Navigating Methodological and Philosophical Tensions: Applying Phenomenology to the Repertory Grid Technique in a Study of Children’s Friendships

This methodological article examines the adaptation of the repertory grid technique for use within a phenomenological mixed methods research (PMMR) study of children’s friendships during and since the COVID-19 pandemic. It explains how the standard repertory grid was redesigned to achieve greater consistency with Husserlian philosophical phenomenology. Central to this redesign was a front-loading approach to applied phenomenological research, in which concepts and analyses derived from philosophical phenomenology, rather than a prescribed phenomenological method, shaped the design of the empirical study from the outset. The originality of the study lies in the front-loading of temporality, intersubjectivity and embodiment, together with the use of card-based activities to support the exploration of embodied experience. The study is significant because phenomenological front-loading is not widely addressed in standard methodological texts, limiting how its concepts can guide empirical research design. The article demonstrates how these phenomenological concepts can inform the generation, analysis and integration of mixed data. In doing so, it explores the potential for bringing together two methodological traditions, together with their associated epistemological and ontological commitments, to investigate both individual meaning-making and the shared social phenomenon of friendship for six Year 5 primary school children. Brief details of the study’s implementation are provided to illustrate the methodological process, although the empirical findings are not reported.