Researching Entrepreneurship through Phenomenological Inquiry: Philosophical and Methodological Issues

Abstract

In recent years, the study of entrepreneurship and small business has witnessed an emerging body of research that operates within an interpretive paradigm. In contributing to this research tradition, this article explicates an interpretive, phenomenological form of inquiry, described by Thompson et al. (1989) as the ‘phenomenological interview’. Particular attention is paid to the ontological and epistemological foundations of this qualitative approach, illustrating the evolution from philosophy to methodology. The article demonstrates how a phenomenological commitment to research translates into a set of issues that provide the methodological context for these in-depth, unstructured interviews. The application of this method is then demonstrated with reference to case study research conducted with six practising entrepreneurs, which utilized phenomenological interviews as the primary research tool. The article concludes with a discussion of some important caveats that surround the use of the phenomenological interview.