Beyond snapshots: a Bergsonian approach to including lived experiences in social work research

Abstract

Qualitative methods have significantly advanced the inclusion of lived experience in social work research. This article explores how Henri Bergson's concepts of durée and intuition can contribute to a distinct vocabulary for engaging the temporal, ambiguous, and textural dimensions of experience. We develop intuition as a methodological orientation and propose three disciplines of intuitive rigor: durational discipline, ambiguity preservation, and textural precision. Through a re-reading of empirical material from a doctoral study, we demonstrate how these sensibilities can foreground dimensions of experience that often remain analytically peripheral. Fidelity is offered as a complementary evaluative concern alongside validity, directing attention toward how representations preserve the movement, texture, and felt qualities of lived experience.