Stepping Into the Participants’ Shoes: The Trans-Positional Cognition Approach

Abstract

To conduct a phenomenological study, researchers often follow the principles from either the descriptive or interpretive phenomenological schools of thought. This constrains researchers within the domain and limits the potentials of their data set. This paper introduces the Trans-Positional Cognition Approach (TPCA) as a novel synthesised phenomenological research method for conducting qualitative research to address this challenge. The TPCA synthesises the principles of the descriptive and interpretive phenomenological schools and helps to bridge the divide occasioned by polemical arguments between them. At the heart of TPCA is the process of trans-positional cognition or, in simple words, ‘stepping into the participants’ shoes’. TPCA, within the phenomenological tradition, proposes a structured methodological approach as a way to reduce the complexity of the extant methods, which novice researchers associate with phenomenology. The purpose of TPCA is not to pit one phenomenological research approach against another but to elucidate an inclusive approach to phenomenological research that can serve as a methodological alternative. A set of dimensions is used to compare TPCA with extant descriptive and interpretive phenomenological approaches in order to demonstrate its distinctiveness. Furthermore, an implementation study illustrates the use of the TPCA. Hence, the TPCA, by bridging the divide between the phenomenological schools of thought, could potentially help sustain the growing interest of researchers in phenomenological research.

Knowledge Sharing and Transfer Frameworks: Lessons from Sub-Saharan South Africa.

“…This study designed as qualitative research adopts an interpretivist philosophical approach, it supports subjective views and inductive approach (Saunders et al, 2016;Olekanma and Soomro, 2020;Olekanma, et al, 2022). The study adopted a single case study approach as focus was on South Africa public sector only.…”

“…The reliability and validity of the data was enhanced because of the perspectives from multiple well-informed participants. All interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim; all ethical considerations were duly observed (Saunders, 2019;Olekanma et al, 2022;Olekanma, 2023).…”

“…The study data collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews were initially analysed using Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis method (TA) to obtain study participants themes. After initial text analysis, using Braun and Clarke's (2006) thematic analysis method, this study diverged and adopted Trans Positional Cognition Approach (TPCA) stepwise analytical method (Olekanma, et al, 2022). The rationale for this diversion, was based on Braun and Clarke's (2006) method which is considered too complex, with no clear guidelines on how to go about the researcher's interpretation of the study participants' themes (Todres and Holloway, 2010).…”

“…The rationale for this diversion, was based on Braun and Clarke's (2006) method which is considered too complex, with no clear guidelines on how to go about the researcher's interpretation of the study participants' themes (Todres and Holloway, 2010). Thus, analytical Stage 3, steps 11 and 12 (Olekanma, et al, 2022) were adopted and used to analyse study participants themes. The outcome of this divergence led to the emergence of 4 researchers' themes namely Unique antecedent performance indicators, Human performance factors, Organisational performance factors, Continuous learning performance factors as key drivers of knowledge sharing and transfer in Sub Saharan South Africa public sector Step 13 were adopted and used to enable emergence of the essence of the study (Table 1 -Data display structure).…”

Different Types of Intuition at the Workplace: An Integrative Review

“…Despite the fact that this study was prepared against the backdrop of quantitative methodology, there is room for expansion in the areas of qualitative methodology (Svensson & Jacobsson, 2022) in order to resolve the discrepancies that exist between the two different research approaches. After all, intuitive judgments are, by their definition, singularly individual and subjective experiences, which may be captured through qualitative inquiry (Olekanma et al, 2022), having a close connection to ethnography (Svenson & Freiling, 2019), which may guide researchers in the inquiry process (Anderson, 2019).…”