Micro-phenomenology

Microphenomenology is an investigative method developed by Claire Petitmengin (2006) within the context of neurophenomenology, building upon Pierre Vermersch's explicitation interview (1994). 


It was designed to obtain precise and in-depth descriptions of the structure of lived experience, aiming to access and elucidate the subtlest details of subjective experiences that are often inaccessible to spontaneous introspection. 


By doing so, it seeks to uncover pre-reflective micro-gestures that shape our experience before they become the object of conscious reflection.


While neurophenomenology (Varela, 1996) places emphasis on a first-person approach, requiring subjects to be trained in phenomenological and contemplative practices such as mindfulness, microphenomenology shifts the emphasis to a second-person approach, embodied in the figure of the interviewer. 


In this method, the subjects interviewed do not need prior training in phenomenological techniques, as they are guided through the process by a trained interviewer. 


The interviewer’s role is to help the interviewees evoke the experience and report its procedural aspects, rather than focusing on context, judgment, theoretical knowledge and goals.


Microphenomenological interviews thus enable participants to relive and describe past experiences with a high level of detail, using specific questions to uncover aspects of experience that are rarely explored. 


These detailed descriptions allow for the analysis of the experience along its diachronic axis—that is, the temporal sequence of internal events and their transitions.


They also allow for analysis along its synchronic axis, which concerns how a specific moment is characterized, such as where it is felt, how it is felt, how intense it is, etc.


Moreover, the microphenomenological interview can be adapted into a self-interview, where the researcher explores their own experience in the first person (Sparby, 2022).


In this approach, the researcher carefully and systematically assumes the roles of both interviewer and interviewee at the same time.



References:

Petitmengin, C. (2006). Describing one’s subjective experience in the second person: An interview method for the science of consciousness. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 5(3), 229–269. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-006-9022-2​

Vermersch, P. (1994). L'entretien d'explicitation en formation initiale et en formation continue. ESF.​

Varela, F. (1996). Neurophenomenology: A methodological remedy for the hard problem. Journal of Consciousness Studies, 3(4), 330–349.​

Sparby, T. (2022). Micro-phenomenological self-inquiry. Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 22(1), 247–266. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-022-09815


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