Transnational Teaching: Evaluating the Application of Heideggerian Phenomenology and IPA in a Study of Lived Experiences

Abstract

Transnational education has increased over the past decade for multiple reasons. Higher education institutions driven by a need to increase non-governmental funding and the concept of higher education as a commodity, have combined to cause many institutions to extend their activities into the field of transnational education partnerships. To ensure the survival of these strategic alliances, teaching faculty are required to service the commodity being exported from the UK. This unique study uses this context to evaluate the application of Heideggerian phenomenology and IPA as a means of analyzing the lived experiences of academic practitioners and the effects on their being. The study concludes that Heideggerian philosophical thought provides an insightful lens when combined with IPA, by providing access to an individual’s personal perception of events as opposed to other methodologies that simply attempt to produce an objective account of the event itself. Two vignettes from the data exemplify how the approach can help us understand participant lived experiences in a given context, as well as documenting the wider benefits of applying this approach in other studies that concern the lived experiences of individuals.