h seeks a full understanding of the meaning of a phenomenon as a unity, instead of abstracting features of the object of study to be placed within a network of causal propositions to predict and control. This approach involves a description of coherence, durability, and integrity in terms of polar reciprocities that constitute the unity of the phenomenon. Phenomenological inquiry includes the function of observing to constitute the multiple meanings of the phenomenon; the function of recording the phenomenon is to reflect the meanings for the contemplation of the observer. A method of observing, recording, describing, and analyzing human action is called documenting. This involves a process that includes selecting and juxtaposing recorded observations and other records of phenomenal meaning to reveal reciprocities and approach the integrity of a phenomenon. The task is to reveal the multiplicity of meanings rather than to exhaust the singular meaning of an event. It is through the observer's encounter that the meanings emerge. No standard format for collecting observations would be appropriate for the many different settings and purposes. Procedures that are used include graphs, charts, records of interaction patterns, notes, and interviews (Mishler, 1979, pp. 10-11).
Issues in phenomenology are in opposition to experimental psychology in some cases, they favor a descriptive approach. According to classical standards this is unscientific since it relies on intuitive and deductive methods of analysis and does not include physical verification of data. However, charges that phenomenologists simply reinstate the old introspectionist methods, are incorrect. Transcendental analyses and phenomenological descriptions rest on intuition. Although some phenomenologists errored by substituting transcendental reflection for the empirical approach, as if intuition was the only adequate method in actual research, it cannot be replaced...