Applied Philosophical Hermeneutic Research:the unmethod

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide insight into the philosophy and practice of Applied Philosophical Hermeneutics as a unique approach for research in the health sciences. While there are other research approaches grounded in hermeneutics, this article focuses on Gadamer’s modern philosophical hermeneutics. During my 18 years as a hermeneutic researcher, graduate students and I have engaged with people with a wide variety of experiences such as preventable medical error, Indigenous health, adult and adolescent chronic pain, social responsibility in higher education, oral health care for autistic children, and the experiences of people living with Thalassemia. Applied Philosophical Hermeneutics offers an approach to help bring researchers, clinicians, and patients together within a community of active partnerships in research. All these projects employed Applied Philosophical Hermeneutics as an approach to gain a deeper and personal understanding of the unique experiences of these diverse groups of people. Hermeneutics remains somewhat confusing as the unmethod which may lead to a dismissive attitude toward this research approach. Therefore, the intention of this paper is to present a risk-free insight into hermeneutics, which hopefully will open-up conversations and new learning experiences among researchers, students, patients, and colleagues.

The Daily Grind of Living With Chronic Pain: An Applied Hermeneutic Exploration

“…The interviews were open-ended/semi-structured, consisting of one key, broad, open-ended question: what does it mean to live with chronic pain? What ensued was an unstructured conversation between the researcher and the participants, including questions and prompts more specific to the experience narrated in the answer of the participant ( Hovey et al, 2022 ). The experience of the interviewer with chronic pain allows them to engage with the participants with almost immediate proximity.…”

“…The process of going from a transcribed interview to an interpretation of value and resonance that can extend or overturn current understandings of a topic is challenging to articulate ( Hovey et al, 2022 ). The metaphor of the fusion of horizons can be of assistance in looking between the whole and the parts.…”

“…This research focused on the experience of the daily challenges of persons living with chronic pain. The study was guided by Gadamer's (1989) tenets of philosophical hermeneutics following the methodological as described by Moules et al (2015) and Hovey et al (2022). The study was approved by the McGill University Research Ethics Board.…”

“…The experience of the interviewer with chronic pain allows them to engage with the participants with almost immediate proximity. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim into text, and analyzed interpretively according to philosophic hermeneutic tradition as outlined by Moules et al (2015) and Hovey et al (2022). The text created from the transcribed interviews was read and re-read, with the researcher reflecting on how the parts of the text relate to the whole of all of participants, with the application of the hermeneutic circle (Grondin, 2016).…”

“He told me my pain was in my head”: mitigating testimonial injustice through peer support

“…At the end of each interview, participants chose a pseudonym to assign to their personal narrative for publication purposes. Interview questions were planned in a funnel format to encourage participants to bring up any aspect of the question that is most important to them and discuss it in their own words ( 41 ). The first questions to the participants were broad and open-ended, such as “Could you tell me the story of your scoliosis diagnosis?”, inviting them to direct the conversation to any aspect of the question that is most relevant to their lived experience.…”