Title: Focus on Qualitative Methods Interpretive Description: A Noncategorical Qualitative Alternative for Developing Nursing Knowledge
Abstract: Despite nursing's enthusiastic endorsement of the applicability of qualitative research approaches to answering relevant clinical questions, many nurse researchers have been hesi- tant to depart from traditional qualitative research methods. While various derivations of phe- nomenology, grounded theory, and ethnography have been popularized within qualitative nurs- ing research, the methodological principles upon which these approaches are based reflect the foundations and objectives of disciplines whose aims are sometimes quite distinct from nursing's domain of inquiry. Thus, as many nurse researchers have discovered, nursing's unique knowl- edge mandate may not always be well served by strict adherence to traditional methods as the gold standard for qualitative nursing research. The authors present the point of view that a non- categorical description, drawing on principles grounded in nursing's epistemological mandate, may be an appropriate methodological alternative for credible research toward the development of nursing science. They propose a coherent set of strategies for conceptual orientation, sam- pling, data construction, analysis, and reporting by which nurses can use an interpretive de- scriptive approach to develop knowledge about human health and illness experience phenome- na without sacrificing the theoretical or methodological integrity that the traditional qualitative approaches provide. q 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Res Nurs Health 20: 169-177, 1997
Publication Year: 1997
Publication Date: 1997-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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Cited By Count: 128
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