Nursing as Caring was one of four caring theories included in a comparative analysis reported by McCance, McKenna and Boore (1999). That analysis was based on a number of factors, including origin, scope and key concepts of the theory, definition of caring, description of nursing, the goal or outcome of nursing from the perspective of the theory, and simplicity of the internal structure. Findings of the analysis were developed in terms of utility of the theory in practice. Smith (1999) analyzed concepts from the literature on caring in nursing in an effort to uncover points of congruence between that literature and the theoretical perspective of the Science of Unitary Human Beings. The theory of Nursing as Caring figured prominently in Smith's concept clarification, contributing to four of the five synthesized constitutive meanings of caring: manifesting intentions, appreciating pattern, attuning to dynamic flow and inviting creative emergence (Smith, 1999). RESEARCH METHOD DEVELOPMENT In Chapter 6, Theory Development and Research, we envisioned an approach that "would include a phenomenological aspect which goes beyond description to an hermeneutical process, within an action research orientation" (Boykin & Schoenhofer, 1993, p. 97). Two research approaches have been developed within the context of studying Nursing as Caring, one focusing on discovering the lived meaning of everyday caring and the second directed toward understanding the value experienced in nursing situations. There is relatively little literature that deliberately sets out to describe the multitude of ways of human caring. However, most if not all human text does reflect uniquely personal ways of caring, and can profitably be studied for this purpose. In an effort to provide a knowledge base of the variety of human caring ways, one of the authors (Schoenhofer) innovated a group phenomenology approach in which research participants not only generated data in group settings, but also led the synthesis of meaning (Schoenhofer, Bingham, & Hutchins, 1997). The group approach to data generation was chosen for several reasons--one was efficiency, but the primary reason was a belief in the synergistic potential of the group process experience. The group approach to data synthesis was added to the design based on the assumption that persons living the phenomenon being studied and generating the data may be most well qualified to intuit meaning across examples. The series of studies of everyday caring may best be understood as general foundational human science, rather than as nursing science per se. Results of the studies produced knowledge that has potential to enlighten nursing practice, rather than producing direct knowledge of nursing practice.