EMPLOYMENT OF COLAIZZI'S STRATEGY IN DESCRIPTIVE PHENOMENOLOGY: A REFLECTION OF A RESEARCHER

Abstract

Background: Phenomenology is a philosophy and a research method designed to explore and understand people's everyday lived experiences. Aim: This paper aims to convey the experience of using Colaizzi's (1978) strategy of descriptive phenomenological data analysis in a nursing research. Method: Using a real research example, the process of Colaizzi was used to provide assistance in extracting, organizing, and analyzing such narrative dataset. Results: the eventual outcome sought from applying Colaizzi's strategy in descriptive phenomenology was to elicit an exhaustive description about the phenomenon regarding adolescents' experience after receiving chemotherapy and their coping strategies used to accommodate with physical changes occurred after that therapy. A number of significant statements and theme clusters were integrated to formulate the overall themes which describe the phenomenon thoroughly. Conclusion, the use of Colaizzi's strategy in descriptive phenomenology was successfully evident in this research. Researchers are encouraged to emphasize on enhancing rigor to the study findings through employing different trustworthiness elements throughout their research process.