The Story of polyamory: a master's thesis

In qualitative research of this kind, five participants is considered to be the minimum sufficient. I sought ethics approval for 5-8 participants. When my participants told me of another member of the polycule who wanted to take part, I revised the ethics approval and asked to add one participant. 

It's important to not that this is not the whole polycule. There are other members central or peripheral to the individuals I interviewed.  

Our first research activity was to gather all the participants together in person. If you're familiar with polyamory, you know this is like herding cats. Each individual drew a tree to represent their life story. The roots represented where they were from, the ground was where they live now, the trunk was their talents and strengths, and so on. Each person then told their life story to the group and myself. Last, I asked the group about collective strengths and challenges they dealt with as a group. This allowed me to learn about them as a group and as individuals.

A few months after the collective activity, I interviewed each individual alone via Zoom.  I asked them to tell me the story of their involvement in the polycule over time. Next, I asked them to tell me a story of a low point in their time with the polycule, and then a high point and a turning point (significant event, decision, etc). Interviews were loosely structured to allow the participants to talk about what was most salient to them. 

Collective strengths included a variety of life and career skills the group could count on, sharing of needed items (instead of buying a Shop Vac, can I borrow one?), and a sense of caring about one another. Collective challenges included time management, money management and a high cost of living, navigating relationship changes in a way that doesn't damage the group as a whole, and balancing personal needs with those of others.

Aside from some great stories, there was a theme of a sense of community that most participants talk about spontaneously.  Sociologists McMillan and Chavis defined the term “sense of community”  to include the following:

• Membership - the feeling of belonging or of sharing a sense of personal relatedness.
• Influence - a sense of mattering, of making a difference to a group and of the group mattering to its members.
• Need fulfillment - the feeling that members’ needs will be met by the resources received through their membership in the group.
• Shared emotional connection - the commitment and belief that members have shared and will share history, common places, time together, and similar experiences. 

Yes! I am currently working on continuing the study for my PhD research at the University of Edinburgh.