Vinculación de la prueba con los procesos judiciales

Even though the general framework of my research design is qualitatively orientated and enabled me to engage in exploratory fieldwork (Shaffir and Stebbins 1991: 37f), a reflexive analysis of my pilot-work conducted in Edinburgh made apparent that securing of adequate information on the rather abstract topic of ‘transcendence’ would require different means. The unstructured, non-directive and reflexive interview-style (Rogers 1951) I employed gained me large amounts of fruitful data but the topic of ‘tran- scendental experiences’ that had been mentioned in different variations by some of my interviewees not always developed out of the flow of the interviews.

In order to collect data on this topic, I had to design a questionnaire as the term ‘transcendence’ itself is very complex and not used in everyday

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life. The use of this directive and deductive method of social research did not match my ethical considerations about social research but provided me with the opportunity to break down this difficult area. The question- naire broke down this complex subject matter into understandable sub- questions which in turn facilitated the subsequent analysis and improved the validity and reliability of the data collected, as it enabled me to exclude errors or variations in the questions posed on a topic that is in itself diffi- cult. For the purpose of this part of my research I therefore designed and introduced a ‘self- completion questionnaire’, which, on the basis of the trust gained through face-to-face interviews, I then asked my interview- ees to take home. Instead of turning a part of my unstructured face-to- face interviews into a structured one (exclusively dealing with the topic in question), I found that the ‘self-completion questionnaire’ allowed the interviewees more time for the intensive reflections necessary to answer these questions. Through embedding the questionnaire within a frame- work of qualitative methods, I hoped to avoid the difficulty of its results being only valid at the very moment of its completion. I further encour- aged the interviewees to make use of diaries for its completion and to engage in follow-up interviews. This process avoided the danger of a ‘sim- plification of a complex social world’ which takes ‘no account of opinions across time’ (May 1993: 86).

As the design of a questionnaire has an important impact on the quality of data gained, its construction has to be undertaken with a great deal of care. This is elaborated on further in Chapter 6 of this thesis.

Hoinville and Jowell (1987) state that the questionnaire design has to suit the aims of the research as well as the nature of its respondents as well as being clear, unambiguous, ‘uniformly workable’ and capable of engaging the respondents interest (ibid.: 27). I decided to make use of ‘free-answer- questions’ (open questions) because the merits of this type of question far outweigh any problems, especially when dealing with such a complex topic. “ ‘Free-answer-questions’ enable the researcher to elicit a wide var- iety of responses, they provide a background for interpreting answers to other questions and they also allow a possibility to introduce to the subject” (Payne 1973: 49).

Even though I was aware of the problems that open questions and their analysis pose, I gave priority to the greater freedom of expression it offers on the side of the respondent. Confronted with open questions, the indi- vidual is able to answer in a way that suits her/his interpretation of the questions and her/his personality. As open questions often pose problems for less articulate people, I hoped that my suggestion to use other means of answering the questionnaire and follow-up interviews would give sufficient support to them but none of the interviewees made use of this possibility. The vagueness and therefore the difficulty in describing experiences of a ‘transcendental’ nature and the fact that these experiences do have many

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varying features did not allow me to work with any kind of prefixed replies if I aimed at collecting meaningful data.

Answers to open questions further appeared to be valuable because they do provide vivid quotations which add to the credibility of the research on a so far under researched topic. The length of the questions depended to a large degree on the complexity of the topic. Complicated subject-matters that imply a variety of different facets like for example the various pos- sible experiences of a ‘transcendental nature’ need to be put in several questions:

“Rather than rely on a single complex question, a series of simple ques- tions should be asked, the number of such questions depending on the degree of simplicity required” (Moser and Kalton 1979: 321). Apart from try- ing to avoid ambiguous questions, leading questions and technical expres- sions, Moser and Kalton (1979) mention that the length of a questionnaire depends on the subject matter of the research and as the questionnaire is only dealing with one aspect of the research project, it only consists of ten questions and: “..., since questionnaire completion is a learning process with which the respondent will become increasingly at ease as he proceeds, the more difficult questions should come in the middle or towards the end” (Hoinville and Jowell 1987: 130).

In his book ‘The Art of Asking Questions’, Stanley L. Payne (1973) points out the most important issues that are to be thought of in the wording of questions. Payne recommends that we should not to take too much for granted in relation to the respondents’ understanding of the researched upon topic. This is especially true for ‘transcendental experiences’ through ‘bodily practices’ of consensual ‘SM’. Payne’s solution to this problem lies in the development of a critical attitude towards our own questions, to question how much knowledge is taken for granted and he suggests to: “... substitute clarity for cleverness” (Payne 1973: 16). As the terminology had to be field- oriented, I decided not to use the word ‘transcendence’ within my question- naire. “After we are sure that the issue is fully defined and that its limits are set to our satisfaction, then we can begin to translate it into simple words for public consumption” (Payne 1973: 27). Even the use of simple words could still have posed the problem of the ‘phenomenon of unobservance’, in that the answers just reveal what the respondent thinks the facts ought to be like. However, the unstructured interviews and observations in the Scene-clubs and at other consensual ‘SM’-events enabled me to compare the results of the questionnaire with actual behaviour and understand or reflect the reasons for variations. In terms of the problem of response rates it was of advantage that the ‘self-completion questionnaire’ was embedded in several unstructured face-to-face interviews as well as in continuing field- contacts. Out of the 16 questionnaires that I distributed, 14 were completed and analysed. The two questionnaires that were not returned belonged to practitioners of consensual ‘SM’ who mainly ‘played’ in ‘top-space’ which,

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after the analysis of the data collected, turns out to be the less likely position to be in for the experience of ‘transcendental states’. The ‘self-completion questionnaire’ on ‘unusual experiences’ during the practice of consensual ‘SM’ is contained within Chapter 6 of this book (6.2.8.).