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Intuitive Inquiry In the field of Transpersonal Psychology, Abraham Maslow (1971) had said that the farther reaches of human experience could be explored by studying those individuals who have self-actualized their potential the most. Intuitive Inquiry “encourages the actualization of the researcher’s capacity to envision creative responsibilities…for their participants and their own impressions” (Anderson, 2004). In this method, the researcher is both a scientist as well as an artist, studying what one is called to; it is a search for new understandings through focused attention on the researcher’s passion (Anderson, 2004). Intuitive Inquiry is intended to be an epistemology of both the heart and intellect joined in a hermeneutical process of interpretation (Anderson, 2004). It brings together the personal, the political, and the universal, drawing a complete circle (Braud & Anderson, 1998). It aims to bring more capacitates of human awareness into conscious application in the social sciences (Braud & Anderson, 1998). Braud and Anderson elaborate: “This research method has a three-fold purpose: (1) to allow the intersubjectivity of the researcher, participants, and anticipated audience to influence the gradual unfolding of the researcher inquiry; (2) to assist the researcher in exploring thoroughly the landscape of a particular facet of human experience; (3) to impart creatively the character of the experience without diminishing it in the telling (pg. 82).” Braud and Anderson (1998) developed this method to study complex human experiences. It is a qualitative approach that incorporates intuition, compassion, and supports doctoral students’ research on topics that involve psycho-spiritual development. Intuitive inquiry was developed from a number of other research methods, including heuristic inquiry (Moustakas, 1990), feminist theory and research (Nielsen, 1990; Reinharz, 1992), Focusing (Gendlin, 1978), libration social movements (Boff, 1993; Gutierrez, 1990), and hermeneutics (Bruns, 1992; Husserl, 1989; Packer & Addison, 1989; Romanyshyn, 1991). In Intuitive Inquiry, the research includes five cycles of interpretation. The first cycle begins with the topic being selected by an image or text that grabs the attention of the intuitive researcher. It is to be compelling, manageable, clear, focused, concrete, researchable, and promising (Anderson, 2004). The second cycle is to develop the preliminary lenses, where the researcher bears the values and assumptions about the topic out before collecting the data. Lenses refer to the researcher’s perspective, which is why this step is usually done during or immediately after the researcher has read and evaluated previous research, and is writing a review of theoretical and research literature. This step has been commended for being so realistic and honest in its approach (Anderson, 2004). The thirds cycle is to collect the data and prepare the summary reports, in the most descriptive manner possible. The researcher is to summarize the data using conventional thematic content analysis, descriptive summaries, or portraits (Moustakas, 1990). The fourth cycle is to transform and refine the lenses, taking what was developed in cycle two, and expanding and fine-tuning the pre-understandings. The experiences of others are added, and the researcher’s summaries that were done in cycle three are represented (Anderson, 2004). The fifth and final cycle is to integrate the findings, as if drawing a larger hermeneutical circle that was already drawn, by taking in all considerations about the study. The intuitive researcher must evaluate what they have learned, and what they feel (Anderson, 2004). References Anderson, R. (2004). Intuitive Inquiry: Interpreting objective and subjective data. ReVision: Journal of Consciousness and Transformation, 22(4), 31-39. Braud, W. &Anderson, R. (1998). Transpersonal research methods for the social sciences: Honoring the human experience. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Boff, L. (1993). Liberating grace. (P. Hughes, Trans.). Maryknoll, NY: Orbis. Bruns, G.L. (1992). Hermeneutics ancient and modern. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. Gendlin, E.T. (1978). Focusing. New York, Everest House. Gutierrez, G. (1990). A theology of liberation: History, politics, and salvation. (C. Indra & J. Eagleson, Trans. and Ed.) Maryknoll, NY:Orbis. Husserl, E. (1989). Ideas pertaining to a pure phenomenology and to a phenomenological philosophy, Book 2: Studies in phenomenology of constitution. Boston, MA: Kluwer. Maslow, A.H. (1971). The farther reaches of human nature. New York, NY: Viking. Moustakas, C. (1990). Heuristic research: Design, methodology, and applications. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Nielson, J.M. (1990). Feminist research methods: Exemplary readings in the social sciences. Boulder, CO: Westview. Packer, M.J. & Addison, R.B. (Eds.) (1989). Entering the circle: hermeneutic investigation in psychology. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. Reinharz, S. (1992). Feminist methods in social sciences. New York: Oxford university press. Romanyshyn, R. (1991). Complex knowing: Toward a psychological hermeneutics. The Humanistic Psychologist, 19(1), 10-29. Additional Links
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