Literary Life-Cycle Research as an Atypical Research Modality for Adult Education

Literary analysis is approached as an atypical research modality: a modality that falls outside the parameters of experimental research usually described in the literature of educational meta-research. It is maintained that atypical research is appropriate as ancillary and complementary to typical research. Following Guba's explication of "experimental" research, six characteristics of literary analysis (applied to literary life-cycle research) are identified. Literary life-cycle research which is used by the researcher to describe the life cycle in terms of information gathered from literary works; (1) is complementary to conventional empirical research, (2) is comparative, (3) is explicative, (4) is interpretive, (5) is disciplined, and (6) can be viewed as a form of case history research. A procedural model for literary analysis is presented. The model is illustrated with an example of how analysis of literature discloses knowledge about the nuances of the so-called mid-life crisis. It is concluded that literary analysis has the potential for generating knowledge about human development and the phases of adult development, and that this knowledge is highly valuable for the practitioner of adult education. An 18-item bibliography is included. (Author/MS)