ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the research process with a view to attaining an improved understanding of the variety of different results. It aims to understand the plurality of truth in integration theories, a plurality which tends to remain a problem due to some specific features of conventional research practice. The book shows meanings in their specific contexts rather than starting with blank definitions, taking into account the mutual influence between the object, be it the state or integration, and its environment. It analyses the choice of meanings, and in particular three aspects of these choices: the restrictions and consequences of choice and the function of choice as a link between apparently very different views. The book also shows why plurality is so important in the interpretation of reality.
