This article explores the uses of poetry in qualitative research. In this study of adolescent identity and development, poetry is used as data, as a means of data representation, and as a process of inquiry. The authors explore the nature of poetry as a tool of qualitative research for investigating human phenomena. Autobiographical poems are used as data which are analysed through thematic analysis. From this analysis, research poems in the form of Japanese tankas are created. Finally, the third and fourth authors respond to the original poems and the `findings' from the grounded theory analysis as responsive poems.
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