Abstract

BRANCO, Paulo Coelho Castelo. Dialogue between contend analysis and empirical phenomenological method: methodological and historical paths. Rev. abordagem gestalt. [online]. 2014, vol.20, n.2, pp.189-197. ISSN 1809-6867.

This article presents a comparative study between two perspectives of qualitative methods - content analysis (CA) and empirical phenomenological method (EPM). The purpose of comparing both methods is due to the argument that they have emerged historically in the same Zeitgeist of methodological discussions, coming from the Chicago School. This school represented a stream of debates about the development of methodological perspectives of qualitative research, in contrast with classical and already consolidated branches of the quantitative research, supported by the positivist paradigm. The historical paths and the procedures of CA of Laurence Bardin and the EPM of Amedeo Giorgi are outlined. The following points of dialogue are discussed: (1) emphasis on human action invested with meaning as a critique to scientific neutrality; (2) linking philosophical; (3) ways of conception and treatment of the object of study; (4) the question about the first contact with the transcribed material; (5) division of text in analytic units; and (6) the empirical shield that guides the categorization process. One concludes that the field of human and social sciences, where psychology is inserted, comprises a variety of methodological perspectives that require constant revisions, clarifications and delimitations on their ways of doing research.

Keywords : History; Methodology; Qualitative research; Psychology.

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