Match the method to the question before you gather anything
Before collecting data, decide what kind of question you are asking, so a question about meaning is not answered with a count.
Warum es wirkt
Bowman describes Wilber’s model as using “these eight methodological classes” (2014, p. 35). Which method suits which kind of question is this page’s own working reading of that structure, not a mapping that Bowman or Wilber gives. Naming the question first keeps a familiar method from quietly deciding what counts as an answer.
So gehst du vor
- Write the question as it is actually worded. Then ask which of these it is about: what something is like for a person, what can be seen or counted, what a group means by it, or how a system behaves.
- Pick a method for that kind of question. This translation into four kinds is a working device for this page, not a list Wilber gives: first-person reflection for experience, observation or counting for what is visible, interviews or shared-meaning work for group meaning, and mapping of parts and feedback for system behavior.
- Before collecting anything, write down the answer you would accept. If no possible result would change your mind, the method does not fit the question.
- After the first round, check whether the method answered the question you wrote or a neighboring one.
Evidenz
Bowman’s account of Wilber’s eight methodological classes is part of the article’s reading of his framework (2014, p. 35). The four-kind translation in the steps is this page’s own working device and has not been tested. (anecdotal)
Bowman argues that Wilber uses the inside-outside and interior-exterior terms inconsistently (pp. 31, 54), so the boundaries between zones are not always clear. A poor fit may reflect those unclear boundaries rather than your choice of method. The mapping is not demonstrated here.
Quellen
- Wilber, K. (2006). Integral Spirituality: A Startling New Role for Religion in the Modern and Postmodern World. Boston: Integral Books.
- Bowman, K. J. (2014). Correcting Improper Uses of Perspectives, Pronouns, and Dualities in Wilberian Integral Theory: An Application of Holarchical Field Theory. Integral Review, 10(1).
Häufiger Fehler
Choosing a method because it is familiar, then reporting its result as the answer to a question it was never designed for.
Übe das mit IX Coach
Weitere Übungen für Integral Methodological Pluralism: The Eight Zones of Inquiry
- Sweep one question through all eight zones
Take one real question and write what an answer looks like from the inside and the outside of each of the four quadrants.
- Describe one experience from the inside, then from the outside
Write what an experience was like for you, then write what someone in the room could have observed, and keep the two accounts separate.
- Run one inquiry in first, second and third person
Study one question three ways: in your own notes, with the few people directly involved, and through a wider source that none of you controls.
- Find the empty zone in an explanation you already hold
Check one explanation you rely on against all eight zones, so the boxes it says nothing about become visible.
- Examine two conflicting views in context before deciding
When two views of the same thing conflict, name what each one is looking at before deciding which one is right.
Verwandte Konzepte
- Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory (AQAL), Made Practical
Five elements for catching what your view of a situation leaves out, held as a map rather than a truth
- Using Wilber’s Four Quadrants on a Real Problem
Eight ways to put the I, It, We, Its map to work on a problem you actually have
- First, Second, Third and Fourth Person Perspectives
How the number of viewpoints you can hold grows, what the research does and does not show, and how to practice it in a real disagreement
- States vs Stages of Consciousness: Wilber, Combs and O’Fallon
Why a powerful experience and a lasting change are different things, and how each one grows
- Torbert’s Seven Action Logics of Leadership
Seven ways leaders make sense of pressure, how common each is, and how to work with your own