Genealogy myopia - a term used to mean that a researcher has become too close to their assumptions about their research subjects to break through block or attack the research another way - can be dealt with by teaming up with another researcher as a partner.
But not just any person! First you must like and respect the other person enough to commit to sharing work, talking to each other easily and being able to respectfully deal with someone else's personal information.
Here are some tips for choosing a genealogy research partner.
1) Believe it or not, the best partner is usually someone who is NOT working on the same research as you are, meaning not a family member, not even someone who is working on the same place and time. When you choose someone who is working on an entirely different family and place and time, you will both bring uneducated and unformed but fresh ideas into the research, based on what you have learned on your own and your own research.
2) Trade copies of your research. You and your partner will "check" each other's research and write any ideas or questions that come up as you're doing so. (One friend of mine found a simple math error that had been much depended on. Once the proper year of birth was found, all else fell in place.)
3) Work a little on the other person's research in terms of time and place. When someone is experiencing being stuck they may also be discouraged or bored and they may not have done enough Internet research to understand that time and place. As an exercise, take one ancestor and put them into their historical moments. (Maybe you can help them come up with a good list of questions to ask when interviewing relatives.)
4) When you look at someone else's research ask yourself "If this was my project and this line is blocked, what else could I be doing? Is there another line that hasn't been worked on enough? Is there new information available on a database or in an archive or historical museum that would add to this family's story?
