Donna Frost

Chapter 5 160 on the forest floor and squishing into the earth as I walked over them. Aha, I thought. Not water, but acorns, that’s what I had heard falling from the trees, pattering and plunking as they fell. In this example my senses had been true, and even pure in their ‘mental description’ of the sounds I had heard in the woods. What wasn’t accurate was my interpretation of the meaning of the sound. My own interpretation must have been pretty convincing though, because even in the absence of water on my head, face or shoulders, I held to my theory of water droplets falling. At the same time I was noticing how many acorns lay upon the ground. I didn’t link the two observations though, the information from my ears and information from my eyes. Why should I? Didn’t I already know what I was hearing? The act of writing, however, brought the two separate sensory experiences together so that I could link the sound of falling objects with the possibility of acorns falling. Although I now consider the second scenario, acorns falling, to be the more likely explanation for what I heard, I still have no hard evidence – I did not return to the woods to spot an acorn just as it fell. I have heard acorns falling before though so I can link the sounds from that experience with sounds from previously. These three experiences and subsequent reflections illustrate several points. Firstly, when working with our bodily impressions and opening our senses, those observations and bodily impressions need to be examined in the same way that other sources of evidence should be examined. Bodily sensations and impressions can be compared and contrasted with each other, for example. Explanations and interpretations can be checked or even tested to see if they fit at all, and if they do, are they the only explanations that fit? Alternative tools or lenses can be used to see if things look or feel different when seen from a different angle or looked at through another lens. All of these strategies are important when trying to create a full picture, one from which we feel fairly confident drawing conclusions. Working with the senses in this way adds a different dimension to the more traditional forms of triangulation used within qualitative research. Secondly, it is important to be aware of residual effects in our body, perhaps learned responses, from reactions we have had to particular experiences in the past. We need to check out to what extent past reactions are influencing our current perceptions, experiences and interpretations. Thirdly, dialogue with others or with self, for example through writing, is an important tool in the process of interpretation and meaning making. It helps to focus what we have noticed and