Phenomenology and hermeneutics - poles apart?:An existential-phenomenological clarification of qualitative research methodology

A key dispute within qualitative methodology is the choice between top-down (deductive) and bottom-up (inductive) research approaches. Abduction, on the other hand, has received little attention, even though it would often seem to be a more promising methodology. The phenomenological tradition is marked by a similar dichotomy, whereas hermeneutical phenomenologists argue for the necessity of preunderstanding and theorethical perspectives (van Manen), Husserlian phenomenologists insist on the importance of the epoché together with reduction.The existential phenomenology of Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty offers a methodological clarification that points to three basic methods of henomenology: description (reduction), interpretation (construction) and ritique(destruction). We recognize that all phenomenological research relates to escription, but we will emphasize the importance of interpretation to qualitative methodology. Thus, like abductive approaches, Ricoeur argues for the necessity of an interplay between explanatory theory and description of the lived understanding of the informant in the development of interpretation