. 375). Any aspect or
dimension of the person reflects the whole.
Relating to the person as a whole, as caring
and complete, is intentional and does not
provide for dividing the person into parts.
Persons live caring from moment to moment.
The nurse strives ‘‘to know self and other as
caring in the moment with a growing
repertoire of ways of expressing caring’’
(Boykin et al., 2010, p. 375). The ‘‘fullness of
being human is expressed as one lives
caring uniquely day to day. . . unfolding
possibilities moment to moment’’ (Boykin &
Schoenhofer, 2001, p. 11). ‘‘One continues
to grow in caring competency, in fully
expressing self as caring person.’’ (p. 11)
Personhood is a way of living grounded in
caring. ‘‘Personhood is understood to mean
living grounded in caring. . .personhood is
the universal human call. A profound
understanding of personhood communicates
the paradox of person-as-person and
person-in-communication all at once.’’
(Boykin et al., 2010, p. 373)
Personhood is enhanced through
participation in nurturing relationships with
caring others. ‘‘It is in the context of caring
between that personhood is enhanced’’
(Boykin et al., 2010, p. 373). Caring
between is the ‘‘loving relation into which
the nurse and the nursed enter and co-
22 International Journal for Human Caring
create by living the intention to care’’
(Boykin et al., 2010, p. 373).
Nursing is both a discipline and a profession.
As a discipline and a profession, ‘‘nursing
uniquely focuses on caring as its central
value, its primary interest, the direct intention
of its practice.’’ (Boykin et al., 2010, p. 372)
Referring to the model of the conceptual
framework for this study (Figure 1), the arrow
pointing from the research process to Nursing As
Caring theory of Boykin and Schoenhofer illus-
trates that the findings of this study will be used to
inform and guide nursing research, practice, edu-
cation, and healthcare policy using the theory of
Boykin and Schoenhofer (2001; Boykin et al.,
2010). Likewise, the arrow from the theory of
Boykin and Schoenhofer back to the male com-
mercial sex worker illustrates that nursing as a
discipline and profession will use the findings of
the study for the well-being of the male commer-
cial sex workers.
Data Analysis Following Colaizzi’s
Phenomenological Approach
Making sense or acquiring feeling for the
protocols. Using the seven-step Colaizzi method,
the study of the lived experience of the male
commercial sex workers was analyzed and
discussed. The transcriptions were read several
times in order to understand the fullness of the
experience as described by each participant
(Colaizzi, 1978). Since the narratives were in
Cebuano, one of the Philippine languages, these
were translated into English by the researcher. To
ensure that the meanings were not lost during
translation, a bilingual (English and Cebuano
languages) professional translator and editor
validated all the translations.
Extracting significant statements. The
researcher returned to each transcript to ‘‘extract
from them phrases or sentences that directly
pertain to the investigated phenomenon’’
(Colaizzi, 1978, p. 59). The Cebuano
transcriptions and their corresponding English
translations were arranged side by side in
columns to aid in verifying the meaning of the
data. Each transcription was analyzed after each
interview, holding in abeyance (in a process
already described) those notions of meaning of
the phenomenon that were gleaned from each
narrative and the significant statements (SS) in
English were coded or numbered consecutively.
Some idioms in Cebuano (e.g., kapit sa patalim;
sira) could not be translated into English verbatim;
these were left as is with a brief explanation
provided in parentheses. A total of 232 significant
statements (SS) were extracted from the seven
in-depth interviews.
Formulating meanings. The third step is
formulating the meanings or spelling out the
meaning of each significant statement (Colaizzi,
1978). There were 254 formulated meanings
(FMs) derived from the 232 significant statements
(SS). There were more FMs than SS because
some significant statements had more than one
formulated meaning. The FMs were numbered
consecutively. Since this step entails creative
insight but not severing connections with the
original transcriptions (Colaizzi, 1978), the
researcher constantly referred to the original
transcripts of the interviews. In this step, the
researcher leaps from what the study participants
say to finding what they mean, thus making a
‘‘precarious leap’’ (Colaizzi, 1978, p. 59). Colaizzi
further explained that in finding these formulated
meanings, the researcher must discover and
illuminate the hidden meanings considering the
various contexts and horizons of the phenomenon
which is described in the original transcript ‘‘and
must not formulate meanings which have no
connection with the data’’ (p. 59). To remain
faithful to this description, validation was sought
from a methodology expert for the formulated
meanings, themes, and eventually the theme
clusters (or clusters of themes) that described the
phenomenon being studied.
Organizing the clusters of themes. The fourth
step was to organize the formulated meanings
into clusters of themes. The 254 coded
formulated meanings were organized and
categorized into 21 themes. After carefully
reading and reviewing the meanings of the
experience, 21 themes were found to cluster into
four thematic categories describing the meaning
of the participants’ lived experience. These were
Struggle, Realization, Invulnerability, and
Approval. These four thematic clusters were
regarded as the central themes of the study.
Integration of results and exhaustive
description. The fifth and the sixth steps in
Colaizzi’s method of analysis are integrating the
results of the investigated topic into an exhaustive
description and identifying its fundamental
structure. This description was written as
unequivocally as possible. To do this, the theme
clusters and themes were integrated to form the
description.
Validation. The final step in Colaizzi’s method of
data analysis is validation of the findings. This
was done by meeting four of the seven
participants (three participants were either not
available or could not be reached through their
contact numbers). Each of the four was given a
copy of the exhaustive descriptions translated into
Cebuano. They were asked if the exhaustive
descriptions accurately described their experience
 Husserlian Phenomenology and Colaizzi’s Method of Data Analysis: Exemplar in Qualitative Nursing Inquiry Using Nursing As Caring Theory
and if they had anything more to add. One
participant suggested including an aspect
regarding the situation of threat to life such as
being murdered by adding a sentence such as
‘‘Ang uban na salvage kay ilang pangawatan ug
butang o kwarta ang ilang customer’’ (‘‘others
were ‘salvaged’ [slang or street word for ‘killed’]
because they robbed their customers of personal
things or their money’’).
Conclusion
In qualitative nursing inquiry, Husserlian
phenomenology can be used as the inquirer
attempts to maintain utmost objectivity in the
process of data gathering. This can be realized
through the application of bracketing or
‘epoche.’ Furthermore, available data can be
analyzed using Colaizzi’s seven-step process in
order to arrive at pure essences or meanings
of the experience. The findings of the study can
be discussed according to relevant research
and using an extant nursing theory such as
Boykin and Schoenhofer’s Nursing As Caring
theory.
Implications
Qualitative nursing inquiry using Husserlian
phenomenology, Colaizzi’s method of data
analysis, and a nursing theory contribute to
nursing empirics, thus advancing nursing
knowledge. Such nursing inquiry can also
advance and inform nursing practice regarding
how practitioners can objectively know persons
and therefore be better equipped to nurse them.
Additionally, such studies allow nurses to
appreciate the significance of relating nursing
theories to nursing practice.
Recommendations
This paper provided the description of using
Husserlian phenomenology and Colaizzi’s method
of data analysis in a qualitative nursing inquiry
and presented a model illustrating the conceptual
lens through a study exemplar grounded in the
significance and relevance of the theory of Boykin
and Schoenhofer’s theory of Nursing As Caring. It
is recommended that extant nursing theories be
utilized to ground the discussion of the findings of
qualitative nursing inquiry in order to explicate
further the relevance of nursing theories to
nursing practice. Perhaps most importantly, using
an explicit nursing theoretical framework to
ground qualitative nursing research provides
immediate guidance for translation to practice,
thus diminishing the gap between theory and
practice.
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Author Note
Evalyn E. Abalos, PhD, RN is the Acting Dean
and Assistant Professor of the College of Nursing
at Silliman University in Dumaguete City,
Philippines. Her varied interests in understanding
human health provided the impetus for the study
of lived experiences as a vehicle for
understanding nursing within the caring viewpoint.
Reynaldo Y. Rivera, PhD is Associate Professor
and Dean of the Graduate School, Silliman
University, Dumaguete City, Philippines. He is
instrumental in the development of the valuing of
philosophical analysis and furthering qualitative
research in nursing. Rozzano C. Locsin, PhD,
RN, FAAN, is Professor Emeritus of the Christine
E. Lynn College of Nursing, Florida Atlantic
University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA. Currently,
he is also a Professor of Nursing at Tokushima
University in Tokushima, Japan. Savina O.
Schoenhofer, PhD, RN, is a retired Professor of
Nursing from Alcorn State University and the
University of Mississippi Medical Center, School
of Nursing, Jackson, Mississippi, USA.
Funding: This research received no specific
grant from any funding agency in the public,
commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
Correspondence regarding this article may be
sent to Dr. Evalyn E. Abalos, College of Nursing,
Silliman University, Dumaguete City, 6200
Philippines. Email may be sent via the Internet to
evalyn_2004@yahoo.com
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