Critical Hermeneutic Phenomenology — Critically Oriented Interpretive Inquiry into Lived Experience

Critical hermeneutic phenomenology is a qualitative research approach that combines Gadamerian hermeneutics — the philosophical study of interpretation — with critical social theory to examine both the lived meaning of experience and the structural, ideological, and power-laden conditions that shape it. It asks not only 'what is this experience like?' but also 'what historical, social, and political forces produce and constrain it?' The approach is widely used in education, nursing, social work, and the human sciences.