Interactive-integrative research studies the context and meaning of interactive vari-
ables as these variables form patterns that reflect the whole. Researchers observe,
document, analyze, and qualify the interactive relationship of variables. In physics,
it is believed that objectivity of measurement is ultimately not possible. The
Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that the act of observing phenomena
unavoidably influences the behavior of the phenomena being observed. The interac-
tive-integrative paradigm embraces this unity of measurement and measured.
Another part of the paradigm relates to the belief that interactions between living
organisms and environments are transactional, multidirectional, and synergistic—
they cannot be reduced. The holistic belief that the whole is greater than the sum of
the parts is basic to the interactive-integrative paradigm.
The unitary-transformative approach to research represents a significant paradigm
shift. A phenomenon is viewed as an integral, self-organizing unit embedded in a
larger, self-organizing unit. Change is nonlinear and unpredictable, as systems move
through organization and disorganization. Knowledge is a function of both the
observer and observed and is primarily a matter of pattern recognition. Knowledge
is personal in that it includes thoughts, values, feelings, choices, and purpose.
Just as conventional and alternative medicine complement one another, so do mul-
tiple perspectives of research. Some research explores patterns about how little is
known (interactive-integrative), while other research validates new knowledge and
predicts outcomes of interventions (particulate-deterministic). Yet other research may
help us understand such aspects as the mutuality of patient/healer encounters (uni-
tary-transformative). All paradigms are needed to further scientific knowledge.
The Limits of Western Thinking
Those who limit themselves to Western scientific research have virtually ignored
anything that cannot be perceived by the five senses and repeatedly measured or
quantified. Research is dismissed as superstitious and invalid if it cannot be scientifi-
cally explained by cause and effect. Many continue to cling with an almost religious
fervor to this cultural paradigm about the power of science—more specifically, the
power that science gives them. By dismissing non-Western scientific paradigms as
inferior at best and inaccurate at worst, the most entrenched members of the con-
ventional medical research community try to counter the threat that alternative
therapies and research pose to their work, their well-being, their worldviews.
And yet, biomedical research cannot explain many of the phenomena that concern
alternative practitioners regarding caring-healing processes. When therapies such as
acupuncture or homeopathy are observed to result in a physiological or clinical
response that cannot be explained by the biomedical model, many have tried to
CHAPTER 1 WHAT IS ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE ALL ABOUT? 13
