Interpretive Hermeneutic Phenomenology — Researching Lived Experience

Interpretive hermeneutic phenomenology is a qualitative research approach that investigates the meaning of lived experience through an explicit interpretive lens grounded in the hermeneutic tradition. Originating in Heidegger's hermeneutic ontology and developed as a research methodology by Max van Manen, it holds that human experience is always already interpreted and that understanding emerges through a circular movement between parts and wholes — the hermeneutic circle. The approach foregrounds the researcher's engaged, interpretive presence rather than bracketing it away.