Course Descriptions

This course begins with a survey of the wide range of research methodologies, or approaches to knowledge, suggested by Wilber's AQAL model. In particular, it will examine methodologies from all four quadrants and in each case from both inner and outer perspectives. For example, the upper left (UL) quadrant concerns the inner life and can be seen from its own inner perspective (heuristic inquiry, phenomenology), or it can be seen objectively from an outer perspective ("structural" approaches such as Piaget's developmental psychology, Loevinger's ego development, etc.). Likewise, the lower left (LL) quadrant can be studied in its own interior (Socratic dialog, Buber's "I and thou," hermeneutics) or objectively from outside (Spiral Dynamics' "value memes," linguistics, European structuralism). The course surveys these methodologies, emphasizing those that deal with inner experience and social realities. Then students will concentration on one or two methods of particular interest, developing a deeper knowledge of them and working in small groups to carry out and report a study using their method of choice.