To begin with, both the content and the form of the preceding results section will be discussed. This will be followed by a more general discussion about the manner in which the results were derived.

In an inquiry of this kind, neither content nor form of the results are ‘givens.’ What appears in the Results section is a portion of a larger document which is intended to serve as a pamphlet by means of which the inquiry group can distribute the results of their work to a wider audience. One of the feedback reports (App3.2. Chris) after the weekend meeting came in the form of a table describing various ways in which a dyad session could be structured to incorporate meditation and co-counselling. This researcher was struck by how facilitative a representation of this kind may be to a reader who had not been present at the inquiry and, bearing in mind Heron’s (1996 chapter 2) phrase "the Primacy of the Practical" in relation to report writing and:

"The purpose of these reports is exhortatory: to point a way, suggest a method, evoke and portray a modest competence and how to exercise it, and so to inspire and invite readers to inquire into their own transformative skills"   Heron (1997)

It was suggested, in the cover letter accompanying the redistribution of collated reports, (App2.3) that the group could consider working towards the creation of a pamphlet as a way of communicating the work. The idea took root during the final meeting and became the focussing principle of the group’s collaboration during the late morning and final afternoon. The material is an expansion, essentially, of the celebrations and what, to whom, how, and who? brainstorms which appear in the final report (App3.3.p5-7).

Implicit, too, in this exercise was a group affirmation of what had become our essential proposition - or ‘hypothesis’ - "co-counselling and meditation can be usefully combined in a single session" On reflection, it would have been better to have made this explicit with a formal group agreement of the proposal.

Updated 16 June 99
by Martin Wilks