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First published online July 19, 2016

The Research Vignette: Reflexive Writing as Interpretative Representation of Qualitative Inquiry—A Methodological Proposition

Phil C. Langer [email protected]View all authors and affiliations
Volume 22, Issue 9
https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800416658066

Abstract

The adequate presentation of empirical research findings poses an essential, yet often neglected challenge in qualitative methodology. This article contributes to the debate by proposing the research vignette as a mediating position between conventional and experimental forms of writing. On the basis of an illustrating example from an interview study on the psychosocial dynamics of HIV-related sexual risk behavior of gay men in Germany, the methodological foundations of the research vignette are outlined and practical applications for qualitative research are discussed. The research vignette provides the opportunity to conduct a psychoanalytically informed interpretation in which the presentation of findings is woven into a critical reflection of the interaction dynamic in the research encounter and substantiating theoretical considerations.

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Biographies

Phil C. Langer is professor of psychoanalytic social psychology at the International Psychoanalytic University in Berlin, Germany. He was a junior professor of sociology and social psychology at the Goethe-University in Frankfurt, Germany, a visiting professor at the universities of Ankara, Turkey, Kunduz, Afghanistan, and The College of New Jersey, New Jersey, and worked as a lecturer and researcher at the universities in Munich, Berlin, and Potsdam, and at the Social Sciences Institute of the German Armed Forces in Strausberg. He received two PhDs in German literature and psychology from the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich in 2002 and 2009. His main areas of research include health issues, gender and queer studies, experiences of violence in war, and qualitative methodology and methods.

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Published In

Volume 22, Issue 9
Pages: 735 - 744
Article first published online: July 19, 2016
Issue published: November 2016

Keywords

  1. writing as a method of inquiry
  2. qualitative health research
  3. active interviews
  4. GLBT issues & theory
  5. reflexivity

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Phil C. Langer
International Psychoanalytic University Berlin, Germany
[email protected]
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Notes

Phil C. Langer, International Psychoanalytic University Berlin, Stromstr. 1, 10555 Berlin, Germany. Email: [email protected]

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