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Journal ArticleDOI

The composite first person narrative: texture, structure, and meaning in writing phenomenological descriptions

TL;DR: This paper illustrates the use of composite first person narrative interpretive methods, as described by Todres, across a range of phenomena, bringing about a form of understanding that is relationally alive that contributes to improved caring practices.
Abstract: This paper illustrates the use of composite first person narrative interpretive methods, as described by Todres, across a range of phenomena. This methodology introduces texture into the presently understood structures of phenomena and thereby creates new understandings of the phenomenon, bringing about a form of understanding that is relationally alive that contributes to improved caring practices. The method is influenced by the work of Gendlin, Heidegger, van Manen, Gadamer, and Merleau-Ponty. The method’s applicability to different research topics is demonstrated through the composite narratives of nursing students learning nursing practice in an accelerated and condensed program, obese female adolescents attempting weight control, chronically ill male parolees, and midlife women experiencing distress during menopause. Within current research, these four phenomena have been predominantly described and understood through quantified articulations that give the reader a structural understanding of the phenomena, but the more embodied or ‘‘contextual’’ human qualities of the phenomena are often not visible. The ‘‘what is it like’’ or the ‘‘unsaid’’ aspects of such human phenomena are not clear to the reader when proxies are used to ‘‘account for’’ a variety of situated conditions. This novel method is employed to re-present narrative data and findings from research through first person accounts that blend the voices of the participants with those of the researcher, emphasizing the connectedness, the ‘‘we’’ among all participants, researchers, and listeners. These re-presentations allow readers to develop more embodied understandings of both the texture and structure of each of the phenomena and illustrate the use of the composite account as a way for researchers to better understand and convey the wholeness of the experience of any phenomenon under inquiry. Key words: Composite first person narrative, phenomenology, female adolescents, obesity, accelerated nursing program, male parolees, reintegration, healthcare, distress, menopause (Published: 12 April 2011) Citation: Int J Qualitative Stud Health Well-being 2011, 6 : 5882 - DOI: 10.3402/qhw.v6i2.5882

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Citations
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04 Mar 2010
TL;DR: Recording of presentation introducing narrative analysis, outlining what it is, why it can be a useful approach, how to do it and where to find out more.
Abstract: Recording of presentation introducing narrative analysis, outlining what it is, why it can be a useful approach, how to do it and where to find out more. Presentation given at methods@manchester seminar at University of Manchester on 4 March 2010.

3,188 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Mar 2003
TL;DR: This is it, the handbook of interview research context and method that will be your best choice for better reading book and you can take the book as a source to make better concept.
Abstract: Give us 5 minutes and we will show you the best book to read today. This is it, the handbook of interview research context and method that will be your best choice for better reading book. Your five times will not spend wasted by reading this website. You can take the book as a source to make better concept. Referring the books that can be situated with your needs is sometime difficult. But here, this is so easy. You can find the best thing of book that you can read.

267 citations

References
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Book
01 Jan 1927
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an interpretation of Dasein in terms of temporality, and the Explication of Time as the Transcendental Horizon for the Question of Being.
Abstract: Translators' Preface. Author's Preface to the Seventh German Edition. Introduction. Exposition of the Question of the Meaning of Being. 1. The Necessity, Structure, and Priority of the Question of Being. 2. The Twofold Task of Working out the Question of Being. Method and Design of our Investigation. Part I:. The Interpretation of Dasein in Terms of Temporality, and the Explication of Time as the Transcendental Horizon for the Question of Being. 3. Preparatory Fundamental Analysis of Dasein. Exposition of the Task of a Preparatory Analysis of Dasein. Being-in-the-World in General as the Basic State of Dasein. The Worldhood of the World. Being-in-the-World as Being-with and Being-One's-Self. The 'they'. Being-in as Such. Care as the Being of Dasein. 4. Dasein and Temporality. Dasein's Possibility of Being-a-Whole, and Being-Towards-Death. Dasein's Attestation of an Authentic Potentiality-for-Being, and Resoluteness. Dasein's Authentic Potentiality-for-Being-a-Whole, and Temporality as the Ontological Meaning of Care. Temporality and Everydayness. Temporality and Historicality. Temporality and Within-Time-Ness as the Source of the Ordinary Conception of Time. Author's Notes. Glossary of German Terms. Index.

16,708 citations

Book
01 Jan 1945
TL;DR: Carman as discussed by the authors described the body as an object and Mechanistic Physiology, and the experience of the body and classical psychology as a Sexed being, as well as the Synthesis of One's Own Body and Motility.
Abstract: Foreword, Taylor Carman Introduction, Claude Lefort Preface Introduction: Classical Prejudices and the Return to Phenomena I. Sensation II. Association and the Projection of Memories III. Attention and Judgment IV. The Phenomenal Field Part 1: The Body 1. The Body as an Object and Mechanistic Physiology 2. The Experience of the Body and Classical Psychology 3. The Spatiality of the One's Own Body and Motility 4. The Synthesis of One's Own Body 5. The Body as a Sexed Being 6. Speech and the Body as Expression Part 2: The Perceived World 7. Sensing 8. Space 9. The Thing and the Natural World 10. Others and the Human World Part 3: Being-For-Itself and Being-In-The-World 11. The Cogito 12. Temporality 13. Freedom Original Bibliography Bibliography of English Translations cited Additional Work Cited Index

9,938 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
08 Sep 1978-Science

5,182 citations


"The composite first person narrativ..." refers background in this paper

  • ...We understand that it is this situated-ness that makes it possible for things to show up for us at all (Merleau-Ponty, 1962) and for us to act in the manner that we do....

    [...]

Book
01 Jan 1988
TL;DR: JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. The University of Chicago Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to American Journal of Sociology.

4,950 citations


"The composite first person narrativ..." refers background in this paper

  • ...A challenge to the researcher is to find a balance of texture and structure in describing the phenomenon....

    [...]

  • ...Narrative is an important element in interpretive analysis, with its emphasis on the elements of language: how words are put together, what words are chosen, where pauses and emphases are inserted, and the presence of exclamatory and emotive utterances (Polkinghorne, 1988)....

    [...]