A Literary Reception Theory Approach to Data Collection and Analysis

This study aimed to explore the views and experiences of 13 English nursing home nurses regarding their role and status. In order to achieve an in depth understanding, the study utilised innovative methods of data collection... [ view full abstract ]

This study aimed to explore the views and experiences of 13 English nursing home nurses regarding their role and status. In order to achieve an in depth understanding, the study utilised innovative methods of data collection and analysis, based on the literary reception theory approaches of Wolfgang Iser. Iser proposes that understanding is evoked by exploiting semantic potential i.e. the interplay between narrated experience (episodic knowledge), and theories based on assumptive knowledge and views (semantic knowledge).
Data Collection
In order to generate data that had semantic potential, multiple episodic interviews were used. Participants were each interviewed five times, during which the researcher asked them to narrate specific episodes, and prompted generalised discussions about their views. Benefits of this technique included:
• Narrated episodes elucidated meaning effectively, while simultaneously, semantic elements lessened the one-sidedness of narratives.
• Inconsistencies in narrative were resolved by revisiting these in later interviews.
• Participants could reflect on previous interviews, which led to richer data in later interviews.
• Participant/researcher rapport was established, which encouraged participants to speak freely.
• The researcher could appraise the questioning technique in order to improve it in later interviews.
Data analysis methods included some of Iser’s approaches:
• Participants’ perspectives and contextual perspectives were set in opposition in order to reveal the deficiencies of each, allowing the researcher to objectify the text and achieve deep understanding.
• ‘Backgrounding’, whereby the text is re-read after significant phrases and direct responses are removed, allowed minor topics and asides to be foregrounded, thus ensuring identification of a full range of topics. Because a multiple interview technique was utilised, topics identified could be revisited in later interviews.
• Deliberation of the unconscious use of language revealed hidden sub-texts.
This presentation demonstrates how these methods led to the generation of original insights and deep understanding.