Existential Phenomenological Research

Existential phenomenological research (EPR) is a qualitative research approach grounded in existential and phenomenological philosophy. Researcher-practitioners at Utrecht University in the mid-20th century developed EPR by adapting the two philosophies for human research. Typically referred to as phenomenology, its concerns are lived experience and meaning. EPR methods appear in fields such as psychology, nursing, education, and counseling. EPR’s intent is to describe and/or interpret experiences and their quotidian meanings. EPR includes philosophical concepts such as intentionality, perception, being-in-the-world, intersubjectivity, embodiment, sociocultural embeddedness, essence, and phenomenological attitude. Research methods in EPR often include adopting a phenomenological attitude, collecting descriptions of experience, analyzing descriptions with a focus on parts and wholes, and writing reports that provide an understanding of the phenomenon of interest from the perspective of study participants. EPR is a popular methodology with many approaches and its development through methodological debates continues.