Heuristic Research: A Review and Critique of Moustakas’s Method

Abstract

Moustakas has made a significant contribution to research in psychology by describing the heuristic research method. This is a way of inquiring into what Wilber has identified as the Upper Left quadrant, or individual internal experience, and what Polanyi referred to as tacit knowledge, which is deeply embedded knowledge not normally available to conscious awareness. However, this article suggests that due to unacknowledged resistance to experiencing unbearable pain, Moustakas’s research focus shifted from the self’s experience of the experience to focusing on the idea of the experience. This shift resulted in a model of ambivalence, as reflected in the differences between what he introduced as his theory of heuristics and what he presented as its application. A clarification of the Moustakas method is presented to overcome ambivalence by recognizing resistance.