ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the selected theme parallels that of the preced ing case studies-the integration of person, problem, and method in the process of research. By allowing participant ob servation to reveal further ramifications in the field, this chapter represents my deliberate attempt to resolve previously encoun tered dilemmas and describes a fortuitous set of circumstances that made this possible. This project not only led to my per sonal sense of methodological discovery or refinement but also laid the foundation for further socialization steps. It clarified my desire to move from mainstream sociology as I knew it in two different directions: phenomenology for the explication of lived reality and action research (which I labeled "clinical
sociology" at the time) for the application of data-based prob lem resolutions in particular field sites. As a result of this proj ect, my professional identification became less tied to an aca demic discipline than to a method that could be affiliated with diverse disciplines. The label that I applied to my emerging method during this project was "experiential analysis." It re solved both my intellectual and identification concerns and be came the capstone of my subjective experience of socialization as a sociologist.
