136 Agnes Petocz
experience and behaviour in context" (p. 77). According to Henwood (1996), "qualitative
research lays down its claim to acceptance by arguing for the importance of understanding the
meaning of experience, actions and events as these are interpreted through the eyes of
particular participants, researchers and (sub)cultures" (p. 27). W. Potter (1996) claims that its
aim is to investigate "how humans make meaning of their worlds" (p. 27), that "qualitative
research focuses on meaning making by humans and this meaning is seen best through
examining the symbols and language" (p. 67). In general, we must "Look for meaning, the
perspectives of the participants in the study" (Janesick, 2000, p. 387). Everywhere, the term
―qualitative‖ is taken to mean ―having to do with meaning‖.
Clearly, this type of meaning is the "existential" or "experiential" meaning belonging to
category (4) in my earlier classification of meanings. But, as the survey of semiotic
phenomena revealed, there are several other categories. Of course, experiential meanings are
typically investigated via data from the remaining categories - that is, conventional signs and
symbols found in spoken and written text, nonconventional linguistic and symbolic
phenomena, indicative and expressive behavioural signs and symptoms, and combinations of
these. But the semiotic phenomena belonging to these other categories can also be subjects of
investigation in their own right. And qualitative inquiry may be concerned with many
different questions relating to any of the three terms of the triadic semiotic relation within
these semiotic phenomena.
For example, research focus may be directed solely at the structure of the signifier or set
of signifiers in conventional signs. While this is similar to the earlier concerns of linguists and
structuralist semioticians, it can be extended into areas not typically considered to be part of
such programs. Meunier (1998) points out that semiotics was always defined as "the science
of signs in whatever form it took" (p. 806). Therefore, iconic languages, as complex semiotic
systems built out of forms, shapes, graphics, etc., may also be investigated systematically,
using the concepts of carriers, generic features, categories, operations and rules. Meunier's
work on the non-linear categorial structure of iconic languages, such as the TCS (Traffic
Circulation Signs), illustrates how a system of conventional iconic signifiers can be
investigated in terms of its grammar and algebraic structures. This type of approach lends
itself to extension into the investigation of dance, music, choreography, art, etc. Alternatively,
the research focus may be directed at the signifier-signified relation, with appropriate
recognition of the psychological role of the third term, the cognising subject. For example,
within the field of knowledge representation, the similarity relation that lies at the basis of the
iconicity bridge between conceptual metaphor and nonconventional symbolism can be used to
inform more successful matching of signifier and signified. According to Don Norman
(personal communication), the best pairings are those which adopt a quantitative (additive)
signifier for a quantitative signified, and a qualitative (substitutive) signifier for a qualitative
signified. This explains why the typical use of hue to represent quantity in medical and other
scientific diagrams fails; brightness or saturation would be superior. A quite different research
avenue might be taken by those interested in mixed semiotic phenomena, who are willing to
venture into the murky waters of unconscious signification and its relation both to conscious
signification and to physiological indices. For example, the work of Howard Shevrin and
colleagues (Shevrin, 1995; Shevrin et al., 1996) uses mixed methods (recorded interviews,
psychoanalytic assessment, linguistic and behavioural analysis, subliminal and supraliminal
word presentations, analysis of physiological brain responses, etc.) to investigate the role of
unconscious meanings, conflicts and defences in both clinical and nonclinical populations.