3.3
This section will clarify the chosen methodology for this research which directly stems from the interpretive phenomenological theoretical approach and philosophical beliefs previously outlined.
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Interpretive Phenomenology Approach 3.3.1
Husserl’s development of phenomenology was modified and critiqued by several of his successors, one of which was his former student Martin Heidegger. Heidegger’s contribution to phenomenology was that he believed the human had their own interpretation of the world around them and unlike Husserl’s descriptive phenomenology he considered the socio-cultural context of the phenomenon to be of great significance.
Ontological Standpoint
Key to Heideggerian phenomenology was the understanding of the person, he stressed the significance of questioning the ontological view of the person, in particular what it means to be and how people make sense of the world around them. While in line with relativism standpoint outlined previously, at this point it is worth clarifying the key ontological principles behind Heideggerian interpretive phenomenology:
The person as having a world
The term world is used by Heidegger to refer to the language, the social, the cultural and the historical practices in which a person exists. The relationship between the person and the world is significant to how it is interpreted by the person. It is this world in which the person is already situated; and therefore it is this
world which shapes meaning.
The person as a being for whom things have significant and value
Another key principle is having an understanding of how things have value and significance to persons living the experience. People attach feelings and emotions to the things they care about, against the socio-cultural and historical factors of the world they are situated within. Therefore the link between the value of things and the context in the person lived experience is significant to the study of the phenomenon; changes to context can potentially change the value of things.
50 People will have their own interpretation of things in the world of which they belong. Heidegger believed individual interpretations were products of socio- cultural and historical background of their world rather than purely based on the interactions between subjects and objects. Heidegger considered these key perspectives on what it means to be as fundamental to an interpretive phenomenological inquiry (Leonard 1994).
Interpretive Inquiries
There are three major aspects to consider in conducting an interpretive inquiry, these are: (i) the forestructure, (ii) hermeneutic circle of understanding and (iii) modes of involvement. Everyday interpretations take place against a background of understanding known as forestructure. Forestructure refers to a person’s familiarity, background knowledge and expectations of the situation being interpreted. The significance of forestructure within an interpretive inquiry relates both to participant and interpreter; the interpreter states their own background understanding, and preconceptions of the phenomenon prior to the investigation adding trustworthiness to the inquiry. Understanding of our world is partly due to the familiarity of the culture around us. It is possible for persons to become so familiar with the world in which they conduct everyday activities that they overlook certain taken-for-granted aspects of the experience. For that reason the interpreter may choose to bring forward and outline the forestructure of understanding for the participant prior to the study (Plager 1994).
Hermeneutic circle of understanding is at the centre of the interpretation process. Our interpretations are based on background understanding (personal, cultural and historical aspects of our world) and shared human experiences. Our understanding lets us conduct everyday activities; these activities have meaning because we interpret them to be significant. Therefore our understanding shapes our interpretations, Heidegger states that human beings were constantly within a circle of understanding (Plager 1994; Wojnar & Swanson 2007).
According to Heidegger, within everyday life people may find themselves engaging in different modes of involvement. Typically interpretive phenomenological
51 research focuses on ready-to-hand and unready-to-hand experiences. In ready-to- hand modes of engagement individuals conduct activities with ease and things run smoothly; it is also stated of Heidegger’s perspective of this particular mode of engagement that ‘the person is involved in an absorbed manner so that the equipment is for the most part unnoticed’ (Plager 1994, p.73), which again stresses the taken-for-granted nature of several of our everyday lived experiences and experiences of this nature tend to be the focus of a majority of interpretive phenomenological research. Unready-to-hand modes of engagement refer to instances when activities which typically run smoothly, suffer unexpected and unfamiliar obstacles and are sometime the focus of phenomenological inquiries. In terms of this research into comfort and how it is experience within the everyday lives of householders, this would be defined as ready-to-hand modes of involvement.
Heidegger’s interpretive phenomenological approach can be summarised by the following key assumptions on the relationship between humans and the world around them, and also the nature of interpretive inquiry as detailed by Plager (1994, p.71):
Human beings are social, dialogical beings.
Understanding is always before us in the several background practices; it is in the human community of societies and cultures, in the language, in our skills and activities, and in our intersubjective and common meanings. We are always already in a hermeneutic circle of understanding.
Interpretation presupposes a shared understanding and therefore has a three-fold forestructure of understanding.
Interpretation involves the interpreter and the interpreted in a dialogical relationship.
Typically before an interpretative inquiry the researcher makes their assumptions and their understanding of the phenomenon in question known; this should be revisited throughout the inquiry adding to clarity and subsequently the credibility of the research. The line of interpretive inquiries should allow for openness
52 between interpreter and the participant, it should also be open to modifications if new avenues present themselves during the process of data collection.
The forestructure, hermeneutic circle of understanding and modes of involvement have been identified as key aspects of a the interpretive process. It is important to understand that comfort is understood and influenced by multiple aspects of one's everyday life for example social norms, their expectation of comfort based on previous experiences, and their interactions with others. The way in which comfort is interpreted by individuals and its significance to each person will be shaped by these multiple factors and are therefore significant to the investigators interpretation of the participants’ notion of comfort.
Data Collection and Analysis
A phenomenological approach collects descriptive data on participants’ experience of the studied phenomenon. As assumptions of Heidegger’s interpretive approach suggest the process of conducting an interpretive phenomenological study should involve one-to-one interactions between the researcher and the participant; there is strong emphasis on listening and creating a dialogue with the participant (Dukes 1984; Leonard 1994; Wojnar & Swanson 2007). Typical methods in for this type of approach include unstructured interviews, diaries and participant observational techniques; as a result, the data collected forms the narrative text which may consist of transcripts, photographs and videos. The researcher must become familiar with the text and understand the participant’s language in order to interpret the lived experience as clearly as possible. Approaches to the interpretive analysis process vary, in larger projects an interpretive team may conduct this process comparing interpretive accounts within-group. Alternative approaches to interpretive analytical processes can be conducted by one researcher, Benner offers three ‘narrative strategies’ these are paradigm cases, thematic analysis and exemplars all of which aim to expose the understanding of the lived experience from narrative accounts through indirect discourse (Benner 1994b). Approaches to data analysis will be discussed further in the Methodology chapter.
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User-Centred Approach 3.3.2
There is a need for a user centred approach to domestic comfort, as was outlined in the introduction for this research. Derived from user centred design principles, it is difficult to find one universally accepted premise of the user centred approach as it can be applied to a wide scope of areas in research and development. Gould and Lewis (1985) outlined three key UCD principles which are widely accepted, these were:
Early focus on user and tasks Empirical measurement Iterative design
This research is concerned with the first UCD principle; Preece, Rogers and Sharp (2002) expanded further on this providing the following five principles:
User’s tasks and goals are the driving force behind the development.
User’s behaviour and context of use are studied and the system is designed to support them.
Users’ characteristics are captured and designed for.
Users are consulted throughout development from earliest phases to the latest and their input is seriously taken into account.
All design decisions are taken within the context of the users, their work, and their environment.
The above principles further emphasis the need to understand the user, task and environment. A user centred approach acknowledges the significance of the task environment (in this case the home environment) to influencing how users behave. It is a widely accepted view that the UCD process should involve user participation, Gould and Lewis (1985) suggest direct contact using methods such as interviews and participant observations in order to understand the user and task.
It is clear from these five principles that a user centred approach is not dissimilar to the interpretive phenomenological approach; both approaches strive to understand the human experience, but the former could be said to lean towards understanding users’ behaviour whilst the latter seeks to understand the meaning
54 of the phenomenon. The phenomenological approach stresses that the lived experience takes place within a context which cannot be ignore if the phenomenon is to be fully understood; this is also fundamental to the user centred approach to design. The same methods and techniques are suitable for both approaches, which focus on direct contact with users. User centred approaches in design seek to understand the perspective of the user in order to ensure a user focus throughout the design process. It is necessary for the researcher to interpret the users’ narrative and is the same process which is necessary for interpretive phenomenological research.
For this research, a combined user centred and interpretive phenomenological strategy/approach is deemed most appropriate to meet the aims and objectives 0f this research. The interpretive phenomenological strategy to this research offers an understanding of how people interpret the world around them and provides a strategy for the researcher to interpret the lived experience through a ‘shared lens’ with the participant. By applying user centred principles it will enable the research to maintain a focus on householders’ behaviour and perspectives within the context of the home whilst exploring a holistic notion comfort. Adaptive thermal comfort acknowledges that there are several factors which impact on user thermal comfort experiences and expectations, however rarely are these factors explored holistically; this research intends to do this and by combining a user centred approach with an interpretive phenomenological approach. The focus will be on the users’ (householders) behaviour and perspectives in respects to the phenomenon in question, domestic comfort.
Researcher’s Voice 3.3.3
The interpretive approach draws attention to the significance of acknowledging the researcher’s forestructure of understanding in respects to background knowledge and expectations. This is known as being critically reflexive and is typical of social research, by doing so, the researcher recognizes that they are not a neutral observer; they play an active role in interpreting the data and as a result contribute to the credibility of the research process. Reflexivity commonly takes
55 place on two levels, (i) epistemological reflexivity, which is when the researcher shares their understanding of the nature of knowledge and (ii) personal reflexivity, which is when a researcher shares their values and aims which shape the research project (Wojnar & Swanson 2007). This section will provide the reflexive voice of the researcher in this inquiry.
Epistemological reflexivity 3.3.4
This chapter has been dedicated to clearly defining the theoretical standpoint for this research; the following diagram illustrates the chosen research paradigm:
Figure 5 - Research Paradigm
Based on the research paradigm the following key assumptions can be made: The social world is a constructed reality in one’s consciousness.
The person belongs to their own world in which the things around them have significance and value.
The person’s interpretation of their world is influenced by socio-cultural and historical factors.
The world of the participant can never be entirely captured.
Methodological
Approach
Theorectical
Perspective
Epistemology
Ontology
• User-Centred Approach • Interpretive Phenomenology • Interpretive Phenomenology • Constructivism-Interpretivism • Relativism56 Both participant and researcher bring a forestructure of understanding of
the phenomena to the inquiry.
In practice, the research paradigm will require multiple interactions between the participants and investigator, some of which will include a dialogical relationship for instance in the form of interviews. The nature of comfort in everyday life can be considered to be a ready-to-hand mode of involvement, meaning householders’ engagement in comfort may be so embedded within their world that certain aspects may go unnoticed. Baring this in mind, at points during this inquiry, the investigator may need to bring forward certain aspects of the notion of comfort for discussion and further exploration, and therefore allowing aspects of the forestructure to shape the inquiry. The role of the investigator throughout the multiple interactions with participants must continually acknowledge their own understanding of the phenomena and their influence within the interpretative process; this will ensure the notion of comfort is as close to the participants’ interpretation as possible and subsequently aid in the trustworthiness of the findings.
Personal reflexivity 3.3.5
Prior to determining the focus of this research, the researcher familiarised herself with the topic of domestic energy use and comfort, it was through an extensive review of the literature that she was able to identify the gap in the knowledge. The contribution this research intends to make has been argued in the literature review through outlining current research which is predominantly concerned with physiological thermal comfort and the acknowledgment of psychological and socio-cultural factors which may affect occupants’ satisfaction with the thermal environment but are rarely explored. The purpose of this research is to explore a holistic notion of comfort from the perspective of the householder and in the context of the home environment. It is anticipated that this research will uncover a wide range of factors associated with householders’ comfort which may not be typically associated with common definitions. It is also expected that there is unlikely to be the predominant focus on thermal comfort from the householders’
57 perspective when given the opportunity to share their understanding of the phenomenon. These expectations are partially as result of the extensive literature review but are also as a result of the researchers’ background. The researcher has a user centred perspective with a background which scopes human factors and psychology. It is accepted that the researcher’s background has determined her aims and objectives of this research, which set out to explore the psychological aspects of comfort.
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Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Chapter 3: Research Paradigm
Chapter 4: Methodology
Chapter 5: Exploring Householders’ Perspective of Comfort in the
Home
Chapter 6: Household Profiles
Chapter 7: Insights into Comfort and Daily Routines
Chapter 8: Exploring Psychological Dimensions of Comfort in the
Home
Chapter 9: Capturing Comfort in Context
Chapter 10: Discussion: A Classification of Domestic Comfort
Chapter 11: Conclusions and Future Work
Chapter 12: References
Chapter 13: Appendices
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Methodology
4
In the previous chapter the chosen philosophical stance and methodological approach has been outlined. This research methodology blends both a user- centred and interpretive phenomenological approach to conduct this inquiry into comfort in the home. This section will expand further upon the approach to this research, outlining the research purpose, design, further details of the research strategy and data collection methods.