Swimming against the stream?: Mindfulness as a psychosocial research methodology

Stanley, Steven ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4776-4097, Barker, Meg, Edwards, Victoria and McEwen, Emma 2015. Swimming against the stream?: Mindfulness as a psychosocial research methodology. Qualitative Research in Psychology 12 (1) , pp. 61-76. 10.1080/14780887.2014.958394

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Abstract

In this article, we extend psychosocial research methodology by integrating a breaching experiment, influenced by ethnomethodological sociology, with aspects of mindfulness practice, influenced by Buddhist traditions. We offer an empirical investigation of what happens when researcher-participants subtly “swim against the stream” of normative public social conduct in a capital city setting. Our qualitative analysis explores a single case from a corpus of 172 first-person retrospective accounts of standing still and doing nothing in a busy, public place. We investigate the qualitative aspects of how one researcher-participant arguably adopted a mindful, beginner’s mind orientation toward the flow of psychosocial consciousness. We empirically investigate this psychosocial orientation of mindfulness by integrating Wetherell’s concept of affective-discursive practice with James’ stream of consciousness. Mindfulness offers a specific, embodied reorientation toward psychosocial flows. We discuss the methodological implications and limitations of this reorientation for psychosocial research.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Psychology Social Sciences (Includes Criminology and Education)
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology L Education > LC Special aspects of education
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
ISSN:	1478-0887
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	30 March 2016
Date of Acceptance:	30 September 2014
Last Modified:	18 Nov 2024 19:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/68206

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