Phenomographic elaboration: Arts-based inquiry as a complement to data collection and analysis

Phenomenograhy, as an approach to educational research, began appearing in publications early in the 1980s with the predominant form of data drawn from semi-structured interviews. As a qualitative approach, it is used to describe the variations in people’s experiences through their own discourse and for analyzing meaning that people ascribe to their world. Critics of this approach have highlighted the need to pay closer attention to a deep examination of the phenomenon. This paper provides an overview of a doctoral study in progress, whereby a methodological elaboration has been developed in response to these points of critique. Given that the study sits within the early childhood education and care (ECEC) field, the authors postulate that by combining an arts-based inquiry technique with the traditional semi-structured interview technique, participants were more likely to feel at ease and therefore a greater depth of reflection on their own experiences would likely ensue. The production of the arts-based plate, as a representation of each participant’s lived experience in relation to the impacts of regulation on ECEC teacher’s pedagogy and practice, was used as a ‘spark’ to commence the semi-structured interview process and equally, provide an anchor for reference points for both participant and interviewer throughout that process. We argue that this methodological elaboration allowed a deeper examination of the phenomenon.