The discipline of nursing needs to identify with a philosophy that allows give an interpretive sense of social or individual phenomena; and qualitative research provides the necessary methodology to perform the interpretation of the meanings under a critical and reflective analysis. The aim of this study was to reflect on different philosophical traditions around phenomenology, exploring the thoughts of Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger and Alfred Schütz. A theoretical essay whose literary input was obtained from repositories and electronic data sources was conducted, published in the years 2010 to 2014 were included combinations of eight key words were used and those items not mentioned the theoretical approach of philosophers were excluded Of interest. It is concluded that the three philosophical perspectives pose a feasible methodological strategy to be used in qualitative research in nursing, either under the descriptive school of Husserl, Heidegger interpretive stance or the social vision of Schütz.