Metaphors are constantly used in qualitative research - on the field and in our reporting.  I'm wondering what's a good metaphor for qualitative research / researchers ?

Here's one paper i found - Qualitative Research as Bricolage. Where qualitative researchers are 'bricoleurs'. Its a good metaphor, although in this paper it is discussed in the context of therapy research.  From the conclusions :

"The image of the ëbricoleurí evokes a tension between creativity and conformity. The image of the ëbricoleurí (or boatbuilder) is permissive, in suggesting to the qualitative researcher that it is acceptable to look at any possible means of knowledge-generation and discovery that could be relevant to the task of finding out more about the research topic that has been chosen. The image of the ëbricoleurí also places a great deal of responsibility on the shoulders of the researcher (or members of the research team) by forcing them to take higher-level epistemological decisions and find appropriate ways of communicating their ëbricolageí in writing (or through other media). But in many ways this creativity is one of the core characteristics of good qualitative research. It is very difficult to do good qualitative research, and those who do so achieve quality by drawing fully on their personal and cultural resources, rather than by following a set of laid-down procedures. The image and metaphor of the ëbricoleurí captures well the resourcefulness of the qualitative researcher."

And an abstract for a presentation by Dr. Gary Shank that talks of the mirror, the window and the lantern :

"In a recently completed introductory QUALITATIVE METHODS' text that I have written for Prentice Hall, I was struck by the need to identify a vision for qualitative research that works in concordance with other visions of empirical inquiry. Toward that end, I came up with the threefold metaphor of the mirror (describing Greek and medieval empirical approaches), the window (describing the scientific approach), and the lantern (describing the qualitative approach). By describing qualitative research as "the systematic empirical inquiry into meaning," the lantern approach becomes the metaphor for seeking hidden, obscured, or poorly understood meanings"

Would love to discover and generate more. Thoughts ?

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