Heuristic self-search inquiry: Clarification of Moustakas' heuristic research (Clark Moustakas)

There were two interdependent foci in this dissertation. The first identified a need for clarification and expansion of the meaning of subjective in psychology by reviewing Moustakas' heuristic research and Wilber's conception of subjective knowledge. The second offered heuristic self-search inquiry (HSSI) as a qualitative research method to clarify and expand subjective knowledge. The implementation of the HSSI was explicated by demonstrating its use in the discovery of an HSSI research question regarding the author's personal problem of obesity.; The procedures used in this work included: a selective review of philosophers who considered subjective knowledge necessary in human inquiry to establish validity in doing subjective research; a literature review and analysis related to Moustakas' method in theory and application regarding the method's ability to access subjective knowledge; a literature review and analysis of Wilber's model of integral knowledge related to subjective knowledge; and finally; an explication of HSSI by demonstrating this researcher-as-participant method as inquiry into subjective knowledge. HSSI data was collected over a 9-month period in the form of stream-of-consciousness writing, observations, moments of insight and inspiration related to life events, dreams, and the author's struggles with obesity.; The results of this dissertation included: clarification of Moustakas' heuristics to include resistance to self-focused inquiry especially in the first phase: the discovery of the research question; expansion of Wilber's subjective knowledge to include feeling experiences; application of flow charts to identify possible areas of resistance to self-focused inquiry; and discovery of the author's HSSI question for future research.; The implications were: resistance to feelings in concrete experience of Moustakas' heuristic research must be expanded to include resistance to feeling what is being researched if the method is to directly access subjective knowledge; subjective knowledge must include emotions if knowledge is integral; and finally, persons struggling with recalcitrant problems such as obesity might benefit from HSSI to discover possible psychological etiologies and with self-awareness experience transformation that might provide solutions.