In this regard, I conducted an interview of myself to ensure that I bracketed my
experiences from those of the participants. The act of bracketing was an important
activity because, while I experienced the same phenomenon as the participants, my
interview revealed how strongly I felt about my experience at Eastside High School.
Bracketing does not remove my experiences from the study. Rather my interview
assisted me in noting areas of bias. Because I was able to bracket my experiences and
acknowledge my biases, I was able to conduct the interviews without influencing the
responses of the participants. This included avoiding agreeing or disagreeing with the
participants; a phenomenologist must just listen. I acknowledge that I believe that many
of my fellow students‘ lives were changed for the better because of Mr. Joe Clark and his
leadership, disciplinary methods, communication strategies, and the genuine love and
concern I believe he had for his students‘ well-being. He was a father-figure to me and I
relied on him for stability and I relied on the stability of Eastside High School. I suggest
that Mr. Clark motivated his students, believed in them, and desired for them to gain an
education. The sacrifices that I believe he made to ensure his students were educated in a
safe environment, further colored my role as researcher. The beauty of phenomenology is
that my experiences are data driven and can be used to further explore the experience,
rather than having to be removed completely. Further, the chair of my committee
continuously challenged me to assure that I was interpreting the data as an objective
researcher and his continual feedback served as a form of member-checking. Last, I
maintained a reflective journal in the form of memos that captured my thoughts and this
was a way for me to have a conversation with myself and with the interview transcripts
without biasing the participants‘ responses.