HERMENEUTICAL PHENOMENOLOGY IN THE STUDY OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION

This paper serves as a response to the interchange between Sungaila and Riffel in the Journal in May and October, 1979. In this paper the writer applies some of his earlier methodological ideas about phenomenology and educational research to the study of educational administration in a way that might be of interest to the readers of the Journal. The main argument is that the kind of phenomenology that should be used in the study of educational administration is the kind the experienced practitioner would employ to articulate and conceptualise the insights she or he has gained through administrative experience. This would establish the basic concepts regarding the phenomena perceived in the administrator's lived world, thereby furnishing the appropriate context to guide the application of specific theories, strategies, and research results.