The psychoanalytic methodology in research: the use of interviews and data analysis in the investigation of social phenomena

Abstract

This article explores the epistemological and methodological foundations of psychoanalytic research, focusing on the application of the interview to social and political phenomena. Psychoanalytic methodology departs from traditional scientific paradigms of neutrality, anchoring itself in the researcher’s implication. Even outside the clinical setting, psychoanalytic research is defined as clinical because it requires the sustainment of analytic discourse. The interview is highlighted as a privileged methodological instrument which, when operated through analytic listening (free-floating attention and free association), transcends mere data collection. The central axis of this approach is transference, which is understood as a methodological operator. Knowledge is not considered pre-existing data to be extracted from the subject, but rather something produced within the transferential relationship, which involves the researcher. In data analysis, conducted a posteriori on the transcribed material, the psychoanalytic method uses significant reduction to identify master signifiers, repetitions, and points of jouissance (enjoyment) in the discourse. Instead of seeking generalizations, the analysis values detail and focuses on what escapes the manifest meaning, such as the unsaid, silences, and avoidances in the discourse. It is concluded that, by sustaining listening and transference, the interview proves to be a rigorous psychoanalytic method for investigating the singular unconscious dimension present in the social bond.