Metaphorical Structuring of Pattern Analysis

Abstract

I study my empirical data, and I look for patterns. I wait for the secret tremor deep in my bones, the alluring feeling of a pattern emerging. The luscious understanding of meaning. Then I get sidetracked; what if there is no pattern in these data? Why do I automatically assume there will be patterns in the data for me to explore? Because I am a trained 'pattern finder', I expect patterns; I always search for the hidden layout of reasoning and actions; I expect a useful pattern to emerge over time; I expect meaningfulness, connections, interactions, patterns. The question is not whether there is a pattern in the data, but how to lure a meaningful pattern out from its hiding place in the data cave. This is an uncharted process, and just like love, it is a process that is almost entirely metaphorically structured The process of pattern analysis is—like love—minimally structured into conceptual subcategories that explain and describe the process. This is why this chapter tries to create a metaphorical structuring of the process by charting the process like making a jigsaw puzzle. The linearity of words in the chapter—that no metaphor can change the appearance of, by the way—is ordered in an introduction to patterns, what I need patterns for in my line of research and then the metaphorical structuring of the analytical pattern-finding process. At the end, there is a reflection on the metaphorical structuring. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)