Philosophical foundations of qualitative research

Although new and still emerging for us, qualitative research approaches have been receiving considerable attention for some time in other disciplines. Along with philosophical debates, there are debates about whether there needs to be a debate. On a philosophical level, there is irreconcilable conflict between the quantitative and qualitative paradigms. It is important to recognize this conflict, avoiding illogical compromise. Yet, proponents of each paradigm need to applaud both the existence of the other and the hybrid paradigms that inevitably are born of conflict. An apt beginning would be broader definitions of what constitutes science and research in nursing, eliminating the sense-organ bias that is so contrary to our philosophy for practice. This alone would provide qualitative nurse researchers with the sanction they need to progress in their exploration of various approaches to creating a science and a body of knowledge in, for, and about nursing practice. In the chapters to follow, readers will be introduced to several qualitative research approaches. Each approach represents an interpretation of the qualitative paradigm in nursing research, grounded in the general perspective of phenomenological philosophy. This perspective focuses on phenomena as they appear and recognizes that reality is subjective and a matter of appearances for us in our social world. Subjectivity means that the world becomes real through our contact with it and acquires meaning through our interpretations of that contact. Truth, then, is a composite of realities, and access to truth is a problem of access to human subjectivity. This perspective guides the qualitative researcher in nursing to the subject matter of lived experiences, which are the original contacts with a world, and of the processes and content of interpretation--the meaning attributions that constitute realities and perspectives for a future of possibilities in the world. Other consequences of a phenomenological perspective in research include deliberate attention to the researcher's involvement in the study, engagement of multiple modes of awareness, and creative expression of findings. The product of efforts to establish a phenomenological baseline, a thorough and accurate description of nursing phenomena (a task that remains forever incomplete), will be clarified nursing concepts. If we encourage our qualitative nurse researchers, we can look forward to enhanced relevance in theoretical and empirical comments about nursing from studies guided by a mature nursing identity.