Follow us
Log in
Much of the content on our site is available to our registered users only. If you're already registered, just click the 'Log in' button then enter your email address and password.
Register
If you're not already registered on the site, you'll need to do so in order to gain unrestricted access to all our content. There are two types of registration:
1. If you're a current subscriber, you can register for access to our protected content at no additional cost. You'll need your subscription number in order to complete your registration, which is on the polythene wrapper in which your journal is delivered. Click the Register button to begin your registration.
2. If you don't currently subscribe you can do so now by taking out a secure online subscription. Not only will this give you instant access to our protected online content, but you'll also get every issue of Nursing Standard - the UK's best selling nursing journal - delivered straight to your door. Click the Register button to begin your subscription and registration.
Rigour in phenomenological research: reflections of a novice nurse researcher
Author: Helder Rocha Pereira
Date: April 2012
Journal: Nurse Researcher
Issue: Volume 19, Number 3
Keywords: Phenomenological research, rigour, validity, quality, qualitative research, novice researchers’ experience
Aim: This paper is intended to explore conflicts and doubts that novice researchers face when using phenomenological research methods, especially with regard to methodological rigour.
Background: There is an increasing interest in different qualitative approaches. The best way to evaluate the quality of qualitative studies has been debated intensively. The great theoretical and methodological diversity of qualitative approaches suggests that a single set of criteria may not be appropriate for all types of research.
Review methods: This is a methodological paper that discusses a personal experience of addressing rigour in a phenomenological study, supported by literature on the topic.
Discussion: Generic qualitative criteria may not be the most adequate to ensure rigour in phenomenological research. The different poles of discussion about the best way to ensure validity of phenomenological research puzzle novice nurse researchers.
Conclusion: Focusing on integrative validity that addresses experiential and methodological concerns ensures that researchers will respect the philosophical assumptions underlying a method and allows them to recognise study soundness in the findings and the research process.
Implications for research/practice: Phenomenological research must demonstrate methodological congruence and provide meaningful results about lived experiences in a balanced way. Novice researchers need support to understand the articulation between philosophical and methodological foundations that guide the methods they use.
Registered users
If you're a current subscriber, and have already registered with us, please log in.
Current subscribers
Current subscribers can register for access to our protected content at no additional cost.
Non-subscribers
Take out a secure online subscription and gain instant access to our protected content.
Search tips
Focus your results by wrapping search phrases in quotation marks. For example, search "child health" to return results containing that exact phrase.
The RCN Publishing Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal College of Nursing, the world's largest organisation for nurses. RCN Publishing produces one weekly, eight monthly and two quarterly nursing publications. Nursing Standard, the flagship journal, is the UK's biggest selling weekly for nursing. It is produced by RCN Publishing Company along with a suite of specialist nursing journals - Cancer Nursing Practice, Mental Health Practice, Learning Disability Practice, Nursing Children and Young People, Nursing Management, Emergency Nurse, Nursing Older People, Nurse Researcher and Primary Health Care. RCN Publishing Company also produce the RCN Bulletin, a major source of up-to-the-minute information for RCN members in all specialities, grades and working environments. With the latest nurse vacancies from trusts nationwide, it has become the most cost-effective nurse recruitment magazine available.