Moring / METAPHORS GUIDING QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS Detecting the Fictional Problem Solvers in Time and Space: Metaphors Guiding Qualitative Analysis and Interpretation

This article explores metaphors in qualitative analysis. Scientific paradigms are often embedded in metaphors that guide our research and its results. The purpose is to clarify the mix of positions that are taken by researchers as detectives. Three characters from different genres of detective stories are presented. A conclusion from the study is that a traditional researcher-as-detective metaphor (Sherlock Holmes) tends to bring a post-positivist approach also to qualitative research, although the paradigm is less satisfactory when solving research problems addressed in interpretative social research. An alterna-tive detective metaphor, researcher as profiler, is found to be closer to the ontology, episte-mology, and methodology of constructivist research approaches. Finally, the question is raised whether Paul Auster’s deconstructed character, Mr. Quinn, might prove to be a fruitful metaphor for postmodern research, placing emphasis on individual action and rejecting theories that place emphasis on the freedom and the ability of individual agents to shape the social world. A good story and a well-formed argument are different natural kinds.... Arguments convince one of their truth, stories of their life-likeness (empirical proof vs. verisimilitude). —Bruner (1986, p. 11) But in imagining an erroneous order you still found something