Development of Theory

Abstract

By this stage, the reader has already been presented with a number of analyses and been party to the development of themes of interest at successive stages of the investigation. As a result, the threads of the theoretical discussion to be presented in this chapter have already been drawn out, although separately and with reference only to specific problems, which were addressed at each particular point in the presentation. What is now required is a more systematic treatment of these issues in order to show how the various questions separately addressed might be made sensible within one coherent scheme. This, I should hasten to say, does not involve us in an aggregation of separate findings in order to show how they relate together. As is consistent with the approach adopted, the elaboration of understanding depends upon the further interrelation of abstract concepts through bringing them to bear upon the data obtained. Any insights one might gain come from an extension of our perception using these concepts, just as much as from a reconstruction of the problems of the heart patient and his spouse.