4. Variation in understandings of structural relationships in phenomenography

The notion of ‘structure’ and ‘structural relationships’ in phenomenography is perhaps the most distinctive and educationally useful part of the methodology. But it is also the most difficult and commonly misunderstood part. In order to clarify what we need to notice about the phenomenographic notion of structure and structural relationships to develop a sophisticated understanding of it, the phenomenographic study of phenomenography initially described in Chapter 3 continues in this chapter. In Chapter 4, I describe five qualitatively different ways of understanding structural relationships in phenomenography, and discuss associated implications for phenomenographic research practice and outcomes.