Phenomenography: A qualitative research method to inform and improve the traditional aerospace engineering discipline

Abstract

This overview paper demonstrates the valuable attributes of phenomenography for investigating the varied experiences of engineers employed in aerospace businesses. One attribute is called bracketing, where the researcher makes no hypothesis of how participants perceive the phenomenon such that a fuller description of each participant's experience can be solicited. A second attribute is logical relationships among categories of experience, typically expressed as hierarchies, which imply a progression of learning and can easily be converted to a scale to create an assessment strategy in the classroom. A third attribute is the assumption of having a few categories of variation of experience, which is more readily accessible than highly nuanced taxonomies for education purposes. This theoretical framework is just one of several qualitative methods that can improve our understanding of the aerospace industry in order to improve classroom practices.