Scientific Empathy and the 12 Principles for Evaluating Hermeneutic Phenomenological Research

The expansion of research methods in library and information studies (LIS) has not been followed by an expedited development of rigorous standards for innovative research evaluation. This article focuses on the lack of clear guidance for evaluating hermeneutic phenomenological studies and proposes to address the situation by introducing the 12 principles of evaluation. These principles can help authors implement quality control in the design and writing of hermeneutic phenomenological reports and help peer reviewers, trained in quantitative and mixed methods, evaluate qualitative studies on their own merit, with a set of unique and appropriate criteria, rather than with the standards suited for quantitative inquiry. The 12 principles are advocated as a means of fostering scientific empathy toward phenomenologists and toward the methodology itself. Scientific empathy is positioned as a way of bridging gaps in knowledge and understanding and nurturing a more collaborative spirit that supports the diversity of research methodologies.