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Chapter Eleven – A Critical Reflection on the Study – Page 326
grounded theory move very quickly to fragmentation and coding of data. At the same
time, I do value the opportunity to focus through this tactic on particular segments of
my experience, as I do in the Synchronic Analyses of Chapters Five to Nine.
Regarding theoretical candour, I have very much been open in the study to a range of
explanations for what is taking place, or what can be learned from it.
Exploration
I hope it is clear from my account of the fieldwork and of the analytic process that the
whole experience was one of exploration. The study has been a look below the surface
and behind the scenes of a segment of psychotherapy training, which itself is a task of
facilitating in trainees the capacity to explore with their patients and colleagues.
Critiques of the design of the research, the execution of that
design, the analysis and the conclusions
The design
From my own perspective, this research experience was something of a golden
opportunity, a gift in terms of a PhD topic area. I had considerable access to data, the
generosity of my colleague and the students, warm offers of assistance from the field
location (the Agency), and an extremely powerful and privileged position in terms of
access to a range of perspectives. I also had the advantage of an intersection of a
number of my own strong interests, in research (particularly in constructing routine
practice as a form of research, or alternatively, research being closely integrated with
routine practice), in the teaching of psychotherapy, and in groups (both in group
analytic psychotherapy practice, as well as in group approaches to a range of forms of
consultation). I should, however, be careful not to be seduced by these factors. They