Enacting the study

The goal of the research reported in this section was to explore the development of professional practice capabilities in a clinical education context. In this research the development of physiotherapy students’ professional practice capabilities was explored as an exemplar of a wider range of professional practices. This research was conducted in the interpretive paradigm. The interpretive paradigm offers researchers rich opportunities to develop innovative strategies to generate new understanding of the human world. The critical use of interpretive strategies provides a means by which matters important to people’s lives can be accessed, expressed and represented by researchers.A hermeneutic approach incorporating two philosophical hermeneutic studieswas chosen to frame this research to deepen my understanding of the development of physiotherapy students’ professional practice capabilities in a clinical education context. Two text sets were constructed; the first text set was constructed from the literature and the second from experiences of participants (physiotherapy students and clinical supervisors) using focus groups, interviews, observation and photoelicitation. Three hermeneutic principles, namely fusion of horizons, the hermeneutic circle and dialogue of question and answer, guided the text interpretation.This chapter explores the research approach chosen to frame the research andthe strategies employed. The rigour and credibility of the research is discussed and the ethical implications of chosen strategies are examined. Philosophicalhermeneutics is presented as a creative and deeply interpretive research approach, particularly suited to the exploration of complex human phenomena such as clinical education.