Myself as research participant

atrapos — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:05:09 +0000

I was invited to take part at a Master’s student research (on counsellors’ perceptions of their visual imagery and its use in counselling) and was interviewed earlier today. I am now at a stage that i am analysing the data of my own research and it was useful for me to step into the partcipant’s position (something that i have done on other occasions also) and reflect on the process. what i noticed during the interview process was that when i was being asked about something that felt difficult to put into words in order to describe its meaning, i did try really hard to find the words to describe it as accurately as possible, i did my best in finding the words within. I think that this was because of how i feel (as a researcher) when my own interviewees cannot articulate what they feel or think (not because of any inability, it is just the nature of the topic), which sometimes leaved me feeling that i havent managed to generate the data that i was looking for or the one that i can experience myself more on a ‘gut’ level. Also, when interviewed todat, i noticed some processes in terms of the idea around data that emerges from ‘unconscious’ v. a ‘conscious’ level. Guided imagery for example seems to be bringing up insights that are more at an unconscious level….similarly, the kind of experiences that i discuss with my participants seem to be lying more at their unconscious sphere and this is why words are often hard to be found for a description of them…hence, when i ask them to use a metaphor or an image for their experience, it can be quite liberating….a creative way of approaching the data that also fits with the heuristic philosophy

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Myself as research participant