“ Ir is important to note that in this third step Giorgi begins to use
one of the most important concepts of Husserl’s phenomenology, the
imaginative variation. “The intent of the method is to arrive at the
general category by going through the concrete expressions and not
by abstraction or formalization, which are selective according to the
criteria accepted” (Giorgi, 1985, p. 17). By using the imaginative
variation, the researcher begins to both follow the concrete experience
of the co-researcher and reflect about the different possibilities of the
meaning of herlhis experiences. He tries to reach the essential and
unchangeable meaning of the co-researcher’ s experience at the same
time that she/he discards those meanings that are not essential for the
co-researcher in her/his concrete experience and situation. p. 5f3
Alberto De Castro, Introduction to Giorgi’s Existential Phenomenological Research Method, Psicología desde el Caribe. Universidad del Norte. No. 11: 45-56, 2003
