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Copyright

Gerlese S. Åkerlind;

Published On

2025-02-10

Page Range

pp. 35–50

Language

  • English

Print Length

16 pages

3. Variation in understandings of phenomenography

In Chapter 3, I turn phenomenography on itself as a learning tool. Phenomenographic research initially developed with the aim of delineating qualitative variation in ways of understanding a phenomenon, with the intention of using that variation to identify what it is that learners need to become aware of about the phenomenon to develop a sophisticated understanding of it. So, conducting a phenomenographic study of variation in understandings of phenomenography, which can then be used to improve ways of learning about the methodology and the sophistication of our collective understanding of phenomenography, seems a logical thing to do. In this chapter, I describe five qualitatively different ways of understanding phenomenography, and the relationships between them, based on a survey of researchers that I conducted in 2018–2019.

Contributors

Gerlese S. Åkerlind

(author)
Professor Emerita at Australian National University

Gerlese Åkerlind, PhD, is a professor emerita at the Australian National University (ANU). She was previously Director of the Centre for Educational Development and Academic Methods at the ANU, Director of the Teaching and Learning Centre at the University of Canberra, and a long-term honorary Research Associate of the Oxford Learning Institute at Oxford University. Gerlese has particular expertise in the phenomenographic research tradition, with numerous publications on phenomenographic theory and methods. In addition, her empirical research has primarily used phenomenographic methods, investigating the nature of academic practice, including university teaching, research, research supervision and academic development.