Research study assignment I completed for my Atlantic University TP5015 Course – November 30, 2019
Share if you intend to use a questionnaire or questionnaires in your research and why
As I discussed last week, I plan to conduct a “phenomenological qualitative research design that seeks to conduct in-depth interviews with approximately 10 individuals,” similar to Linda Edge’s. I will utilize a questionnaire as a primary tool to collect the data. Beyond demographic information, most of the questions will be open-ended to allow the participants to discuss at length their own personal experiences.
I also plan to videotape the sessions, which will enable the sessions to flow more like a casual conversation in order to elicit as much detail as possible. With such a small sample size, it’s imperative that the information gleaned will enable me to see additional patterns as well as to delve deeply into a person’s experiences. Like the Edge study, I will compile some of it in table format where I group together characteristics gleaned from the interviews.
Write out in detail what type of questionnaire, what questions you are likely to ask, and how you will administer it, and how you will report your findings.
The first section of the questionnaire will be straightforward demographic information such as age, location, gender, and schooling. The next section will also be basic questions aimed at discerning their background as a psychic. These first two sessions will be yes or no questions or ones that elicit a single response like “female” for gender and what is your strongest psychic gift (i.e., clairvoyant). I will also ask when they are available for an interview. I will e-mail this questionnaire ahead of time and ask them to complete it prior to our interview session.
Upon receiving back the completed background survey, I will schedule an in-person or Zoom session depending on the location of the participant. I will not provide them with the interview questions ahead of time as spontaneity is important to me. In fairness to the participants’ schedule, I will aim to keep the interviews no longer than 1 hour. If people want to go over, I’m happy to go longer but it will be up to them.
My interview questions will consist of 3 sections: 1) Experience with spirit guides, 2) Experience with synchronicities, and 3) Experiences and opinions about how their spirit guides utilize synchronicities as a tool to help them along their spiritual journey and to help them assist others along the way. With my hour time limit, each section will take approximately 20 minutes to complete.
Interview questions for the first two sections will be similar. They will center on personal experiences with spirit guides and synchronicities, when they first notice either, support or pressure they received from those close to them, etc. I will also ask about the number of spirit guides they have, the names of the guides, and how often they speak with them. And, I will seek to learn about the advice they receive, and if it differs from one spirit guide to another.
In terms of synchronicities, I will seek to learn specific events and the timeline for each. I will explore the decisions they made as a result of experiencing synchronicity, and if they thought about what would happen if they chose other paths.
I will also explore any connections they’ve seen between their spirit guides and synchronicities. Finally, I will ask them during the interview to contact one or more of their spirit guides and to provide me with an answer to my main question about the connection between their guides and synchronicities. I will give them time to enter a quiet place to discern the information.
Discuss what findings you are seeking and expecting to get
My primary goal is to answer questions regarding my research project theory, which again is: Spirit Guides use synchronistic events as a means of getting our attention and helping us navigate our spiritual journey. As noted above, this will be addressed in the third section of the interview and will blend the section on spirit guides and with the one on synchronicities. In some cases, I imagine I will need to probe the participants to see if they can make the link between the two as it’s possible this is the first time they’ve seen the correlation.
In addition, I am hoping to discover specific information participants have regarding their spirit guides, such as: What’s the typical number? Did they know them before they passed? Are they their ancestors? Are they famous people in history? What type of guidance do they provide? At what age did they start playing a role in their lives?
In terms of synchronicities, again, questions like At what age did they start noticing such events? Did it come on suddenly, or was it something they noticed over time? What was the first event that triggered their understanding? Once they discovered one, did they suddenly start seeing synchronicities on a regular basis?
The challenge with such an esoteric topic and an open-ended interview format is that it’s easy to get lost in interesting tangents that have little or nothing to do with this theory. In fact, I will tape this theory to my computer during interviews so it will remind me to stay on track!
References
Anderson, R. & Braud, W. (2011), Transforming self and others through research: Transpersonal research methods and skills for the human sciences and humanities, University of New York Press: Albany, NY
Edge, L. W. (2004). “A Phenomenological Study of Directed Dissociation.” Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 44(2), pp. 155–181.