The analysis of data from the research into palliative care in South Bedfordshire will follow the

method of analysis as described by Kleiman (2004).

1. First of all the interview transcript will be read in their entirety in order to get a global

sense of the whole.

2. The interview transcript will then be read once more, this time more slowly, in order to

divide the data into meaning units. The meaning units are units that are rendered

from the words of the participants.

3. Then the meaning units which are found to have a similar focus or content are

integrated in order to clarify the sense of them.

4. The next stage in the analysis of the raw data occurs with the transformed meaning

units being subjected to a process that is known as free imaginative variation. This

process determines which of them is essential for, and is constitutive of, a fixed

identity for the phenomena that is under study.

5. An elaboration of the findings will then occur. This includes descriptions of the

essential meaning that were discovered through the process mentioned above of

free imaginative variation and the articulation of a structure of the phenomenon that is

obtained from those discovered essential meanings.

6. The structure of the phenomena is the major finding of any descriptive

phenomenological inquiry. This structure is based upon the essential meanings that

are present in the descriptions of the participants and is determined by the prior

analysis and insights which were obtained from the process of free imaginative

variation.

7. In the next stage of analysis, the raw data descriptions are looked at again in order to

justify the articulation is of both the essential meanings and the general structure. It

is important that the raw data is able to substantiate the accuracy of all the findings.

8. Finally, once the phenomenological analysis of the data is complete, there will then

follow a critical analysis of the work of the researcher. This critical analysis will
 include verification that:

a) concrete, detailed descriptions have been obtained from the participants;

b) the phenomenological reduction has been maintained throughout the analysis;

c) essential meanings had been discovered;

d) a structure has been articulated;

e) the raw data has verified the results.

Reference: Kleiman S (2004) Phenomenology: to wonder and search for meanings. Nurse Researcher
11(4): 7-19