Qualitative health research
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Undertaking philosophically hermeneutic research requires embodying the fundamental hermeneutic notions espoused by Heidegger, Gadamer, and other related philosophers. For both supervisors and students, there is "a way" of working that infuses a hermeneutic project with a particular kind of contemplative openness. In this article, I will draw from my own experience of coming to appreciate the nature of this approach. ⋯ In articulating "how" to be hermeneutic, I explain how I guide students embarking on hermeneutic research. Discussion centres on surfacing and engaging with preunderstandings through 'presuppositions interviewing', journalling and the careful selection of words that refine and crystallise meanings in ways that reflectively and reflexively engage and expand horizons of understanding. In this article, I use examples from my own experience as a doctoral student and supervisor of doctoral students to assist other supervisors and students understand both the importance of "being hermeneutic" and ways of achieving robust and philosophically congruent hermeneutic research.
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Hermeneutic phenomenology, as a methodology, is not fixed. Inherent in its enactment are contested areas of practice such as how interview data are used and reported. Using philosophical notions drawn from hermeneutic phenomenological literature, we argue that working with crafted stories is congruent with the philosophical underpinnings of this methodology. ⋯ Our aim is to open dialogue with other hermeneutic phenomenological researchers and offer alternate possibilities to conventional ways of work with qualitative data. We argue that crafted stories can provide glimpses of phenomena that other forms of data analysis and presentation may leave hidden. We contend that crafted stories are an acceptable and trustworthy methodological device.