<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phenomenography</span>

Phenomenography

<p><b>Phenomenography</b> is a <a href="/en/Qualitative_research" title="Qualitative research" class="wl">qualitative research</a> <a href="/en/Methodology" title="Methodology" class="wl">methodology</a>, within the <a href="/en/Antipositivism" title="Antipositivism" class="wl">interpretivist paradigm</a>, that investigates the qualitatively different ways in which people experience something or think about something.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Marton1986_1-0"><a href="#cite_note-Marton1986-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span> It is an approach to educational research which appeared in publications in the early 1980s.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Marton1986_1-1"><a href="#cite_note-Marton1986-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[1]</span></a></span><span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Marton1981_2-0"><a href="#cite_note-Marton1981-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[2]</span></a></span> It initially emerged from an <a href="/en/Empirical" title="Empirical" class="mw-redirect wl">empirical</a> rather than a theoretical or philosophical basis.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-Akerlind2005_3-0"><a href="#cite_note-Akerlind2005-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[3]</span></a></span></p>

<style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1129693374" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles mw:Transclusion">.mw-parser-output .hlist dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul{margin:0;padding:0}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt,.mw-parser-output .hlist li{margin:0;display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist.inline ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist dl ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ol ul,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul dl,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ol,.mw-parser-output .hlist ul ul{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .hlist .mw-empty-li{display:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dt::after{content:": "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li::after{content:" · ";font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li:last-child::after{content:none}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:first-child::before{content:" (";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dd li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt li:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dd:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li dt:last-child::after,.mw-parser-output .hlist li li:last-child::after{content:")";font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol{counter-reset:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li{counter-increment:listitem}.mw-parser-output .hlist ol>li::before{content:" "counter(listitem)"\a0 "}.mw-parser-output .hlist dd ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist dt ol>li:first-child::before,.mw-parser-output .hlist li ol>li:first-child::before{content:" ("counter(listitem)"\a0 "}</style><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1045330069" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .sidebar{width:22em;float:right;clear:right;margin:0.5em 0 1em 1em;background:#f8f9fa;border:1px solid #aaa;padding:0.2em;text-align:center;line-height:1.4em;font-size:88%;border-collapse:collapse;display:table}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .sidebar{display:table!important;float:right!important;margin:0.5em 0 1em 1em!important}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-subgroup{width:100%;margin:0;border-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-left{float:left;clear:left;margin:0.5em 1em 1em 0}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-none{float:none;clear:both;margin:0.5em 1em 1em 0}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-outer-title{padding:0 0.4em 0.2em;font-size:125%;line-height:1.2em;font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-top-image{padding:0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-top-caption,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-pretitle-with-top-image,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-caption{padding:0.2em 0.4em 0;line-height:1.2em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-pretitle{padding:0.4em 0.4em 0;line-height:1.2em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-title,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{padding:0.2em 0.8em;font-size:145%;line-height:1.2em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-title-with-pretitle{padding:0.1em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-image{padding:0.2em 0.4em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-heading{padding:0.1em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-content{padding:0 0.5em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-content-with-subgroup{padding:0.1em 0.4em 0.2em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-above,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-below{padding:0.3em 0.8em;font-weight:bold}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-collapse .sidebar-above,.mw-parser-output .sidebar-collapse .sidebar-below{border-top:1px solid #aaa;border-bottom:1px solid #aaa}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-navbar{text-align:right;font-size:115%;padding:0 0.4em 0.4em}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-list-title{padding:0 0.4em;text-align:left;font-weight:bold;line-height:1.6em;font-size:105%}.mw-parser-output .sidebar-list-title-c{padding:0 0.4em;text-align:center;margin:0 3.3em}@media(max-width:720px){body.mediawiki .mw-parser-output .sidebar{width:100%!important;clear:both;float:none!important;margin-left:0!important;margin-right:0!important}}</style><table class="sidebar sidebar-collapse nomobile nowraplinks hlist"><tbody><tr><td class="sidebar-pretitle">Part of <a href="/en/Category:Research" title="Category:Research" class="wl">a series</a> on</td></tr><tr><th class="sidebar-title-with-pretitle"><a href="/en/Research" title="Research" class="wl">Research</a></th></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-image"><span class="mw-default-size mw-image-border"><a href="/en/File:Humanités_Numériques.JPG" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Humanités_Numériques.JPG"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/Humanit%C3%A9s_Num%C3%A9riques.JPG/220px-Humanit%C3%A9s_Num%C3%A9riques.JPG" decoding="async" data-file-width="3264" data-file-height="2448" data-file-type="bitmap" height="165" width="220" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/Humanit%C3%A9s_Num%C3%A9riques.JPG/330px-Humanit%C3%A9s_Num%C3%A9riques.JPG 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d9/Humanit%C3%A9s_Num%C3%A9riques.JPG/440px-Humanit%C3%A9s_Num%C3%A9riques.JPG 2x" alt="Humanit%C3%A9s_Num%C3%A9riques.JPG"></a></span></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">
<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="padding-bottom:0;text-align:center;"><a href="/en/List_of_academic_fields" title="List of academic fields" class="wl">List of academic fields</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="padding-top:0;">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Applied_science" title="Applied science" class="wl">Applied sciences</a>
<ul><li><a href="/en/Research_and_development" title="Research and development" class="wl">R &amp; D</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/en/Formal_science" title="Formal science" class="wl">Formal sciences</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Humanities" title="Humanities" class="wl">Humanities</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Natural_science" title="Natural science" class="wl">Natural sciences</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Profession" title="Profession" class="wl">Professions</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Social_science" title="Social science" class="wl">Social sciences</a></li></ul></div></div></td>
</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">
<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="padding-bottom:0;text-align:center;"><a href="/en/Research_design" title="Research design" class="wl">Research design</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="padding-top:0;">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Research_proposal" title="Research proposal" class="wl">Research proposal</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Research_question" title="Research question" class="wl">Research question</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Academic_writing" title="Academic writing" class="wl">Writing</a>
<ul><li><a href="/en/Argument" title="Argument" class="wl">Argument</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Citation" title="Citation" class="wl">Referencing</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></div></td>
</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">
<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="padding-bottom:0;text-align:center;"><a href="/en/List_of_schools_of_philosophy" title="List of schools of philosophy" class="wl">Philosophy</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="padding-top:0;">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Constructivism_(philosophy_of_science)" title="Constructivism (philosophy of science)" class="wl"> Constructivism</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Empiricism" title="Empiricism" class="wl">Empiricism</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Positivism" title="Positivism" class="wl">Positivism</a> / <a href="/en/Antipositivism" title="Antipositivism" class="wl">Antipositivism</a> / <a href="/en/Postpositivism" title="Postpositivism" class="wl">Postpositivism</a></li>
<li>Realism
<ul><li><a href="/en/Critical_realism_(philosophy_of_the_social_sciences)" title="Critical realism (philosophy of the social sciences)" class="wl">Critical realism</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Subtle_realism" title="Subtle realism" class="wl">Subtle realism</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></div></td>
</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">
<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="padding-bottom:0;text-align:center;">Research strategy</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="padding-top:0;">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Interdisciplinarity" title="Interdisciplinarity" class="wl">Interdisciplinary</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Multimethodology" title="Multimethodology" class="wl">Multimethodology</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Qualitative_research" title="Qualitative research" class="wl">Qualitative</a>
<ul><li><a href="/en/Art-based_research" title="Art-based research" class="wl">Art-based</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/en/Quantitative_research" title="Quantitative research" class="wl">Quantitative</a></li></ul></div></div></td>
</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">
<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="padding-bottom:0;text-align:center;"><a href="/en/Methodology" title="Methodology" class="wl">Methodology</a></div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="padding-top:0;">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Action_research" title="Action research" class="wl">Action research</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Art_methodology" title="Art methodology" class="wl">Art methodology</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Critical_theory" title="Critical theory" class="wl">Critical theory</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Feminism" title="Feminism" class="wl">Feminism</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Grounded_theory" title="Grounded theory" class="wl">Grounded theory</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Hermeneutics" title="Hermeneutics" class="wl">Hermeneutics</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Historiography" title="Historiography" class="wl">Historiography</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Narrative_inquiry" title="Narrative inquiry" class="wl">Narrative inquiry</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Phenomenology_(sociology)" title="Phenomenology (sociology)" class="wl">Phenomenology</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Pragmatism" title="Pragmatism" class="wl">Pragmatism</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Scientific_method" title="Scientific method" class="wl">Scientific method</a></li></ul></div></div></td>
</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">
<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="padding-bottom:0;text-align:center;">Methods</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="padding-top:0;">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Case_study" title="Case study" class="wl">Case study</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Content_analysis" title="Content analysis" class="wl">Content analysis</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Descriptive_statistics" title="Descriptive statistics" class="wl">Descriptive statistics</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Discourse_analysis" title="Discourse analysis" class="wl">Discourse analysis</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Ethnography" title="Ethnography" class="wl">Ethnography</a>
<ul><li><a href="/en/Autoethnography" title="Autoethnography" class="wl">Autoethnography</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/en/Experiment" title="Experiment" class="wl">Experiment</a>
<ul><li><a href="/en/Field_experiment" title="Field experiment" class="wl">Field experiment</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Social_experiment" title="Social experiment" class="wl">Social experiment</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Quasi-experiment" title="Quasi-experiment" class="wl">Quasi-experiment</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/en/Field_research" title="Field research" class="wl">Field research</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Historical_method" title="Historical method" class="wl">Historical method</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Statistical_inference" title="Statistical inference" class="wl">Inferential statistics</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Interview" title="Interview" class="wl">Interviews</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Cartography" title="Cartography" class="wl">Mapping</a>
<ul><li><a href="/en/Cultural_mapping" title="Cultural mapping" class="wl">Cultural mapping</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/en/Phenomenography" title="Phenomenography" class="wl">Phenomenography</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Secondary_research" title="Secondary research" class="wl">Secondary research</a>
<ul><li><a href="/en/Bibliometrics" title="Bibliometrics" class="wl">Bibliometrics</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Literature_review" title="Literature review" class="wl">Literature review</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Meta-analysis" title="Meta-analysis" class="wl">Meta-analysis</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Scoping_review" title="Scoping review" class="mw-redirect wl">Scoping review</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Systematic_review" title="Systematic review" class="wl">Systematic review</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/en/Scientific_modelling" title="Scientific modelling" class="wl">Scientific modelling</a>
<ul><li><a href="/en/Simulation" title="Simulation" class="wl">Simulation</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/en/Survey_(human_research)" title="Survey (human research)" class="wl">Survey</a></li></ul></div></div></td>
</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-content">
<div class="sidebar-list mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"><div class="sidebar-list-title" style="padding-bottom:0;text-align:center;">Tools and software</div><div class="sidebar-list-content mw-collapsible-content" style="padding-top:0;">
<ul><li><a href="/en/Category:Argument_technology" title="Category:Argument technology" class="wl">Argument technology</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Category:GIS_software" title="Category:GIS software" class="wl">Geographic information system software</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Category:Library_and_information_science_software" title="Category:Library and information science software" class="wl">Library and information science software</a>
<ul><li><a href="/en/Category:Bibliometrics_software" title="Category:Bibliometrics software" class="wl">Bibliometrics</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Category:Reference_management_software" title="Category:Reference management software" class="wl">Reference management</a></li></ul></li>
<li><a href="/en/Category:Science_software" title="Category:Science software" class="wl">Science software</a>
<ul><li><a href="/en/Category:QDA_software" title="Category:QDA software" class="wl">Qualitative data analysis</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Category:Scientific_simulation_software" title="Category:Scientific simulation software" class="wl">Simulation</a></li>
<li><a href="/en/Category:Statistical_software" title="Category:Statistical software" class="wl">Statistics</a></li></ul></li></ul></div></div></td>
</tr><tr><td class="sidebar-below" style="padding-top: 0.1em; font-weight: bold;">
<a href="/en/Portal:Philosophy" title="Portal:Philosophy" class="wl">Philosophy portal</a></td></tr><tr><td class="sidebar-navbar"><style data-mw-deduplicate="TemplateStyles:r1063604349" typeof="mw:Extension/templatestyles">.mw-parser-output .navbar{display:inline;font-size:88%;font-weight:normal}.mw-parser-output .navbar-collapse{float:left;text-align:left}.mw-parser-output .navbar-boxtext{word-spacing:0}.mw-parser-output .navbar ul{display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;line-height:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::before{margin-right:-0.125em;content:"[ "}.mw-parser-output .navbar-brackets::after{margin-left:-0.125em;content:" ]"}.mw-parser-output .navbar li{word-spacing:-0.125em}.mw-parser-output .navbar a>span,.mw-parser-output .navbar a>abbr{text-decoration:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-mini abbr{font-variant:small-caps;border-bottom:none;text-decoration:none;cursor:inherit}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-full{font-size:114%;margin:0 7em}.mw-parser-output .navbar-ct-mini{font-size:114%;margin:0 4em}</style><div class="navbar plainlinks hlist navbar-mini"><ul><li class="nv-view"><a href="/en/Template:Research_sidebar" title="Template:Research sidebar" class="wl"><abbr>v</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-talk"><a href="/en/Template_talk:Research_sidebar" title="Template talk:Research sidebar" class="wl"><abbr>t</abbr></a></li><li class="nv-edit"><a rel="mw:ExtLink" href="//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Research_sidebar&amp;action=edit" class="external text" target="_blank"><abbr>e</abbr></a></li></ul></div></td></tr></tbody></table>

<p>While being an established methodological approach in education for several decades, phenomenography has now been applied rather extensively in a range of diverse disciplines such as environmental management, computer programming, workplace competence, and internationalization practices.<span class="mw-ref reference" id="cite_ref-4"><a href="#cite_note-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;"><span class="mw-reflink-text">[4]</span></a></span></p> 
  


Phenomenography is a qualitative research methodology, within the interpretivist paradigm, that investigates the qualitatively different ways in which people experience something or think about something. While being an established methodological approach in education for several decades, phenomenography has now been applied rather extensively in a range of diverse disciplines such as environmental management, computer programming, workplace competence, and internationalization practices. 