On context in phenomenographic research on understanding heat and temperature

• Starting from an empirical study of lay adults' everyday understanding of the scientificconcepts of heat and temperature, we have found it necessary to distinguish betweendifferent meanings of the notion of context in phenomenographic research.In order to reveal interesting and important differences in the ways in which aphenomenon is experienced, the phenomenographic researcher relegates experience ofthe context to the background. To confuse the variation in ways of experiencing thecontext(s) of the study with the variation in ways of experiencing the phenomenon ofstudy is to risk losing fundamental insights.This does not mean, however, that the researcher can neglect the context(s), even if it isnot of main interest. Since the research object of a phenomenographic study is "variationin ways of experiencing something", we discuss context as experienced and interwovenwith the experience of the phenomenon. We argue that the experienced context, thecontext as created and understood by the researcher, and the relation between these arerelevant to varying degrees and in varying ways at different stages of the research project.In our paper we see the experienced context from the perspective of "who isexperiencing" the context: the individual, the collective, or the researcher (whether asphenomenographer or as physicist). This will be illustrated from the empirical data.The proposed distinctions provide a better ground for generalising the results of thestudy, since they help us to understand the differences between the research situation(s)and the research object(s).

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogiskt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogical Work (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogy (hsv//eng)

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