A common criticism of qualitative research is that it lacks the possibility of making generalizations. In this article, however, we describe how informal generalization on the one hand is inextricably linked to the use of method and theory, whereas on the other hand, several formal methodological considerations in relation to the particular, qualitative study further ensure that claims can be made on a more general level. As such, a variety of possibilities for generalization exists, each with its own particular scientific legitimacy adapted to the complexity of the different inquiries whereby generalization is an internal, indispensable, and unavoidable aspect of qualitative research.

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Experiences with art have been of longstanding concern for phenomenologists, yet the psychological question of the appearing of art appreciation has not been addressed. Th is article attends to this lack, exemplifying the merits of a phenomenological psychological investigation based on three semi-structured interviews conducted with museum visitors. Th e interviews were subjected to meaning condensation as well as to descriptions of the fi rst aesthetic reception, the retrospective interpretation, and the "horizons of expectations" included in the meeting with art. Th e fi ndings show that art appreciation appears as variations in experiential forms comprised of gratifying experiences of beauty, challenges to the understanding, and bodily-informed alterations of the emotions. Th e phenomenological psychology of actual, lived experience can embrace the phenomenological theories of art appreciation by Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, yet highlight the psychological importance of experiences with art.Th is is a psychological investigation of art appreciation. Art and experiences with art have been philosophical topics since antiquity and have been present in studies of art history, art criticism, and sociology as well. Th ese theoretical frameworks lack a psychological perspective, and the topic of this article is art appreciation from the point of view of phenomenological psychology. Th rough the use of the methods of phenomenological psychology, particular focus is placed upon individual experiences and their potential for variation, brought to the level of the general. Th is article thus

The accumulation of radioactively labelled strontium and zinc by living and killed tips of the brown alga Ascophyllum nodosum (L.) Le Jol. was studied and compared with the uptake in some model substances. The accumulation of strontium was reversible, and similar in living and killed plants. Equilibrium was established within a couple of days. Strontium accumulation seemed to be an ionexchange process involving the negatively charged intercellular polysaccharides, probably mainly alginate. Only a small fraction of the zinc uptake in living algae seemed to be due to a similar ion exchange with the intercellular polysaccharides. The characteristic features of the zinc uptake was a constant, slow, irreversible accumulation persisting for very long periods of time. In dead algae the uptake was rapid and reversible, indicating that the algae contained zinc‐binding substances which were not directly accessible to the zinc ions in the surrounding seawater before killing. It is proposed that these substances in the living plant are contained in membrane‐surrounded structures, probably vacuoles. These membranes, effectively regulating the zinc uptake in the living cells, are destroyed by killing, making the zinc binding substances directly accessible. The transfer of zinc from the reversible intercellular sites to the irreversible cellular sites continued undisturbed during low‐tide periods. The intercellular charged polysaccharides thus function as ion buffers, allowing ion uptake into the cell at a constant rate, independent of the tidal movements.

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