Context and methodological decontextualization in nursing research with examples from phenomenography

In both human science and nursing research the concept of context is important. However, context can be understood in different ways. The aim of this article is to elucidate, discuss and problematize context, decontextualization and recontextualization in some health care-related phenomenographical studies. A further aim is to problematize the concept of context in a wider perspective of human science, in order to gain a better understanding of phenomenographical research related to nursing care. Our analysis indicates that the complex phenomena which characterize nursing research demand a broad contextual understanding. Both the local or immediate context and the global or mediated context must be considered, as they are dialectically related. This includes the informants' experiences of the phenomenon of interest as well as the socio-cultural discourse. A balance between openness and pliability to the phenomenon is suggested. Reflection is considered an important tool in this process. Within phenomenography, the interest is directed towards conceptions of certain aspects of the world. Thus, context in a wider sense is given a subordinate role. Accordingly, phenomenography is considered to have limited applicability in nursing research when complex phenomena are to be studied.