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Chapter Two Part Two – Methodology - Page 50
researcher as a person When the viewpoint becomes the practice of researching (the
practice of) teaching (the practice of) psychotherapy, the researcher as researcher has
already adopted philosophical underpinnings from these allied practices, as a person, as
a clinician and as a teacher.
There are two important consequences to this situation. The first and most obvious is
the challenge to the researcher to hold firmly to the role of researcher, and for the role
not to be compromised by the range of constraints in the situation. Instead, one is prone
to finding oneself drifting 2 (or, I find myself drifting) towards involvement as a person,
a clinician or a teacher. This is a challenge, and one addressed elsewhere in the study as
a methodological issue. However, this is also similar to issues faced in clinical practice,
and instead of changes of position or pressures to move position being seen exclusively
as problems, these can also be analysed as informative.
The second consequence of this situation is that the theoretical orientation of the study,
and hence its philosophical basis, is essentially given. A key component of the
theoretical framework is the discipline of psychoanalysis. This entails a philosophical
position and permeates the clinical field for which the teaching is preparing people, as
well as the teaching itself, and consequently, the research into aspects of that teaching
and the learning that it invites. The discipline has a view (or rather, a range of views) on
the nature of the person, consciousness, development, health and illness, and the process
of change. This study reflects some of those views, in a unique and deliberately chosen
collection of positions on those dimensions.
(I am changing voice at this point, because I wish to refer to my own experience).
2 I am changing voice at this juncture, or rather, adding my own personal voice. I am aiming to write
generally, but I have particular experiences that are vivid.