Serendipity & the Road to Theory in Qualitative Research

Jean-Paul C. Grund, PhD

CVO – Addiction Research Centre, Utrecht, NL

& Department of Addictology, 1st Faculty of Medicine,

Charles University in Prague & General University Hospital in Prague, CZ

22 | 07 | 2014

Definitions of Serendipity

Serendipity is...

...the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for. (Merriam Webster)

...the faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident. (Oxford English Dictionary)

Grund – Serendipity in qualitative research process

Word History of Serendipity

„...serendipity, a very expressive word, which as I have nothing better to tell you, I shall endeavour to explain to you: you will understand it better by the derivation than by the definition. I once read a silly fairy tale called ‘The Three Princes of Serendip.’

As their highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accident and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of.

For instance, one of them discovered that a mule blind of the right eye had travelled the same road lately, because the grass was eaten only on the left side, where it was worse than on the right – now do you understand serendipity?“

Horace Walpole January 28, 1754

Grund – Serendipity in qualitative research process

Definition Revisited

Serendipity (noun): That quality which, through good fortune and sagacity*, allows a person to discover something good while seeking something else.

Grund – Serendipity in qualitative research process

Definition Revisited

* Sagacity (noun): personal alertness, awareness, and understanding;

Sagacious (adjective): having or showing understanding and the ability to make good judgments; wise

Grund – Serendipity in qualitative research process

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From Folktale to Scientific Method

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Famous Examples of Serendipity

Archymedes´ Principle

Columbus´ Discovery of America

Newton´s Discovery of Gravity

Fleming´s Discovery of Pennicilin

Galvani´s Discovery of “Animal Electricity”

Bequerel´s Discovery of Radioactivity

Alfred Nobel´s Discovery of Dynamite

Albert Hoffman´s Discovery of LSD

Grund – Serendipity in qualitative research process

Serendipity in the Qualitative Process: Acknowledgement

Serendipitous findings are often not in accord with current

beliefs.

It is not the divine roll of the dice that determines serendipity.

Three Principles Of Serendip: Insight, Chance, And Discovery In

Qualitative Research, by Gary Fein and James Deegan.

Qualitative Studies in Education, Volume 9, Number 4, 1996.

(http://www.ul.ie/~philos/vol2/deegan.html).

XXX Merton

Grund – Serendipity in qualitative research process

Serendipity in the Qualitative Process (1)

Serendipity is not merely an unusual happening, but the scientist is "prepared" to make sense of a truer picture of the world, creating a more precise model. ● "Chance favors only those who know how to court her."

(Charles Nicolle);

● In the field of observation, chance favors only the prepared mind." (Louis Pasteur).

Serendipity is the interactive outcome of unique and contingent "mixes" of insight (Sagacity) coupled with chance (Accident).

Grund – Serendipity in qualitative research process

Serendipity in the Qualitative Process (2)

Serendipity as Controlled Chaos:

"Naturalists in the social sciences are engaged in a strategy of calculated chaos. They intentionally immerse themselves in the logging of data regarding subjects that are of personal concern to them, a process that initially need have little or no specific social scientific orientation. The theory of the naturalist is that a direction will emerge, will be "discovered." (Lofland & Lofland)

But, insight is not a treasure at the end of the road for the Princes of Serendip; it is one that unfolds with every twist and turn in the road.

Grund – Serendipity in qualitative research process

Serendipity in the Qualitative Process (3)

Focussing on the Opportunities that Chance Provides.

Conceptualizing Serendipity: Three Distinct Components of Research:

Temporal Serendipity Serendipity Relations Analytic Serendipity Each depends on the readiness to seize upon chance events; that is, the unstructured, inductive quality of fieldwork often provides leeway to incorporate the power of serendipitous findings into the core of a research report.

Grund – Serendipity in qualitative research process

Serendipity in the Qualitative Process (4)

Temporal Serendipity

The power of "being in the right place at the right time."

The observer cannot choose in advance to witness an event; his or her presence is, in part, a function of the decision of the observer to judge "where the action is."

Grund – Serendipity in qualitative research process

Serendipity in the Qualitative Process (5)

Serendipity is not only observing memorable events, but recognizing these as significant when they occur and turning them into powerful narratives.

The ability to see a pattern or implication that has gone unnoticed and, having exposed it, to find it in other social settings.

Grund – Serendipity in qualitative research process

Serendipity in the Qualitative Process (6)

Serendipity Relations

Ethnography is pre-eminently a methodology that depends on relationships.

It is not sufficient that one makes contact (good fortune), but one must also be able to capitalize on this contact (sagacity).

Key Informants & Community Fieldworkers:

Development of relations based on happenstance, luck, or mistaken identity.

Grund – Serendipity in qualitative research process

Serendipity in the Qualitative Process (7)

Analytical Serendipity

The ability to establish connections between data and theory.

By what processes does this analytical insight occur? ● exposure to the relevant literature and being part of a scholarly

world.

● the data themselves speak to the researcher and may provoke an "Ah-ha!" response.

● Discovery of a dramatic metaphor or narrative strategy that permits conceptualization and presentation of the problem in a novel light.

Grund – Serendipity in qualitative research process

Serendipity in the Qualitative Process (8)

Keeping one's wits

Part of serendipity derives from those unplanned happenings that stem from one's own hands.

The powerful role of mistakes leading to insight.

Mistakes may be treated not only as unavoidable errors, but as events that uncover the preconceptions and choices of the researcher.

Learning how to learn from mistakes is critical for using serendipity in qualitative research.

Grund – Serendipity in qualitative research process

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The road to Serendip is not an easy path

Bahramdipity: the suppression of a discovery, sometimes a serendipitous discovery, by the often-egomaniacal act of a more powerful individual who does cruelly punish, not merely disdain, a person (or persons) of lesser power and little renown who demonstrates sagacity, perspicacity, and truthfulness (From Bahram of Persia, as characterized in the fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip.)

Toby J. Sommer 'Bahramdipity' and Scientific Research The Scientist 13[3]:13, Feb. 01, 1999

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Ethnographic findings are not random.

The chance component of research is central to the collection and interpretation of data.

Serendipity involves planned insight coupled with unplanned events, core to the philosophy of qualitative research.

A researcher must be prepared to seize the clues on the road to discovery.

CONCLUSIONS

Grund – Serendipity in qualitative research process

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kareanderson/2012/09/30/how-to-succeed-since-success-is-random-and-savor-life-with-others/

Enjoy!

Post lecture reading suggestion

Grund – Serendipity in qualitative research process

Thank you for your attention

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This presentation reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Contact Jean-Paul Grund, PhD

CVO – Addiction Research Centre, Utrecht, NL & Department of Addictology, 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague & General University Hospital in

Prague, CZ

E: jpgrund@drugresearch.nl W3: www.drugresearch.nl