This research project seeks to understand the
complexities and diversities of the lived experiences of the six men who took
part in this study. It also seeks, however, to explore the way in which the
electronic world may be utilised to provide a positive environment where men can
openly discuss emotional issues which they have previously been reluctant to
discuss in the 'real' world.
It is a research study that exemplifies a
form of 'doing' research by combining an 'established' qualitative methodology
with a relatively new and unexplored 'source' of data generation, utilising a
hermeneutic-phenomenological form of inquiry (Van Manen 1990), together with the
data generation potentials of the Internet. It is a method of conducting
research that is both complex and underdeveloped, as the technological
innovations that allowed for the growth of electronic interactive mediums have
only occurred, in some cases, within the last two years.
All of the data were generated using
electronic means of communication, including e-mail facilities, and chat
programs such as Icq and PowWow, the latter two allowing for real-time
conversations. I chose this form of interaction because previous research (for
example, Reid 1991) suggests that this form of communication could engender a
high degree of self-disclosure and emotional engagement. The implication of this
means of interaction, in terms of increasing our understanding of contemporary
masculinity, is that it provides a potential 'forum' within which researchers,
and those concerned with the 'crisis' of contemporary masculinity, can further
their knowledge of this issue. The degree of participation, and indeed
reciprocity, was of fundamental importance in this study, as it is primarily
concerned with the individual's feelings, emotions, self-reflections, and,
consequently, their willingness to disclose these very personal experiences.
These are experiences which would probably remain undisclosed in 'normal'
conversation, given that men are reluctant to talk about themselves should they
'break' ' ... the code of masculinity, with all its limitations ... ' (Ochberg
1987, p. 177). It is a factor of inherent significance because the study
ultimately sought reflection and discussion of what were often personal and
intimate issues. It is often said that men are reluctant to discuss issues and
concerns which involve the disclosure of their intimate feelings, and that even
if they wish to do so, have no recourse to suitable environments where they can
be comfortable in the knowledge that they are not being judged by what they say,
as men. This lack of resources for men, poses the question as to whether men do
in fact need (and want) to talk about their problems, and whether in fact their
reluctance to do so, in real life, is a result of the general absence of forums
where they can in fact do so.
Thus the aim of this study is twofold: to
provide insights into the lived experiences of the six participants as they
affected their adult male identities, and to explore the credibility of this
particular form of interaction in generating this form of data.
To achieve understanding of both of these
aims, it seems practical and effective here to divide this research study into
two parts. Part One, which encompasses Chapters One to Three, deals with the
theoretical and structural nature of the research project, detailing the
epistemological and ontological assumptions that comprise and provide
distinctions concerning the research process.
With this in mind the introductory chapter
discusses the value and importance of the research topic. Chapter Two reviews
the theoretical literature and practical issues that were critical in the
formulation of the research study. Chapter Three discusses the research method
that was used as the means of generating data and of developing thematic
statements.
Part Two of the study dedicates itself to the
actual study experience, and is evocative of the spirit of academic studies as
conceptualised and encouraged by Agar (1986, p. 12) and which, in effect,
advocates ' ... intense personal involvement ... and an ability to learn from a
long series of mistakes'. This is not to say, however, that the problematics of
the study outweighed, or overrode, the information and knowledge gained from the
experience. Rather these 'problematics' meant instead that my personal
involvement and ongoing capacity to 'learn' were fundamental to the success and
significance of the study. Chapter Four discusses thematic statements one to
three, themes that emerged from the communicative medium. Chapter Five looks at
thematic statement four, and Chapter Six, thematic statement five. The last two
statements involve the discussion of the actual data as they were generated by
the participants.
This is a research project which is interested in gaining new insights into the lives of men, their dilemmas, and their general state of being, but in a way that, hopefully, stirs the mind, the heart, and the soul of the reader. My purpose here is not to obtain generalisable answers or hypotheses, nor to prove or disprove theories; it is an attempt to try to understand the experiences of others and the subsequent meanings that they make of those experiences. This thesis represents a way of trying to promote at least some awareness of the 'masculine' identity by listening to what men have to say; their stories, their reflections, and their ways of 'knowing'. Without the 'narration's' of my co-investigators, and without the employment of unique and specific interview contexts, much of the data which I was seeking would have remained hidden and beyond my 'reach'. Ironically, it would, in all probability, have been cloaked by many of the discourses and convictions that enmesh and constrain our concepts of what it is to 'be' a man and what actually constitutes 'masculinity'.