title: Crafting Stories in Hermeneutic Phenomenology Research: A Methodological Device.
abstract: 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. We consider how the practical ontic undertaking of story crafting from verbatim transcripts is integral with the interpretive process. We show how verbatim transcripts can be crafted into stories through examples taken from interview data. 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.
authors.affiliation: 1 Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Crowther
authors.affiliation: 2 Indiana University, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
authors.forename: Pam
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ironside
authors.affiliation: 3 Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Deb
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Spence
authors.affiliation: 3 Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Liz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Smythe
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D066297:Hermeneutics; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D015399:Nursing Research / Q000379:methods*; D010687:Philosophy, Nursing; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012107:Research Design
keywords: hermeneutics; interpretive methods; interview data; lived experiences; phenomenology; qualitative; stories