Heuristic Research

In earlier articles I wrote about a qualitative research method and the tools used. That was imaginal research, by Romanyshyn (2013). In this article I want to outline another qualitative research method; that of heuristic research by Moustakas (1990).

Moustakas considers that heuristic research “refers to a process of internal search through which one discovers the nature and meaning of experience” Like Romanyshyn he notes that “the self of the researcher is present throughout the process and, while understanding the phenomenon with increasing depth, the researcher also experiences growing self-awareness and self-knowledge”.

He proposes six research phases: “the initial engagement, immersion into the topic and question, incubation, illumination, explication and the culmination of the research in a creative synthesis”. Let us look at each of these in turn, and in my next article I will look at the tools that can be used in these phases.

Initial Engagement

This first phase is about finding “a topic, theme, problem, or question” that evokes an “intense interest, a passionate concern that calls out to the researcher, one that holds important social meanings and personal, compelling implications”. The aim being to “form a question”.

Immersion

Once the question is defined then “the researcher lives the question in waking, sleeping, and even dream states”. Moustakas underscores the point that “virtually anything connected with the question becomes raw material for immersion”.

Incubation

This is a phase where the “researcher retreats from the intense, concentrated focus on the question”. He is clear that it doesn’t mean that something is not happening. He gives the examples of a key misplaced or a name forgotten. How when we do something else, and stop focussing directly on the key or name, suddenly the information comes to us. This phase of the research “gives birth to a new understanding or perspective that reveals additional qualities of the phenomenon”.

Illumination

Following incubation, comes the phase of illumination which “opens the door to a new awareness, a modification of an old understanding, a synthesis of fragmented knowledge, or an altogether new discovery of something that has been present for some time yet beyond immediate awareness”. Moustakas provides an example of how in his work he suddenly saw “a large cemetery plot” that had been present all along. However, now he could see it, and realised that his “initial core qualities were objects of beauty in nature […] all burgeoning with life”. The cemetery plot added “the symbolic presence of death”.

Explication

“The purpose of the explication phase is to fully examine what has awakened in consciousness, in order to understand its various layers of meaning”. He notes that the aim of this phase is to identify “the core or dominant themes”.

Creative Synthesis

In this final phase the researcher takes the information gained about the question from illumination and explication. These “core themes” are processed as “a narrative depiction utilizing verbatim material and examples, but it may be expressed as a poem, story drawing, painting or by some other creative form”.

Conclusion

As a research process this is very workable, but not necessarily easy. In the next article I will talk about some of the tools that are used alongside this framework. Ways of getting into the unconscious, that might be of use to you in your own journey . If you want more, you might like to consider reading his book.

Moustakas, C. (1990). Heuristic Research. Design Methodology, and Applications. Sage Publications Inc.

Romanyshyn, R. D. (2013) The Wounded Researcher. Research with Soul in Mind. Spring Journal Books.

Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay