“Ghosts at the banquet” - Scholarly Commons Home

Alternative Research Methodology
My interest and the subsequent development of a clinical question for this
dissertation came from my subjective experience and interest in phenomena
such as my countertransference with clients with Anorexia Nervosa. Given
this, it could be argued that my question may have been best answered through
the use of a Single-Case Research Methodology. Case study research is ideal
for bringing an understanding of a complex issue, and can extend experience
or add strength to what is already known through previous research. It is an
“empirical enquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon in real-life
situations; when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not
clearly evident; and in which multiple sources of evidence are used (Yin,
1984, p.23). This methodology is more often used in psychoanalysis and is the
kind of research that involves not only an exploration of the client’s
personality but also the need to look at the therapist’s psyche as well
(Meadow, 1984). So the therapy session exists as the laboratory where the life
history of the client unfolds in relationship with the therapist (Lief, 1992). This
would have developed the use of my clinical phenomenological experience;
the area of gestalt that may have developed would have been a greater
emphasis and depth of exploration into ‘the shared mind’ and within that
intersubjectivity the “creation of mind” (Symmington, 2007) and movement
through “emotional thinking” to reach the inner activity of the client and
therefore support the inner mind-building activity” (p. 1410). However the
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