Within ethnography and several other methods, questions often arise regarding observation. In this paper, I will discuss the research question What happens when a phenomenon is observed? and highlight two concepts in quantum physics (Zellinger 2010, Nørretranders 2022). 

Superposition means that a particle is in many places at the same time. The particle can move by choosing all paths between two points simultaneously and information can travel over great distances without taking any time at all. Entanglement means that two particles have properties that they get from being connected by being either opposite or equal. When the particles are separated, they will still be entangled and have superposition (Zellinger 2010, Nørretranders 2022).

Superposition and entanglement mean that it is not possible to describe a particle without simultaneously describing that it is part of a context with the other. They form a whole and cannot of course be in and of themselves, if the state of one changes, the other does the same (Bohr 2013, Nørretranders 2022). This is something that goes on until the particles are measured or observed. Then the particle must profess existence by choosing a state and becoming a position of either 0 or 1. This contributes to going from superposition to position and creating a duality between subject and object. But in the meantime, and before they are observed, the particles are in many states at the same time, a superposition (Nørretranders 2022).

What does this mean for a research process, is it possible to do research without turning phenomena into objects? One possibility is to use the body as a research instrument. The body has superposition and comes into being through entanglement as long as it does not make other phenomena into objects. Researching with the senses of the body makes it possible to be touched by the affects (Massumi 2002) of what is created when phenomena are in superposition and entanglement, which in turn can lead to descriptions that strive to convey the genesis of the phenomena without turning them into objects. Using examples from educational research, this paper describes how this can be used as multisensory methods with a perspective that we call haptic sensorium (Bergstedt 2021a, 2021b) which will assist in creating our understanding of the relationship between body and matter and how our bodies are transcorporeal and always more than just human (Alaimo 2012, William 2021).

Theoretically, the paper is in close connection with research in posthumanism and new materialism, and our ambitions have been to create new knowledge in the fields of ethnology and post-qualitative methods (Barad 2007, S:t Pierre 2013, Juleskjær 2020, Bergstedt 2021b). Research that can give us new knowledge of how bodies and matter connect and have an ethical implication for awareness of the responsibility and care in human-nature relations.

The concepts of "superposition" and "entanglement", are used in quantum physics to describe the creation of particles (Zellinger 2010, Nørretranders 2022) to understand how phenomena are created. Developing a new method in post-qualitative methods this knowledge helps us to work with the body as a research instrument and have developed the perspective of a haptic sensorium. This method focused on the researcher's body and especially senses and affects. This makes it possible to come into contact with and be created together with the diversity and complexity that characterizes both one’s own body and other phenomena. For the researcher, it is essential to follow and to become with what arises together with the phenomenon. Using examples from educational research, this paper describes how this can be used as multisensory methods, which will assist in creating our understanding of the relationship between body and matter and how our bodies are transcorporeal and always more than just human (Alaimo 2012, William 2021).To do that it is good to start in the middle of a phenomenon, from here it is possible to follow a phenom without making it into an object. (Delueuze, Guattari 2015). A part of the process is also to have attention to special situations or events that it is possible to describe as a situation and movement that is in motion (Barad 2007).

What is specific about this paper is that it connects current research in quantum physics (Zellinger 2010, Nørretranders 2022) with methodology in Posthumanism and New materialism (S:t Pierre 2013, Juleskjær 2020). The outcomes of this connection give us new knowledge of how bodies and matter can connect without creat the other as an object and how this can be an imported part of empirical post-quantitative research. Researching with the senses of the body makes it possible to be touched by the affects (Massumi 2002) of what is created when phenomena are in superposition and entanglement, which in turn can lead to descriptions that strive to convey the genesis of the phenomena without turning them into objects. Research that can give us new knowledge of how bodies and matter connect and have an ethical implication for awareness of the responsibility and care in human-nature relations.

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