Table 1.
Hermeneutic Principle | Study Aspect | Practical Impact |
---|---|---|
Hermeneutic circle: One should interpret a whole in terms of its parts, and parts in terms of the whole to which it belongs. | Design | Prospective or retrospective relation of qualitative interviews to longitudinal quantitative dataa |
Empathetic understanding: Application of methods should be combined with sensitivity to individual interests and purposes. | Interview | Contextualized follow-up questions regarding practical interests and personal purposesb |
Presuppositions for interpretation: Attention should be given to study participant attributes and related factors that inform interview responses. | Presentation | Attribute table of quoted study participants including summary measures of change over timec |
For the textual illustration of this principle, see the section titled “The Hermeneutic Circle.”
For the textual illustration of this principle, see the section titled “Not All Truth Is Methodical.”
For the textual illustration of this principle, see the section titled “No Interpretation Without Presuppositions.”