Phenomenon, methodology and interpretation in the study of meaning: American women constructing themselves as mothers and career workers

This article provides a general overview of methodology as a cyclical process of conceptually integrating assumptions, theory, phenomenon, and methods with the goal of deriving data appropriate for the elaboration of the theory. Next it considers the role of the researcher's subjectivity in the methodology cycle, and issues of validity, meaning, and interpretation. Then, it approaches the issue of methodology by linking a particular conceptual framework, a cultural psychology, and a focal phenomenon, personal meaning construction, with a suitable method for its investigation, the reflective interview. Finally, it presents empirical material derived using the reflective interview as a data construction method in a study of personal meaning construction, conducted with upper-middle class, professional, U.S.-American women with young children. Analyses of this empirical material examine meaning construction processes as modes of "working through" cultural material to construct the personal.