The phenomenologist searches a variety of sources of meaning.
Phenomenological inquiry draws on many types and sources of meaning. These sources lie not only within the disciplinary boundaries of the social sciences but also in other human domains such as the arts, the humanities, everyday life experiences, language and, of course, in phenomenological studies. For example, in the study of “Childhood Secrets” van Manen and Levering used a variety of sources of meaning, such as everyday experience, language sources (metaphors, sayings, boundary meanings, linguistic differentiations), social science, historical, cultural, literary and phenomenological sources.