Use of LEGO® Serious Play® : a novel research method for exploring the lived experience of volunteers and paid staff within a professional workplace.

This presentation is based on on-going doctoral research designed to investigate the lived experiences of hospice volunteers and the institutional processes that are shaping that experience. The research is being carried out in a hospice using ethnographic techniques including observation, interviews and an unconventional approach in hospice research based on the principles of LEGO® Serious Play® (LSP). LSP involves group sessions, in which the research participants have the opportunity to think and express themselves as they create using the medium of Lego models. Drawing on the experience of the researcher and data collected so far, the paper provides a critique of LSP and argues that it can be an effective technique for exploring sensitive and complex topics, as well as facilitating organisational development through the research process. As such it has the potential for wider use in research within hospices and other organisations within the voluntary sector.