accounts by proceeding through an interactive process. This involves reading texts
(interview transcripts) in full, in order to first gain a sense of the whole picture. After
several readings of the text, the next stage is hermeneutic endeavour (Thompson et al.,
1990), or intertextuality (Thompson, 1997), whereby patterns and differences are
sought across transcripts. This strategy of interpretation must broaden the analysis to
include a wider range of considerations that helps the researcher arrive at a holistic
interpretation. There must also be recognition that the final explanation represents a
fusion of horizons between the interpreter’s frame of reference and the texts being
interpreted (Thompson, 1997). This is largely concurrent with the process outlined by
Colaizzi (1978) who suggests a series of seven steps: