Bracketing: How to Do It in Phenomenological Studies

What is it about?

Bracketing is a very important aspect of any phenomenological study, yet, it is also one of the most problematic ones. It is conceptually reasonably clear, but there is little clarity regarding how to actually do it. We recommend doing it through "transpersonal reflexivity", which is a kind of reflexivity that happens when two or more researchers think together, holding a mirror to each other, raising awareness of their pre-understandings, assumptions and such as well as of the impact of these.

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Photo by Pascal Debrunner on Unsplash

Photo by Pascal Debrunner on Unsplash

Why is it important?

At a philosophical level, phenomenology explains the nature of bracketing and its various types. What is not quite trivial, is how to actually implement it. PhD students and early career scholars often get excited about the prospect of conducting a phenomenological study, as it is the study of the lived experience, and then give up, as there is little guideline available about how to conduct a phenomenological study, and particularly about the crucial process of bracketing. Furthermore, we wanted to do justice to Husserl's original phenomenological stance by exposing its anti-positivist mindset.

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