Abstract
The Hidden Power in Communication: An Example of Reconstructive Analysis in Critical Qualitative Research
International Journal of Qualitative Methods, Vol.15(1), pp.33-33
Qualitative Methods Conference, 15th (Glasgow, United Kingdom, 03-May-2016–05-May-2016)
2016
Abstract
Communication is pragmatic, aimed at directing and organising human activity. Every time we talk we convey more than just information; we validate ideas, reproduce and challenge cultural norms and values. Cultural norms impose limits of acceptable behaviours and describe how one should act in a particular circumstance. Much of this is accomplished subconsciously as human actors interpret and understand communicative acts in a holistic way. Therefore, how we communicate influences the listener’s beliefs, gains their trust, and agreement and represents events in such a way that emphasises particular aspects and minimises others. In this way, we know the meaning of a communicative act and therefore how we should act. The hidden elements, the omitted and unarticulated aspects of culture, are the focus of a hermeneutic approach to data analysis used in critical research. Analysis is hermeneutic and also reconstructive in the way that it takes the data and makes explicit cultural and subjective factors that are tacit in nature. In other words, the reconstructive process unpacks the narrative and then proceeds to articulate potential meanings. With exemplars from a critical ethnography examining the culture of nursing in an acute surgical ward, this presentation details the use of reconstructive analysis in critical qualitative research. Adopting a critical approach to research acknowledges that all relationships involve power differentials, and therefore this nursing culture is examined through the lens of power, privilege, and authority to uncover unfair and unjust systems. Participants are collaborators and cocreators and empowered to generate new ideas for practice.
Details
- Title
- The Hidden Power in Communication: An Example of Reconstructive Analysis in Critical Qualitative Research
- Authors
- Sandra Sharp - Edinburgh Napier University
- Publication details
- International Journal of Qualitative Methods, Vol.15(1), pp.33-33
- Conference details
- Qualitative Methods Conference, 15th (Glasgow, United Kingdom, 03-May-2016–05-May-2016)
- Publisher
- Sage Publications Ltd.
- Date published
- 2016
- DOI
- 10.1177/1609406916672113
- ISSN
- 1609-4069
- Organisation Unit
- School of Health - Nursing
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991261895602621
- Output Type
- Abstract
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