Transcript Methods of Transpersonal Research

Perspectives on Researcher
Identity:
An Exploration of the Personal,
Interpersonal, & Transpersonal
Maureen Harrahy, Nadia Santiago, &
Suzanne Adams
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology
January 2011
What is Transpersonal Psychology?
 Beyond or through (trans) the individual (personal) Walsh & Vaughan, 1993
 Commonly concerned with personal growth and human
transformation but extending to consider a human being’s
beyond ego potentials
 Three themes: beyond (individual) ego; from the
perspective of a whole person in an interconnected world;
that may have transformative potentials
From this expanded perspective of
human potential:
 Validates “the meaningful nature of human
experience [while] affirming that this is not
merely an impediment to objective knowledge but
a way of knowing oneself, the world, and the
mystery of existence from the standpoint of an
embodied participant rather than as a
disinterested observer” (Hartelius, Caplan, &
Rardin, 2007, p. 142).
“Outlandish Science”
APPROACHING RESEARCH
FROM A TRANSPERSONAL
PERSPECTIVE
Anderson (Braud & Anderson, 1998)
writes:
 “Transpersonal psychology seeks to honor
human experience in its fullest and most
transformative expressions” (p. xxi, intro). For
the researcher, this means “to incorporate,
advocate, and verify the full and expansive
measure of any human experience studied,
however it presents itself to awareness” (p.
xxvi, intro)
Anderson (cont.):
 “We need an imaginative, even outlandish
science to envision the potential of human
experience and awareness, not just more tidy
reports” (p. xxvi, intro)
breaking the rules of rigid empirical
science
infusing our investigations with the
values that matter to us
Utilize creative modalities
Contain rich descriptions of personal
experiences
Use of Reflexivity
Potential for transformation of
self/others
Potential for self-transcendence
Evokes/Encourages a sense of social
responsibility
Use of self-reflection
Acknowledgement of both individual
and cultural aspects of human
experience
Potential for Integration
Honors human experience
Values alternative states of
consciousness
Acknowledges the researcher’s
connection to the researched
Values emotion “as they occur
in participants, researchers,
and readers” (Braud &
Anderson, 1998, p. 219)
Aesthetic feeling as validation
Ontologically pluralistic;
diversity in human exp.
Values participants as bearers of
knowledge
Ability to adopt multiple
perspectives
Recognizes and embraces
subjectivity as a valuable way of
knowing
Methods of Transpersonal Research
Integral Inquiry: a research approach combining complementary methods of
inquiry to address the multifarious nature of research questions and the various ways of
knowing (Braud, 1998).
√covering the continuum of qualitative & quantitative research
√costum-made approach, answering questions of a transpersonal nature
Organic Inquiry: a collaborative method utilizing the personal experiences of the
researcher & co-participants in order to create a sacred project that transforms & heals
all involved (Clements, Ettling, Jenett, & Shields, 1998).
√5 Characteristics: Sacred, Personal, Chthonic, Relational, Transformative
√Connected Methodologies: Feminist, Heuristc
Intuitive Inquiry: methodology incorporating intuition, compassion, instant grasp
of meaning, & assistance to underserved/under-recognized individuals/communities
(Anderson, 1998)
√ Transforms research from cold and scientific into a connection-driven, human
interaction; the process is self-reflective, introspective, & demanding
√5 Cycles of Research: Claimed by topic, Preliminary lenses, Data collection, New lenses
& transformation, Revisit Lit Rev & discuss implications
Common Threads:
Research from Personal Lived Experience
Transpersonal Perspective
Self-identification as a member of
participant population
Transformative Potentials
 Researchers, Participants, Audience
Researcher Identity:
Interpersonal and Transpersonal
Perspectives in an Inquiry into the
Intersubjective Impact of a Traumatic
Event
Philosophical and Psychological
Perspectives of the Researcher:
 Assumption that life is participatory
 Being human is interactive, relational, and
interdependent
 Based in evolving Western psychologies of
relationship and interpersonal development
Proposition:
 Occurrences and events in life do not just
happen to an individual, but are inherently a
group phenomenon.
 All experiences, no matter how apparently
private, have a relational component.
Inquiry: The Interpersonal
Impact of a Traumatic Event
Method: Elaborative or Emergent
Fit approach to Grounded Theory
Traumatic Event Defined As:
 An event that disrupts or shatters individual’s
assumptive worlds (Auerbach, Salick, & Fine,
2006; Janoff-Bulman, 1992)
 Or disrupts/shatters the ways in which one has
come to count on being in the world.
Traumatic Event In Question:
Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment
Point of Elaboration:
The aspect of human experiencing that
involves groups of people having an
interpersonal experience.
Participants:
 Conducted semi-structured interviews with 24
participants
 18 participants formed 4 groups consisting of
one cancer survivor and 3-4 support people
 3 cancer survivors and one support person
participated on an individual basis only
 1 cancer survivor/spouse participated as a
couple
Interviews:
All participants took part in semistructured interviews.
Those who participated as a group also
took part in a group interview with their
personal, small group.
Method:
 Grounded Theory
 Emergent Fit or Elaborative Approach
 Emphasizing use of sensitizing concepts concepts derived from prior reading of the
literature and personal experience that inform
the research process (Charmaz, 2006)
Benefits:
 Openly using sensitizing concepts as data
points for reference has 2 benefits:
 1. If the concept does not fit with interview
data collected, then information selects out of
theory building.
 2. Rather than creating an isolated theory,
elaborative approach potentially builds a
bridge with similar theories.
Researcher Relationship to the
Research:
Role
Personal Experience
Insider Perspective
Ethics
Benefits
Interpersonal Dimensions of the
Research
Transpersonal
Dimensions of the
Research
Interplay research/researcher:
 Intention to embody principles outlined
 Valuing subjectivity
 Participatory approach
 Personal experience disclosed to participants
 Common field of experience
 Personal experience as point of reference
 Researcher’s sensitivities
An Autoethnographic Exploration of
THE FAMILY EXPERIENCE OF
THE TRANSGENDER
By Nadia Santiago
TRANSITION
Brief Overview of
Autoethnography
 Autoethnography is a research method that
locates the researcher within the culture being
studied.
 Ethnography that incorporates one’s personal
experiences.
 Autoethnography provides a way to explore
and understand the researcher’s experience
within the context of the topic under study.
The Call to Research
Defining “Transition”
 Bridges (2001) makes a distinction between
transition and change.
 Change is a “situational shift” (p. 2)
 “Transition is the process of letting go of the
way things used to be and then taking hold of
the way they subsequently become” (p. 2).
Family Emergence
Discovery and disclosure
Turmoil
Negotiation
Finding balance
My Family’s Emergence
Population
 My immediate family
 A five-member
biethnic family,
largely located in
Lawrence,
Massachusetts
 Phase:
Proposal/Data
Collection
Why I Feel Compelled to
Undertake this Investigation
What I am learning
It keeps occurring to me that there are
so many things I don’t know.
There’s a difference between coming out
and being outed.
No two people have the exact same
experience.
Queer Transpersonal Sexual
Experiences
 Intuitive Inquiry approach
 Examining altered states of consciousness (ASCs) &
transcendence during sexual acts
 Participants (N=12-16)
 Individuals who have reportedly experienced transpersonal sex
 Individuals who self-identify as:
 queer in sexual orientation (ie: lesbian, gay, bisexual, or any variation
thereof)
 AND
 queer in gender orientation (ie: gender queer, gender non-conformists,
androgynous, third gender, etc)
State of Current Research
√Completing data collection & beginning data analysis
√Findings pending
What does it mean for the researcher to
situate herself in the study?
 Personal passion: underserved & under recognized
part of population; sex research
 Furthers desire for transformation, societal
awareness, advocacy
 Intuitive Inquiry:
 Personal experience as a point of reference, means of
analysis, emotional resonance
 Cycles 2 & 4: Preliminary & Revised lenses
 Cycle 5: Revisiting Lit Review w/ C4 lenses to determine
implications of research
 Influences researcher identification, understanding the
uniqueness of identities, & meaning making of personal
experiences
How do I relate to my participants?
Multi-layered resonance
 Researcher self-identification & participant
identifications
 identification with minority population
 Transpersonal phenomena
 Varying sexual experiences
 Relationship styles
 Influences of phenomena on personal life & beliefs
 Affecting disclosure: researcher & participants
 Effects of participation: interpersonal connectivity,
establishment of community, de-stigmatizing
transpersonal experiences
 Results as affected by researcher-participant
connection
How does subjectivity affect my research?
 Disclosure: Affecting research received
 Identity
 Exposure to experience, literature, other participant
narratives
 Intuitive Inquiry: Affecting analysis
 use of compassion, resonance, lenses as tools
 Autobiographical Nature: Affecting research analysis
 Personal experiences affecting lenses through which
researcher analyzes participant experiences
CONCLUSION
 “We know a thing only by uniting with it; by
assimilating it; by an interpenetration of it and
ourselves…Wisdom is the fruit of communion;
ignorance the inevitable portion of those who
‘keep themselves to themselves,’ and stand
apart, judging, analyzing the things which they
have never truly known” (Underhill, 1915, p.4).
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