Page 254 - Encyclopedia of Nursing Research

HerMeNeUTIcS n 221

of a particular experience. rather, the rich the overall understanding of the phenom-
descriptions of common practices and shared enon. Team members share their written
meanings are intended to reveal, enhance, or interpretations, including excerpts from H
extend understandings of human situations the data. Dialogue among team members
as they are experienced (Smythe, Ironside, clarifies, expands, and refines the identified
Sims, Swenson, & Spence, 2008). themes and accompanying interpretation.
The thinking that accompanies herme- As the team analyzes subsequent interviews,
neutical scholarship is reflective, reflexive, they read each new text against those that
and circular in nature (Smythe et al., 2008). preceded it. This enables new themes to
However, describing the process of herme- emerge and previous themes to be contin-
neutical research may suggest a linearity uously refined and expanded or challenged
and stepwise structure that belies the seam- and overcome. Team members clarify any
less, fluid nature of this approach to inquiry. discrepancies in the interpretations by refer-
On the other hand, not describing the pro- ring to the interview text or reinterviewing
cess implies a thoughtless or haphazard participants. Through dialogue, the team
approach that does not reflect the scholarli- members strive to explicate and refine the
ness of hermeneutical research. Therefore, often subtle and nuanced understandings
although a brief summary of one approach across the data that reveal new possibilities
to herme neutical analysis is given here, the for thinking and practice.
reader is referred to several authors who dis- As the analysis continues, team mem-
cuss hermeneutical methodologies in more bers identify and explore themes that cut
detail (Diekelmann & Diekelmann, 2009; across interview texts. They reread and study
Gadamer, 1960/1989; Heidegger, 1988/1999; interpretations generated previously to see if
palmer, 1969). similar or contradictory interpretations are
Hermeneutical researchers often work present in the various interviews. Although
in teams to study areas of shared interest a presupposition of hermeneutical analysis
and expertise. Teams often include content is that no single correct interpretation exists,
and methods experts, practitioners, students, the team’s continuous examination of the
and participants. Team members hone the whole and the parts of the texts with con-
interpretation of study data by participat- stant reference to the participants ensures
ing in dialogue and debate wherein emerg- that interpretations are warranted (focused
ing insights can be shared and extended and and reflected in the text).
“blind spots” illuminated. reading widely across postpositivist,
Although sources of data vary (e.g., feminist, critical, postmodern, and philo-
existing texts, written or retold accounts, sophical texts, team members situate their
individual interviews, focus groups, art, pho- analysis and hold the identification and
tographs), verbatim transcriptions of non- interpretation of common practices (themes)
structured interviews are the most common open and problematic. In other words, bring-
in the nursing literature. Data gathering and ing this literature to bear on the analysis,
analysis often occur throughout the course of team members critique their interpretations
the study. to extend, support, or overcome identified
Analysis of the text begins when team themes.
members read each interview to obtain an During the interpretive sessions, pat-
overall understanding of the experiences terns may emerge. A pattern is constitutive
being shared by each participant. From this and present in all the interviews, express-
reading, team members identify themes ing the relationship of the themes. patterns
within each interview and explicate the are the highest level of hermeneutical anal-
meaning and significance of this theme to ysis. The hermeneutic approach provides