The researcher’s transference in psychoanalytically informed qualitative research

This article sets out to explore the researcher’s transference in psychoanalytically informed qualitative research. To this end, it is suggested the researcher’s transference is a) rooted in the past/childhood experiences and events and b) occurs in all research activities, such as interviews. The researcher’s transference may have some elements of unresolved or unsymbolized psychological issues that are transferred to the research process. Such transference may manifest in the research as a) expulsion of unwanted psychic material into the research process, as in projective identification; b) a form of unconscious communication (not necessarily unwanted unconscious content); c) a way to displace unwanted psychic material onto the research (projection); or d) a combination of these psychic dynamics. The term “the researcher’s transferential implant” is introduced to capture these transferential dynamics. Finally, a suggestion as to how to methodologically work with the researcher’s transference is offered.