World in My Eyes

Abstract

The following article delineates at least two important thrusts of the Journal of Adult Development. First, it demonstrates the journal’s commitment to the complementarity of natural science (quantitative) and human science (qualitative) models of research in either studies that utilise a single method or mixed-models methods. The journal’s theoretical and methodological flexibility evokes Maslow’s (1946) classic distinction between means-oriented and problem-oriented research in which, in the former, the method dictates the range of problems that can be studied whereas the latter–most consonant with the journal’s approach–gives priority to the phenomenon being studied. Second, since its inception, the journal has been committed to providing young scholars with an outlet for the publication of their work. Later, Karl Dominey of Brown University discusses his own transition from adolescence to young adulthood (or what now would more likely be called emerging adulthood). As his piece demonstrates, Karl integrates psychological and sociocultural factors with a keen literary bent to explore this personally important developmental transition using a variant of narrative analysis. He hopes to be admitted into a doctoral programme in sociology and/or American civilisation next fall to explore issues related to individual and social (e.g. father–son) development. Readers who wish to correspond with Karl either about his piece and/or about the gruelling process of admission to doctoral programmes are strongly encouraged to do so.