In this commentary, the authors encourage a renewed enthusiasm for attention to quality criteria in qualitative health research by poking fun at what they understand to be patterns and themes emerging from data collected in their respective extensive “fieldwork” experiences within the genre. Conceptualizing some of the particularly problematic interpretive turns as land mines in the field (or, alternatively, missteps in the dance, cracks in the pottery, wrong turns in the journey, weeds in the garden, or dropped stitches in the quilt), they challenge researchers’ collective relationship to both factual and metaphoric empirical claims. With a warning to those unaccustomed to self-deprecating humor, the authors challenge all to pay serious heed to what does and does not constitute rigorous, high-quality, empirical science within the qualitative tradition.
Aita, V.McIvain, H., Susman, J., & Crabtree, B. (2003). Using metaphor as a qualitative analytic approach to understand complexity in primary care research. Qualitative Health Research, 13, 1419-1431.
2.
Baker, D. (2002). Avogadro’s number: A homoeopathic metaphor. Journal of the Australian Traditional-Medicine Society, 8(3), 113-115.
3.
Coulson, S., & Van Petten, C. (2002). Conceptual integration and metaphor: An event-related potential study. Memory & Cognition, 30(6), 958-968.
4.
Czechmeister, C. A. (1994). Metaphor in illness and nursing—A two-edged sword: A discussion of the social use of metaphor in everyday language, and implications of nursing and nursing education. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 19(6), 1226-1233.
5.
Engebretson, J. (2002). Hands-on: the persistent metaphor in nursing. Holistic Nursing Practice, 16(4), 20-35.
6.
Espnes, G. A. (1993). Social networks—The metaphor that became a research approach: A research approach in the field of nursing?Scandinavian Journal of Caring Sciences, 7(1), 43-46.
7.
Froggatt, K. (1998). The place of metaphor and language in exploring nurses’ emotional work. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 28(2), 332-338.
8.
Fryer-Keene, S., & Simpson, B. (1997). Using metaphor to clarify emerging roles in patient care management teams. Canadian Journal of Nursing Administration, 10(2), 67-76.
9.
Gibbs, R. W., Jr., & Franks, H. (2002). Embodied metaphor in women’s narratives about their experiences with cancer. Health Communication, 14(2), 139-165.
10.
Goodman, C. (2001). The use of metaphor in district nursing: Maintaining a balance. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 33(1), 106-112.
11.
Gunby, S. S., Chally, P., Dorman, R. E., Grams, K. M., Kosowski, M. M., & Pless, B. S. (1991). Alice in Wonderland: Ametaphor for professional nursing education. Curriculum revolution: Community building and activism (No. 15-2398). New York: National League for Nursing.
12.
Hess, J. D. (1995). The art of stained glass: Metaphor for the art of nursing. Nursing Inquiry, 2(4), 221-223.
13.
Hodnicki, D. R., Horner, S. D., & Simmons, S. J. (1993). The sea of life: A metaphorical vehicle for theory explication. Nursing Science Quarterly, 6(1), 25-27.
14.
Kangas, S., Warren, N. A., & Byrne, M. M. (1998). Brief research report—Metaphor: The language of nursing researchers. Nursing Research, 47(3), 190-193.
15.
Mallinson, T., Kielhofner, G., & Mattingly, C. (1996). Metaphor and meaning in a clinical interview. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 50(5), 338-346.
16.
McAllister, M. (1995). The nurse as tour guide: Ametaphor for debriefing students in mental health nursing. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 16(5), 395-405.
17.
McCulloch, C. A. (1994). Anew metaphor for autonomy: Caring relationships in long-term care. Perspectives, 18(3), 8-9.
18.
Paine, L. L. (2000). Midwife as metaphor. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, 45(5), 367.
19.
Rose, B. H. (1999). A basket metaphor for nursing. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 17(2), 208-217.
20.
Sandelowski, M. (1986). Sophie’s choice: A metaphor for infertility. Health Care for Women International, 7(6), 439-453.
21.
Seymour, R. J. (1999). Cooking ham and the masters nursing thesis: A metaphor. Graduate Research Nursing, 1(1). Retrieved May 16, 2005, from http://www.graduateresearch.com/seymour.htm
22.
Shamansky, S. L., & Graham, K. Y. (1999). The Venn diagram: A metaphor for life. Public Health Nursing, 16(1), 1-2.
23.
Silverman, D. (1985). Qualitative methodology and sociology. Aldershot, UK: Gower.
24.
Smith, M. C. (1992). Metaphor in nursing theory. Nursing Science Quarterly, 5(2), 48-49.
25.
Thompson, P. K. (2000). The dark night of the soul: A metaphor for understanding the ethics and spirituality of hospice care. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA.
26.
Valdez, M. (2001). A metaphor for HIV-positive Mexican and Puerto Rican women. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 23(5), 517-535.
27.
Walker, C. A. (1997). Imagination, metaphor and nursing theory. Journal of Theory Construction & Testing, 1(1), 22-27.
28.
Walker, J. (1985). Rebels with our applause? A critique of resistance theory in Paul Willis’s ethnography of schooling. Journal of Education, 167(2), 63-83.
29.
Wendler, M. C. (1999). Using metaphor to explore concept synthesis. International Journal for Human Caring, 3(1), 31-36.
