For people who may be doing research with the MOL, I found out that the
following inexpensive system provides good quality audio tapes.
I bought a Radio Shack portable cassette tape recorder (Cat. No.
14-1109A). And two microphones, one for me and one for the person I am
talking to. And a Y-adapter which receives the microphone leads and can
be plugged into the tape recorder. Each of us held the microphone in
our hand as we talked. The quality was very good on the tape. I could
hear each of the two voices very clearly.
As I sat in front of my word processor (Word in Microsoft Office), I
could listen to a bit of the tape, and then press the pause button to
stop it and type what I heard. If I needed to, I could press the
rewind button to relisten to a bit of tape.
The transcript was much superior to the ICHAT ones I posted to the list.
For one thing, the nonverbals, such as laughing after something was
said, the pauses, etc., were there for review. For another thing,
the sequence of speakers is much clearer and can be reviewed.
It was also a good bit longer than the ICHAT sessions even though the
time period was the same or shorter. The tape recorder provides a
counter which can be used to describe session length or measure it in
minutes.
For me, the most difficult thing about the MOL is to remain passive,
not to express any opinions or ask any questions which are leading.
This system is really an acceptable, inexpensive way to go.
Unfortunately, the person I did the MOL exercise with today did not
give permission to post it, and I have to respect that.
While the MOL exercise can work if a person chooses any topic or
subject, it clearly works better if the person is discussing an issue
or subject which concerns him/her. The person is much more motivated to
participate and can clearly tell you if he feels as though the
discussion helped with the issue to any degree.
I will not be doing the ICHAT discussions even though they were fun. I
will be focusing on using the system I have described in actual therapy
or clinical situations. When I am doing the MOL exercise in therapy, I
will take out the system I described above and this defines when the MOL
method of interacting is operative.
By comparing a person's MOL exercise at different points in therapy, I
think that we should be able to describe some changes in the person
independent of content. A person who shows little or no MOL skill
change over sessions versus a person who shows a lot of MOL skill change
over sessions would be of interest.
That is about it for now.
Oh, by the way, I think that Rick has shown us very well how the test
for the controlled variable can backfire. When working with the higher
level perceptions, I think that the more passive, MOL approach is
probably better.
In today's session, we reached a certain point and the person was not
able to go any higher. I then used a suggestion made by Dick Roberton:
I am going to ask you to step back and express your opinion of a person
who _________. Tell me about such a person. This opened the way and
the person was able to go further.
ยทยทยท
From: David Goldstein
Subject: MOL stuff
Date: 3/1/98