Publication Date
1-15-2025
Document Type
Article
Organizational Units
Morgridge College of Education, Research Methods and Information Science, Research Methods and Statistics
Keywords
Bracketing, Phenomenology, Meditation, Qualitative methodology
Abstract
In this study, I recounted my experience using mantra meditation during a phenomenological study for the purposes of bracketing. The efficacy and purpose of bracketing have been debated from Husserl (1931), whose aimed was to achieve objectivity, to Heidegger (1962) who advocated for immersion of the researcher, through the French school (Merleau-Ponty, 1964) of middle ground, by whom bracketing was seen as the process to unearth and suspend biases for the better understanding of participants’ experiences (Arsel, 2017; Creswell & Creswell, 2017; Creswell & Poth, 2016; Fischer & Guzel, 2023). In this study, however, I propose another approach to bracketing that expands beyond phenomenology and the duality of objectivity or immersion. I propose that bracketing, with the aim of meditation is inseparable from qualitative research. Meditation, as a form of bracketing, provokes the researcher to be fully present ensuring that participants’ experiences are heard and interpreted in a faithful manner. In this orientation, the goal of bracketing is not to rid one’s subjectivity but to allow subjectivity to be diminished and the researcher to be fully present to the other.
Copyright Date
1-15-2025
Copyright Statement / License for Reuse
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Rights Holder
Katalin Grajzel
Provenance
Received from author
File Format
application/pdf
Language
English (eng)
Extent
10 pgs
File Size
642 KB
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance. This article was originally published as:
Grajzel, K. (2025). Meditation in qualitative research for bracketing and beyond. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 24, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069241312826
Publication Title
International Journal of Qualitative Methods
Volume
24
First Page
1
Last Page
10
ISSN
1609-4069
Recommended Citation
Grajzel, Katalin, "Meditation in Qualitative Research for Bracketing and Beyond" (2025). Research Methods and Statistics: Graduate Student Scholarship. 1.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/rms_graduate/1
https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069241312826
Included in
Other Statistics and Probability Commons, Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, Statistical Methodology Commons