Explaining “explaining” : a phenomenological study of meaning making

This research sought to provide a description of the processes used by individuals who guide others to understanding and a set of terminology to explain these processes in order to “explain explaining”. A review of literature wove conceptual blending theory, encoding/decoding, and conceptual metaphor theory together as a framework from which to research this phenomenon. Using an interpretivist stance to research and phenomenology as the methodological design, data was collected through qualitative interviews and autoethnographic journals then examined through Template Analysis to seek out recurring themes. A total of five concurrent themes were discovered during analysis. A meta-analysis applies these five themes in a metaphor to explain explaining. This research provides a framework for “explaining explaining”, and starting point for a deeper analysis of how this suite of theories can aid others in not only understanding this skill, but operationalize it for themselves.

Author dc:creator

• Higgins, Patrick

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• McKendry, Virginia

• analogy
• communication
• explaining
• metaphor
• phenomenology

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10170/917

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.viurrspace.ca/server/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Anull%3A10170%2F917