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Ian Beech considers the effect of bracketing in phenomenological research
According to Moustakas (1): `In the Epoche, no position whatsoever is taken; every quality has equal value. Only what enters freshly into consciousness, only what appears as appearance, has any validity at all in contacting truth and reality. Nothing is determined in advance.' Bracketing in phenomenological research (or epoche, presuppositionlessness, or phenomenological reduction, terms found in other texts and used interchangeably here) is a fundamental methodological principle, and texts that have described a phenomenological approach to nursing research often refer to the use of bracketing (2-5). While this technique is often seen to be of great importance, the way in which it might be achieved is rarely discussed.
In this paper I will consider the philosophical basis for bracketing and the use of bracketing in empirical research. I will illustrate a method by referring to an interview transcript obtained during an ongoing research study into helpfulness in the relationship between mental health nurses and people in care. This paper is in no way intended to be prescriptive. It is intended as a description of the process of my experience of seeking a way through the muddy waters of methodology as a novice researcher. As such I hope that it may provide others with assistance, points for debate or areas of disagreement.
Bracketing in philosophical work
Bracketing is the process by which the researcher resolves to hold all preconceptions in abeyance in order to reach experiences before they are made sense of, before they are ordered into concepts that relate to previous knowledge and experience (6). To find the reason for this approach it is useful to start by considering the philosophical roots of phenomenology.
Husserl (1859-1938) is generally acknowledged as the founder of phenomenology (7) and it was he who first put forward bracketing as a means whereby the philosopher could look at things as they actually appear, unencumbered by any preconceptions, biases or judgements. In other words, by adopting this presuppositionless approach of holding the world `in brackets' in the mathematical sense, the philosopher could return to pure consciousness of the phenomenon. In some ways Husserl's approach might be seen as Cartesian in its turning away from the world (8). However, this is not...