A Phenomenological Analysis of Long-Term Recollections of an Interpretive Program

Abstract

This study used a phenomenological approach to investigate the recollections of participants of an interpretive experience. Four individuals who participated in an interpretive program during July of 1999 were interviewed in the fall of 2000. Six factors relating to the participants’ memory were identified after the interview data was analyzed and cross-examined. The six factors were novelty, personal significance, speaker qualities, activities that occur during learning, prior knowledge/misconceptions, and visual imagery. Three of these themes related to factors affecting what they paid attention to during the interpretive program. These were identified as novelty, personal significance, and speaker qualities. The three other themes developed from the participants’ responses (activities that occur during learning, prior knowledge/misconceptions and visual imagery) were associated with factors that influence the specific ways in which learners store information in long-term memory. The findings of this small sample may not be generalized, but they do have important implications with regard to the impact of recall of an interpretive experience.