Prismer - en metode til at begribe det, der svært lader sig begribe

Abstract

This article introduces prisms as a creative qualitative method for exploring and representing experiences that are difficult to capture through conventional interview excerpts and analytical categories. Drawing on research on loneliness among young people with out-of-home care experiences, the article shows how prisms, as condensed and fragmented textual compositions, can illuminate moods, sensory experiences and themes that often remain between the lines of interview material. The method is described through concrete analytical steps and discussed in relation to found poetry, literary condensations and ethnographic writing. Through three empirical prisms, the article explores how the method may capture other and new tonalities of loneliness that traditional interview excerpts struggle to foreground. The article also discusses the ethical and analytical implications of the method, including questions of researcher authority, validity and collaboration with the people whose experiences the prisms represent.