A research journey through metaphoric imagery

This paper presents the personal journey of a researcher through the use of metaphoric imagery. The researcher’s use of alternative means to tap hidden knowledge and meanings is demonstrated through examples of the artwork and ongoing analysis of the product created as a supplement to the traditional researcher’s journal. The focus of the doctoral dissertation is an investigation of the narrative lives of gifted adults across multicultural Australia. The artwork generated from the research process permitted the researcher to clarify many of the ideas and concepts that were initially unformed and unable to be accessed in conventional ways. It also enabled the researcher to include prior knowledge and viewpoints brought to the research, including Indigenous ancestry, essential to establish researcher’s bias, and within phenomenology. This type of creative process is recommended to those disenchanted with conventional methodology as an aid to stimulate deeper gestation of research process and findings.