Need exists in the area of child psychology for improved understanding of the world of children. While the developmental theories of Jean Piaget and Margaret Mahler contain truth, they should not yet be taken as explanatory. Explanatory theory should be based on the rigorous and naturalistic exploration of lived experiences as well as on tests of narrowly defined hypotheses. Pretheoretic in nature, phenomenological research can facilitate the expansion and development of more adequate theory building. Since the thing studied determines method in phenomenological research, it is desirable that basic tenets of the phenomenological approach be known, particularly as they apply to understanding the child's world. Guidelines provided in this discussion are intended to direct the concerns of researchers following a topic from the point of rational discourse through a process of empirical observation and data collection to culmination in a set of hypotheses intended to guide future research and theory building. These guidelines are organized under the following procedural headings: (1) identify an important topic; (2) identify participants; (3) observe and interact with participants; (4) derive results (organize, analyze, and interpret data); and (5) generate and enumerate hypotheses. (RH)