ABSTRACT

Anderson, R. (2020). Transformative research methods: Research to nourish the spirit. Journal
for the Study of Spirituality, 10 (1), 95-103. https://doi.org/10.1080/20440243.2020.1726056

Transformative research methods:

Research to nourish the spirit
Rosemarie Anderson

Abstract
Over the last two decades, an important contribution from the field of transpersonal
psychology to research is the development of transformative research methods by
Rosemarie Anderson and the late William Braud. These methods invite researchers
studying spiritual topics to bring their full humanity and personal creativity to the fore in
the conduct of research, and to enact research as a journey of personal and cultural
transformation. This article overviews the historical development of transformative
research methods and details the unique characteristics and risks implicit in the methods.
In closing, I encourage researchers in mainstream human science research and newly
emerging fields, such as spiritual and contemplative studies, peace studies, and
transformative leadership, to review their own understanding of research on spiritual
topics in their unique fields.
KEYWORDS: Transformative research methods, transpersonal psychology, intuitive inquiry, embodied writing

Introduction

The late William Braud and I founded the field of transformational research methods
with the publication of our first book, Transpersonal Research Methods for the Social
Sciences: Honoring Human Experience (Braud and Anderson 1998). Since then, not only
has transpersonal psychology expanded and diversified as an academic field but we are
no longer the only academic field interested in studying spiritual experience in depth.
Indeed, the investigation of topics, such as compassion, mindfulness, healing, peace,
forgiveness, and altruism, are increasingly commonplace in mainstream psychology, the
health sciences, and in new scholarly fields responding to the needs of our times, such as
spiritual and contemplative studies, peace studies, and transformative leadership.
Therefore, in hindsight, what William Braud and I learned about the epistemological and
methodological value of transformative research practice in the 1990s and 2000s
becomes more relevant now than we could have foreseen at the time. Indeed, the
transformative research methods and procedures we developed in those early years and
elaborated on in Transforming Self and Others Through Research offer research practices
that expand and deepen qualitative research, especially as applied to the study of subtle
phenomena (Anderson and Braud 2011).

As a result, I feel it now my responsibility to write for readers outside transpersonal

circles in order to bring these research approaches to the increasing number of research
constituencies that now want to study such experiences in depth. To further this goal, this
article begins with the story of how William Braud and I came to the conclusion that the
essential dynamic for transpersonal and spiritual research and scholarship is the
researchers’ willingness to engage in research as a journey of transformation—a journey
that fully implicates their own understanding of the topic and prompts changes in readers
as they read and apply research findings to their own lives, their communities, and the
world at large.

Historical development of transformative research methods

William Braud’s and my position on the nature of transformational research and

scholarship comes from hard-earned experience. Since both of us were trained as
experimental psychologists and had conducted and supervised quantitative research for
more than 20 years at mainstream universities before aligning with the field of
transpersonal psychology, we knew the value of experimental design, precise
observation, record keeping, and the statistical and analytical procedures of mainstream
psychology. We also knew the limits of these procedures. When we joined the Core
Faculty at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, now Sofia University, in 1992, we
were prepared to help our dissertation students conduct research using the experimental
and quantitative research methods we had used ourselves. However, we were soon faced
with dozens of dissertation students who wanted to study topics, such as healing
internalized racism, the spiritual presence of a psychotherapist, dancing as a path of
transformation, healing from childhood sexual abuse, and the feminine culture shadow
among women espionage agents—all topics of intimate and passionate concern for each
of them and usually grounded in personal experience. In advising them, our conventional
training and expertise had not prepared us well to help them study these ‘farther reaches
of human nature’ as Abraham Maslow (1971) put it so well. Little of what we suggested
to them by way of quantitative approaches satisfied them—or us—because they reduced
the studies to procedures too narrow for the topics studied.

Therefore, we quickly became self-taught in phenomenological, heuristic research,

grounded theory, art-based and narrative research, focus-group research, and other
qualitative methods, integrating them into our own research repertoires; and teaching
them to our students. However, soon, too, mainstream qualitative methods did not fully
meet the needs of our transpersonal doctoral students without major adaptations. Hence,
beginning in the mid-1990s, we started to create new procedures and methods grounded
in the values and perspectives of transpersonal psychology as a unique field of study
(Anderson 2017, 2019, in press). Our task was a simple, humble one of responding to our
students’ needs and creating research methods that served the unique needs of
transpersonal researchers and scholars. In founding the field of transformational research
methods, William Braud and I summarized the matter as follows:

In transpersonal psychology—which concerns itself with issue of consciousness,

alternative states of consciousness, exceptional experiences, transegoic development, and
humanity’s highest potentials and possible transformation—this tension between subject
matter and research is strongly felt. Both students and practitioners ask whether it is
possible to research the transpersonal without violating, distorting, or trivializing what we
are studying. Is it possible to live, appreciate, and honor our transpersonal aspects and our
most purposeful human qualities while, at the same time, conducting systematic research
into these most significant facets of our being?

We maintain that it is possible to conduct significant and satisfying research on all facets
of human experience—even the most sensitive, exceptional, and sacred experiences—but
only if we modify our assumptions about research and extend our research methods so
that they become as creative and expansive as the subject matter we wish to investigate.
(Braud and Anderson 1998, 4)

After the 1998 book, the hard work began. Working together with our doctoral students,
we tested and refined our proposed methods. Over time, we came to understand
transpersonal and spiritual research as a journey of transformation, a journey that
implicates both the understanding of the topic and oneself as a human being. Whether the
methods used are quantitative, qualitative, or a mix of these modalities, the key to a far-
reaching understanding of spiritual topics is the researchers’ willingness to engage
research as an art and act of transformation. The title of our second book, Transforming
Self and Others Through Research (Anderson and Braud 2011), articulates the
transformative dimensions of this research approach succinctly. In this book, we
elaborate on the epistemological and methodological stance of transformation of self and
others as essential for transpersonal research and scholarship, and provide detailed
methods and procedures for doing so. Fortunately, William lived to see the book in print.

Thereafter, at a keynote address to the 2014 European Transpersonal Association

(EUROTAS) Conference in Crete, I began to speak directly about transpersonal research
as an encounter with the Sacred, an engagement that by its very nature invites
transformation (Anderson 2014). Transpersonal research differs significantly from
studies of spiritual topics among mainstream researchers in psychology and the human
sciences, which attempt to explain spiritual experiences largely in conceptual, biological,
and physiological terms. Specifically, as transpersonal scholars and researchers, ‘we
affirm the sacred mystery at the core of our world and our experience, and strive to
incorporate it into our scholarly work and professional practice’ (Anderson and
Lancaster 2017, xi).

The four transpersonal research methods, now known as transformative research

methods, are embodied writing, intuitive inquiry, integral inquiry, and organic inquiry. I
developed Embodied writing (Anderson 2001, 2011b, in press) in the mid-1990s in
concert with an ongoing group of transpersonal doctoral students wanting to study
embodied topics, such as the transformative dynamics of practicing Aikido and the
healing implications of profound and prolonged sleep. Embodied writing invites writers
and readers to write from their proprioceptive and kinesthetic experience, which in turn
invite readers to embody the words within their own bodies as they read. Intuitive
inquiry (Anderson 1998) emphasizes the relational and political nature of feminist
research and the personal, reflective nature of heuristic research. However, in Anderson
(2000, 2004, 2011a, 2011c), I gave intuitive inquiry the ‘soft’ interpretative structure of
the hermeneutic circle (e.g. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hermeneutics/) to enrich data
collection and analysis and ‘contain’ narcissistic projections.

William Braud’s perspective was always broad and inclusive. Therefore, in

developing integral inquiry (Braud 1998, 2011), he advised use of the full spectrum of
quantitative and qualitative methods available at the time, yet invited researchers to
combine, enhance, and enrich them. He particularly emphasized alternative ways of
knowing and offered various ways to choose ways of knowing that suited the topic
studied.

Organic inquiry was an inspired collaboration between Jennifer Clements, Dorothy

Ettling, Dianne Jenett, and Lisa Shields (1998), though Jennifer Clements
(1998, 2004, 2011) was the acknowledged scribe and author. Organic inquiry privileges
the ‘storied’ life of the researchers and participants, Jungian typology, and the organic
nature of research. Since stories are an important part of organic inquiry, the method
bears some resemblance to narrative research but without any direct historical
connection. In recent years, other researchers have begun to develop additional
approaches in which transformation is implicit. I have recently reviewed these emerging
approaches in the 50th celebratory issue of The Journal of Transpersonal
Psychology (Anderson 2019).

With the renewed interest among mainstream researchers and scholars in psychology and
the health sciences in studying spiritual and related topics, a unique contribution of
transpersonal psychology as an academic field of study lies in recognizing that the
conduct of research and scholarship implicates an encounter with the Sacred, an intention
which invites transformation of the understanding of the topic and the researcher. In
studying transformative and spiritual topics, we must differentiate ourselves
epistemologically and methodologically as investigating human experience as intimate
participants. As such, from an objectivistic point of view, we are never truly outside the
experiences we study. In agreement with Jorge Ferrer’s (2002) participatory perspective,
we are participants in what it means to be in and of the world, and to be truly human in
the world. This we can do well and uniquely so.

Unique characteristics of transformative research

While transformative and spiritual research needs to be as rigorous in data collection,

analysis, and interpretation of findings as research in other fields, the study of such topics
may well be more challenging and time consuming than the study of topics in mainstream
research. Not only do the topics themselves often require in-depth, interior processes but
the methods needed to study them require a level of personal engagement and detail
unlike more reductionistic, mainstream forms of research. That is, engaging in research
as the art of transformation requires additional qualities—qualities often found among
mainstream researchers—but not necessarily crucial to the successful completion of an
inquiry.

The key essential qualities for a transformative inquirer to bring to research and
scholarship are as follows:

Risking personal and professional transformation

Those of us studying transformative and spiritual topics tend to feel that there is a grand
mystery afoot in the human animal’s participation in the world. In my own experience
over time, advising several hundred dissertation students in research courses and direct
research supervision, the researchers’ willingness to change tends to signal the breadth of
transformation that unfolds in the course of a study—and often for years thereafter.
Generally, we yearn to go beyond our current understandings of ourselves and others, and
transcend conventional ways of being in the world. The greater the personal involvement
and passion is, the greater the transformation. Some aspects of the Self you know at the
start are likely to change, perhaps dramatically. Get support and take breaks when you
need them. Be brave.

Choosing a topic with heart and meaning

There is no better starting point for a transformative research project than a topic we love,
that is, about which we have passion and enthusiasm. Etymologically from the Greek,
enthusiasm means en-theo, in God. Let enthusiasm guide. Typically, such a topic is
grounded in the researchers’ own experience. Trained initially as an experimental social
psychologist, I was taught to follow an established line of research published in journals,
find the most recent articles, design a study that logically follows next, and explore
relevant hypotheses. While this traditional strategy works well for mainstream
researchers and scholars, transformative and spiritual researchers often wish to study
topics that are related to personal experience, whether or not there is any literature on the
topic. Indeed, transpersonal and spiritual psychology tend to attract people who are
passionate about making a positive difference in the world in arenas that have uniquely
touched their own lives.

Incorporating transformative ways of knowing

Unlike what has been encouraged in mainstream research historically, transformative and
spiritual researchers typically want to bring all their personal expertise and skills to the
fore in the conduct of a study. That is, being rigorous and precise does not mean casting
aside our personal talents, skills, and spiritual training. Intuition and creativity are
particularly important skills. Since intuition and creativity are variable from person to
person, as transformative and spiritual researchers, we attend to what we uniquely bring
to the conduct of research in terms of experience and expertise. Indeed, there may be as
many ways of being intuitive and creative as there are people.

Moreover, as I have said elsewhere in relation to intuitive inquiry

(Anderson 1998, 2011a), what we often think of as the fault lines or wounds in our life
histories and personalities may turn out to be our greatest resource as spiritual researchers
and scholars. That is, our unique sensitivities may alert us to what others may not notice
or think important about a topic. Similarly, my colleague, Robert Romanyshyn (2007)
has explored the understanding of the ‘wounded researcher’ from the perspective of
Depth Psychology in ways relevant to transformative research methods.

Acknowledging data and understanding beyond our own

We cannot see, hear, or understand what persists outside or beyond our psycho-spiritual
development. Data and knowledge beyond our current level of development is out of
sight and out of mind. I also know from my own experience and those of others that
‘glimpses’ of states of high levels of consciousness are easily mistaken for having
‘arrived’ at that stage of development. Beware. Fleeting glimpses may provide what my
colleague Hillevi Ruumet (2006) calls ‘coming attractions’ but they do not necessarily
represent steady levels of integrated awareness.

Therefore, I urge transformative and spiritual researchers and scholars to acquire

knowledge of several models of spiritual development and make a sincere effort to be
realistic about their personal level of spiritual integration on the developmental spectrum.
Humility is advised. With a realistic evaluation of their own development level,
transformative inquirers will have increased awareness of the blind spots related to their
research topics that exceed their own level of development.
Unique risks of transformative research

Containing and scrutinizing projections

As is standard practice throughout the human sciences, transformative and spiritual

researchers and scholars must be prepared to scrutinize and ‘contain’ the nearly inevitable
projections implicit in all investigations. In experimental and quantitative research, the
terms experimental bias and demand characteristics have long acknowledged the
limitations embedded in a researcher’s biases and projections (e.g. Anderson and
Page 1973). However, in transformative research and scholarship, the risks are often
higher than in other research approaches because of the personal involvement of the
inquirer in an investigation, and the subtle and beguiling nature of spiritual projections.
Enthusiasm is a great starting point for such studies, but personal preferences must not
lead data analysis nor interpretation. Intuitive inquiry’s five-cycle interpretative structure
works specifically toward containing such projections as a study progresses forward
(Anderson 1998. 2000, 2004, 2011a, 2011c).

Self-aggrandizement and narcissism

Those involved in religious or spiritual communities know from experience that self-
aggrandizement and narcissism are common among both leaders and followers.
Unfortunately, transpersonal researchers and scholars may display these same penchants,
as Jorge Ferrer (2002) and Harold Walach (2008) have already explicated.

Having supervised transpersonal researchers for many years, I often feel that self-regard
and self-love do not come readily to many drawn to the field of transpersonal psychology
in the West. Perhaps healing family-of-origin wounds motivates their attraction to the
field; I do not know. Unfortunately, in supervising transpersonal research, I occasionally
find myself serving as a make-shift therapist. However, I am not a therapist and research
supervision is not therapy. All I can do is listen, be compassionate, and direct my students
to courageously scrutinize their motivations, research designs, and interpretation of
findings. Knowing that my supervisees are good people who want the best, years of
encouraging them through their narcissistic penchants to the other side have led me to
wonder about the positive function of narcissism among individuals attracted to
transpersonal and spiritual pursuits. Might narcissistic regression serve spiritual growth
as other forms of regression serve psychological growth? Is there no choice for some than
to regress toward narcissism before they can love themselves enough to be wrong even
about their research findings? I can get very sad about this.
Final caution

It is obvious, but important to say, that using transformative research methods requires
telling the whole truth about a research project, including (a) mistakes made; (b)
procedures that did not work or work well; (c) the researchers’ concerns and puzzlements
about the study and findings; and (d) what remains unresolved or problematic about the
topic or the methods used. Indeed, unique to those choosing transformative research
methods is an attempt to imagine what is possible next – as though seeking trajectories
for new or more refined ways of being human in the world. Therefore, whenever
possible, transformative and spiritual researchers are encouraged to speculate about the
possibilities implicit in the data that draw us closer to understanding the restorative and
transformative elements embedded in human experience. In fact, implicit in these
methods is the hope that researchers are called to explore topics that require attention by
the culture at large. In this sense, transformative research methods are both practical and
visionary, allowing that research findings may provide new options for the world that is
changing and manifesting anew all the time.

Concluding remarks

Every academic field has epistemological and methodological values embedded in the
history and culture of the field. Some of these values are explicitly stated in writing but
others are known only through day-to-day experience with like-minded colleagues, and
are typically difficult to express in words. For example, even colleagues who call
themselves social psychologists differ in the values and approaches they bring to the
conduct of research, depending on whether their training was in mainstream psychology
(as mine was) or in sociology, because the emphases and traditions in mainstream
psychological and sociological research differ. Therefore, in closing, I wish to encourage
researchers studying spirituality in an increasingly wide spectrum of academic and
applied fields to review their own motives, values, and approaches to the conduct of
research, and to evaluate whether or not transformative research methods might suit their
research goals – as individual researchers, or collectively as applied to their academic
field of study.

Resources

Articles, dissertations, and other resources on transformative research methods are

available at http://www.sacredsciencecircle.org/e-archive/ and at Rosemarie Anderson’s
YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/RosemarieandersonVideo.
 Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributor

Rosemarie Anderson, Ph.D., is Professor Emerita of Psychology at Sofia University

USA, an author, and an Episcopal priest. Her initial training was in experimental
psychology and behavior genetics. Since 1998, she has authored and co-authored
numerous books and papers on transpersonal research, embodied writing, and intuitive
inquiry. In 2017, she received the Abraham Maslow Heritage Award from Division 32,
Society for Humanistic Psychology, of the American Psychological Association.
Rosemarie lives in southern Oregon surrounded by wilderness and wildlife.

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