Combining hermeneutic phenomenology and critical discourse analysis: a bricolage approach to research

Abstract

This paper describes the methodological design of a qualitative research strategy that followed the bricolage approach. The research, a qualitative case study, followed the empowerment journey of 12 adult learners in a second chance educational programme, aiming at recording the mechanisms through which the learners were empowered or disempowered. The initial plan to use a single methodology was modified to address the challenges that raised from the study itself. This modification led to the implementation of the bricolage approach. Following the bricolage principles opened a space of a creative combination of different methodologies, theories, and tools and the implementation of all the five types of bricolage, namely the theoretical, the methodological, the interpretive, the narrative, and the political. The paper presents a detailed account on how bricolage was developed as a “custom-fit” construct to serve the goals of the study. Hermeneutic Phenomenology and Critical Discourse Analysis were the two main methodologies combined.

Keywords:

• Bricolage
• hermeneutic phenomenology
• critical discourse analysis
• critical context analysis
• critical metaphor analysis

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Eleni Papaioannou

Eleni Papaioannou completed her Ph.D. in Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning. She has worked as an Adjunct Tutor in Continuing Education, as a Researcher and as an Adult Educator. Her research focuses on adult education of vulnerable populations, qualitative research methods and European and international policies in adult education.