It is all new to me...

Phenomenology is a new qualitative approach to enter into my lexicon. As I learn more about this approach, I am drawn to discover more information about it. It took me a little while to grasp the full concept of phenomenology and now I understand it to be about giving voice to shared experiences and how those experiences can enlighten a specific field of study.

I am interested in learning how non-traditional students acquire technical skills while in pursuit of their secondary degree. When I think about a possible approach to data collection, phenomenology sounds like a good contender alongside discourse analysis for my inquiry. However, based upon information I found about phenomenology, the validity of the data/results may be questionable. Well, any data collection method could become questionable, but I would like to know more about how can I make my study authentic as possible without room for error or questionability. I plan to see how phenomenology is positioned within the field of education. I think investigating more about how students learn and interact with technology is absolutely needed.

As of now, I am in the pre-preliminary stages of learning which direction I think is best for my study. Only time will tell where I will go from here, but needless to say, my study will be a valuable contribution to the field of education.