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Qualitative Inquiry, Vol. 13, No. 2, 235-258 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1077800406295634

"Awakening to" an Aspect in the Other

On Developing Insights and Concepts in Qualitative Research

Klaus G. Witz

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

This article discusses "awakening to" deeper aspects in a person and "articulating" them and contrasts this way of developing concepts and new understandings in qualitative research with "fashioning concepts at a level of words and phrases in an arena of public discourse." "Awakening to and articulating" may be epistemologically based on C. H. Cooley's (1909/1956) "sympathetic introspection," to the effect that after prolonged contact with a participant or immersion in a social context, where one "absorbed" nuances of feeling, emotion, consciousness, this contact "awakens in oneself a life similar to that in the participant" or social context. The article discusses some of the characteristics of "awakening and articulating," such as the way it involves the consciousness of the investigator, and how it represents a grounded theory approach, and argues that there is a great need to bring concepts developed by "awakening and articulating" into public discourse.

Key Words: consciousness • essentialist portraiture • grounded theory • qualitative methodology • subjectivity • sympathetic introspection


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