Tectonic change: The qualitative paradigm in psychology.

Qualitative methods are presented as a candidate for a new paradigm in psychology. T. Kuhn's (1970) ideas about the role of paradigms and their stagnation and replacement in science are applied to 20th century events in psychology--principally the shifts from structuralist introspection to behaviourism and then to cognitive science. For heuristic purposes, I suggest that the quantitative emphasis, with its identified shortcomings, may have reached the replacement stage with so-called big-Q research as the new paradigm. Following Kuhn's analysis, I discuss the reasons why new paradigms are difficult to accept even though they may, in the end, answer questions left untouched by ossified approaches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Facilitating rigorous qualitative research in rehabilitation psychology.

Qualitative research methods have much to contribute to theoretical and applied knowledge in rehabilitation psychology. However, as a discipline, rehabilitation psychology has been behind the curve in employing qualitative methods. Objectives: This article is a summary of the state of qualitative research in rehabilitation and an introduction to various methodological dimensions to consider in implementing qualitative rehabilitation psychology research. Types and examples of qualitative rehabilitation research are presented. Criteria for evaluating qualitative research are discussed. Finally, the majority of this article is devoted to presenting the various methodological dimensions on which researchers must make decisions in designing and implementing rigorous qualitative research (e.g., paradigms, methods, data collection strategies, data analysis procedures, reliability/validity). Conclusions: Rehabilitation psychology has much to gain through qualitative research, and success in incorporating qualitative evidence will be ensured by rehabilitation psychologists learning and rigorously implementing qualitative methods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reaction to special section on qualitative research in counseling process and outcome.

The publication of a special section of 8 qualitative studies in the Journal of Counseling Psychology marks a growing recognition of the contribution that qualitative research can make to the discipline. The researchers of the 8 studies used an adaptation of the grounded theory method as their design. The theories generated by the studies are positively evaluated with constructivist criteria. Reactions to the data collection include suggestions that intensive interviews, triangulation, and theoretical sampling may have strengthened the data sets. Response to the data analyses include recognition of the creative and rigorous manner in which the analyses were carried out. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The role of James McCosh in God's exile from psychology.

As the discipline of psychology coalesced during the latter half of the 19th century in American institutions of higher learning, the role of God as an explanatory force declined dramatically. Part of this story must include the role played by James McCosh, president and primary psychology professor at Princeton, 1868-1888, in assuring orthodox educated believers that the new psychology was essentially a safe endeavor and that the truths discovered therein posed no threat and ultimately would harmonize with the truths of the historic Christian faith. Several of McCosh's students later credited him with leading the way. Where McCosh led and how he did it is the focus of this article. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Making a clearing: Qualitative research in anglophone Canadian psychology.

Qualitative research (QR) occupies a middle ground between the sciences and the humanities, which goes against established research practice in psychology and most related social and health science disciplines. At present, QR in Canadian psychology is beginning to take root in some universities and research organizations. Most of the contributors to this special issue reflect this development in Anglophone Canadian psychology. This article briefly introduces the contributions to this special issue. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Qualitative research and its place in psychological science.

In discussing the place of diverse qualitative research within psychological science, the authors highlight the potential permeability of the quantitative-qualitative boundary and identify different ways of increasing communication between researchers specializing in different methods. Explicating diversity within qualitative research is facilitated, initially, through documenting the range of qualitative data collection and analytic methods available. The authors then consider the notion of paradigmatic frame and review debates on the current and future positioning of qualitative research within psychological science. In so doing, the authors argue that the different ways in which the concept of paradigm can be interpreted allow them to challenge the idea that diverse research paradigms are prima facie incommensurate. Further, reviewing the ways in which proponents of qualitative research are seeking to reconfigure the links between paradigms helps the authors to envisage how communication between research communities can be enhanced. This critical review allows the authors to systematize possible configurations for research practice in psychology on a continuum of paradigm integration and to specify associated criteria for judging intermethod coherence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Paradigms, Praxis, Problems, and Promise: Grounded Theory in Counseling Psychology Research.

In this article, the author presents an overview of the qualitative research approach termed grounded theory (B. G. Glaser, 1978, 1992; B. G. Glaser & A. L. Strauss, 1967; A. L. Strauss, 1987; A. L. Strauss & J. Corbin, 1990, 1998). The author first locates the method conceptually and paradigmatically (paradigms) and then outlines the procedures for implementing it and judging its quality (praxis). The author follows with a discussion of selected issues that arise in using the approach (problems) and concludes by noting the appropriateness of grounded theory for counseling psychology research (promise). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A woman's struggle in academic psychology (1936-2001).

Tracy S. Kendler's strong desire to get a college education had to overcome economic hardships of the Great Depression and a mother's conviction that finding a suitable husband was more important. Solomon Asch at Brooklyn College, by scholarly example, encouraged her to seek a career in psychology. At the University of Iowa she studied with both Kurt Lewin and Kenneth Spence and finally opted to conduct a research program, ultimately on cognitive development, within a neobehavioristic methodological orientation. Being married to academic psychologist Howard H. Kendler, and a mother of 2 sons, created problems in fashioning an independent academic career, but persistence and research productivity, sometimes a result of collaborative efforts with her husband, finally led to a distinguished career. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The new research agenda for a cultural psychology.

Qualitative methods are the investigative tools of choice for the field of cultural psychology, in which the study of meaning is central. The process of cultural psychological research calls for an approach that emphasizes the quality of the relationship between researchers and participants. We argue for the importance of this relationship in the development of the validity and usefulness of such work. Methods within this framework often include dialectic communication, respect, participatory partnership, inductive reasoning, and the taking of extra time as necessary. In this paper, research projects with urban Canadian street youth, Inuit prison inmates, and Inuit community members experiencing a youth suicide epidemic are provided as case studies that highlight the relational motif in qualitative research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Peromyscus papers: Through a glass, darkly.

Comments on the article by J. M. Joffe (see record 1974-06687-001) and the article by R. J. Smith (see record 1990-57143-001), both of which frame a discussion of behaviorism and reactions to the theories of J. B. Watson (e.g., 1925) as a political insurgency and a trial. The present author remarks that although one has been told how often it is done, it is nevertheless alarming to see how easily history can be rewritten to reflect the dogma of the party in power. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Historiography of Czech psychology.

The paper is aimed at presenting the development of the Czech historiography of psychology, which was strongly influenced by the political changes in Central and Eastern Europe. The authors deal with the historiography of psychology at the three universities offering an undergraduate program in psychology, located in Prague, Brno, and Olomouc, and at the Institute of Psychology of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Recent research, teaching, textbooks, and journal articles published in Czech and in foreign languages are showcased. The historiography of Czech psychotherapy is mentioned as a special thematic development. Contemporary problems and perspectives in the field of the history of psychology in the Czech Republic are discussed, sources of information are given. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Constructing qualitative knowledge in psychology: Students and faculty negotiate the social context of inquiry.

On the basis of interviews with 13 graduate students and 21 faculty from diverse areas of Canadian departments of psychology, I report researchers' views on qualitative methods in terms of social historical, systemic influences on constructing psychological knowledge. These ideological and structural systems include the historical place of qualitative research in scientific psychology, education in alternative research methods, the socioeconomic reward system for faculty, and the potential for changes in the discipline that could facilitate the legitimation of qualitative methods. The major finding was the desire for methodological pluralism, even among mainstream faculty. In light of the researchers' textured commentaries, I discuss the fate of attempts by some psychologists to expand traditional investigative boundaries, the potential for a shift in the discipline to methodological pluralism, and the implications for the education of undergraduate and graduate students in psychological research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Canadian feminism and psychology: The first decade.

The history of the Canadian Psychological Association's recognition of the validity of a feminist perspective in psychology is outlined, and the current status of women psychologists in the nation is discussed. Documenting the development of a "psychology of women" speciality, a selected review is presented of the research conducted by psychologists in Canada dealing with sex roles, sex differences, achievement, feminism, and psychobiology. In the applied areas of the discipline, analogous developments have occurred in terms of the establishment of a link between sex roles and psychopathology, the critical appraisal of traditional therapies, the creation of alternative therapy approaches, and the generation of ethical standards pertinent to the provision of psychological services to women. The interdisciplinary quality of the psychology of women is discussed and an overview of this new field is provided. (French abstract) (4 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The rhetoric of psychological research and the problem of unification in psychology.

There has been in the field of psychology a long and well-documented discontent with an apparent disorganization in its literature, most often interpreted as reflecting the absence of a unifying theory. This article examines some alternative ways in which some of the disorganization is being actively created by forms of argumentation used in reporting and discussing psychological research. One institutionalized form of argumentation used in reporting data actually generates the proliferation of theoretical terms in the literature. A second form of argumentation reifies theories into social groups, incorporating values that discourage theoretical integration. Some of the discontent arises from the incompatibility between the values latent in such social organizations and the values that motivate scientific inquiry at a personal level. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The course in the history of psychology: Present status and future concerns.

The present study provides a turn-of-the-century status report on the teaching of the history of psychology in colleges and universities in the US. The data indicate that the course is offered regularly-in most departments of psychology and is frequently required of majors; these findings are consistent with earlier research. Most instructors teach the course largely out of personal interest and self-taught expertise with their primary teaching and research commitments to other areas of psychology. Few instructors engage in publication of research and scholarship in the history of psychology, although there are 2 journals in the field that provide an outlet for scholarship. The few positions that allow for primary commitment to teaching and research in the history of psychology is a possible cause of concern for the future of the course and for its place in the education of psychologists in the 21st century. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The inadvertent emergence of a phenomenological perspective in the philosophy of cognitive psychology and psychoanalytic developmental psychology.

The phenomenological perspective described by M. Merleau-Ponty seems to be emerging in the context of contemporary developmental research, theories of communication, metaphor theory, and cognitive neuroscience. This emergence is not always accompanied by reference to Merleau-Ponty, however, or appropriate interpretation. On some cases, the emergence of the perspective seems rather inadvertent. The purpose of this essay is to ferret out some of the points which contemporary thinking has in common with Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology. Though it may appear that the examples chosen for this essay might be scrutinized separately, the thread that ties them together is Merleau-Ponty's work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Why psychology is/is not traditional science: The self-referential bases of psychological research and theory.

The hyperspecialization, fragmentation, curious faddishness of major research topics, and perceived incommensurabilities of theories and methods in contemporary psychology are often seen as a discipline-specific crisis over our status as a single, identifiable "science." These features can, however, be understood as the contemporary expression of early discussions by Giambattista Vico and Wilhelm Dilthey on the inherently self-referential basis of psychology, based on its emergent, even paradoxical, combination of the methods of physical science with the underlying themes of the humanities. This defining tension between "explanation" and "understanding" can account for these features of ostensible disunity, along with the unique importance of "ecological validity" in empirical methodology and the roots of theory in largely implicit world-views and the matrix of ordinary language, quite different from the explicit role of law in physical science. Current neuroscience, although exemplifying "high consensus, rapid discovery" physical science, also illustrates this broader "hermeneutic" perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Historiography of psychology in Brazil: Pioneer works, recent developments.

The evolution of the historiography of psychology in Brazil is surveyed, to describe how the field has evolved from the seminal works of the pioneer, mostly self-taught, psychologists, to the now professional historians working from a variety of theoretical models and methods of inquiry. The first accounts of the history of psychology written by Brazilians and by foreigners are surveyed, as well as the recent works made by researchers linked to the Work Group on the History of Psychology of the Brazilian Association of Research and Graduate Education in Psychology and published in periodicals such as Memorandum and Mnemosine. The present historiography focuses mainly the relationship of psychological knowledge to specific social and cultural conditions, emphasizing themes such as women's participation in the construction of the field, the development of psychology as a science and as a profession in education and health, and the development of psychology as an expression of Brazilian culture and of the experience of resistance of local communities to domination. To reveal this process of identity construction, a cultural historiography is an important tool, coupled with methodological pluralism. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)