THE APPLICATION OF THE DOCUMENTARY METHOD IN COUNSELING STUDIES

The aim of the paper is to present and encourage interest in documentary practice, a qualitative research method developed by Ralf Bonsack in Germany and, among others, Slawomir Krzychala in Poland. The method allows to reconstruct actions undertaken by individual people as well as people treated as members of communities or institutions. The major assumption of the reconstruction analysis is to reconstruct experience structures (otherwise referred to as frames or orientation patterns) on the basis of interpersonal communication. Particular messages can assume various forms referred to as documents. The documents are contents, which can be communicated verbally (written down spoken utterances) or visually (pictures, photographs). According to the author the method can be successfully applied for collecting information about subjects involved in counseling: counselors and their clients. He presents the first attempts in applying the documentary method in research on counseling in Poland. The aim of the author is to present the interpretation procedure inspired by the documentary method. Hence, in principle, the discussion focuses on the procedure of interpretation (formulation and reflection) of an example of a group discussion among career advisors and presents the results in the form of a typological classification. The paper consists of two parts. The first outlines the major principles underlying the documentary method. The second, and the principal part of the article, present the process of interpreting the material collected during the group discussion. Particular topics raised (formulation) as well as orientation patterns (reflection) assumed by the counselors during the discussion are described in a precise and detailed way.