La dynamique relationnelle d'un professeur universitaire : une recherche heuristique sur le parcours identitaire et les convictions sur la relation

During the doctoral process, a narrative writing exercise about our lives as educators led us to develop the idea for the present research, that the practice of relational dynamics in a university context is linked to cultural identity and to beliefs that are developed through interpersonal relationships. This idea reveals a complex human phenomenon that has made a mark on humanistic psychology (Maslow, 1954; St-Arnaud, 1974, 1982), specifically the process of actualization and the primacy of the subjective. This idea is explored within a framework of heuristic research, as described by Moustakas (1990): the researcher is able to extract explicit and structured knowledge from tacit knowledge rooted in the researcher’s own experiences.  To develop a unique theoretical model rooted in our practice, we have chosen an iterative, qualitative and inductive approach that supports the research methodologies appropriate for this type of trajectory. Grounded Theory (GT) (Luckerhoff & Guillemette, 2012) proved to be the most appropriate method for structuring our heuristic approach, combined with certain research tools (log book, narrative practice, Bohm dialogs) that allowed us to analyze all information gathered. We brought six university professors into this approach of personal reflexiveness. These professors became co-researchers on our project and were a control group, enlarging and generalizing the data. In a collaborative exploration phase, we identified seven reflection groups within the practice of relational dynamics. However, these groups were limited to describing reflections gathered and did not reach the objective of understanding the circularity process within the observed phenomenon. We have, therefore, proceeded to a second phase of analysis describing six units of reflexive movement in relational dynamics. Using auto-regulating strategies proper to each co-researcher, these movements correct the co-researchers’ relationships with their contacts. They also create a new and unique model for the practice of relational dynamics. To be able to compare this new model to our own life, and specifically to criteria for the validity of qualitative (Prévost and Roy, 2015) and heuristic (Moustakas 1990) research, we return to our own experience. We made the link between the model that has been discovered and the practice of reformed liberal Protestantism in the Cévennes region of France, the religion in which we were raised until the age of 18 and which, we think, influenced part of our beliefs about our relationships. From this new reflection, four end principles on our relational dynamics have emerged that we call our “eureka” points: think of the practice of relational dynamics as a “prospective of time”; as a unique “meeting” process that we use to manage the uncertain and the unknown; as a “pedagogy of promise” and finally; as a reflexive practice linked to “individuals”. These eureka principles are processes that emerge very rapidly in our conscience and that guide and qualify our human interactions. They contain, at the same time as they appear, all the discoveries of our heuristic research approach. These eureka principles are, simultaneously, the response to our beginning idea and a new, more personal model for the practice of relational dynamics.

Keyphrases: Relational dynamics, University professor, Cultural identity, Relational beliefs, Heuristic research, Praxeological approach, Grounded theory, Protestant theology practice