The course involves the scholarly status of phenomenological approaches in research with applications, in particular, in the area of psychology of health. The starting point is phenomenology (Husserl, Heidegger) and hermeneutic theory of interpretation (Schleiermacher, Gadamer, Ricoeur, Merleau-Ponty) and phenomenological and existentially oriented psychology (Boss, Binswanger, Rezek..). Students gain an acquaintance with the principles of qualitative scholarly knowledge with an emphasis on the phenomenological mode of knowledge. A basic conceptual framework is developed based on the meaning, subjectivity, intersubjectivity, context, etc. An emphasis will be placed in particular on interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). IPA is an approach which attempts to understand lived experience and how participants in research form the meaning (provide sense) of their experience. The goal of IPA research is to interpret meanings which lived experience has for the participants. IPA is an ideographic approach focused on detailed and thorough analysis of one or more cases. First and foremost, IPA will be conceived as a research approach or method with an emphasis on formulation of the research problem, research of questions, creation of research files and data, analysis of data, interpretation and confirmation of the validity of the research process and writing of research reports. Another goal is the development of the foundations of additional comprehensive phenomenological research outputs (for example, the descriptive phenomenological method according to A. Giorgi, or phenomenological research according to C. Moustakas, etc.). This will involve a deepening of knowledge of concrete approaches and procedures of phenomenological knowledge such as bracketing, phenomenological reduction, horizontalization, epoché, intuitive knowledge, intentions, etc.
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