Subjectivity in psychological science: From problem to prospect.

Abstract

The problem of subjectivity within psychological research has long been recognized. The practices of scientific psychology, however, continue to assume that objectivity is desirable, even if not completely possible, and that subjectivity is a source of bias that must be minimized or eliminated. Such a dispassionate stance has offered and continues to offer a range of benefits, not least a tight focus on participants' relevant responses. Nonetheless, in this article, we question the wisdom of always or automatically working to minimize participant and researcher subjectivity, and we invite psychological researchers to consider the benefits of a more, what we term, reflexive scientific attitude. We turn in particular to recent theoretical and methodological innovations within qualitative research in order to help us progress toward a more reflexive psychological science where subjectivity is re-viewed as a resource that can be tapped in order to contextualize and enrich the psychological research process and its products.

Mirrors, portraits, and member checking: Managing difficult moments of knowledge exchange in the social sciences.

“…Member checks can be elicited quantitatively, for example through surveys (Kornbluh, 2015), and collected efficiently through technologies such as online platforms (Bradshaw, 2001). Moreover, researchers can collate and reflect on informal feedback, incidental events, and on-going personal insights through making detailed field notes (Kornbluh, 2015) and/or writing a research journal (Gough & Madill, 2012). Meadmore, Hughes, Freeman, Benson, and Burridge (2013) provide an excellent example of the use of participant feedback in way analogous to the member check in a quantitative feasibility trial evaluating novel stroke rehabilitation technologies.…”

“…Making an impact involves knowledge exchange: "a two-way process where social scientists and individuals or organisations share learning, ideas and experiences" (http://www.esrc.ac.uk/research/impacttoolkit/knowledge-exchange/). Gough and Madill (2012) consider how methods developed within qualitative research might be utilised more generally to leverage benefits of participant and researcher subjectivity. Potential benefits include increased opportunity to take into account different understandings of the meaning of processes and outcomes of the research.…”

The Future of Qualitative Research in Psychology: Accentuating the Positive

“…In this mindset, where matters of procedure are paramount, there is little or no scope for creativity, flexibility or novelty -a state of affairs neatly dubbed 'methodolotary' and described by Chamberlain (2000). This preoccupation with the 'correct' way of conducting qualitative research means that alternative methodological practices developed by qualitative researchers, such as reflexivity, are not widely recognised, understood or enacted within mainstream psychological science (see Gough & Madill, 2012). Subjectivity remains stigmatised, a problem to be policed lest it leak out and spoil the research.…”

“…For example, Gough and Madill (2008) published a paper in the APA journal Psychological Methods alerting the psychological community to diverse modes of qualitative research and concepts of paradigm -this in a journal which only ever published papers to do with the theory and practice of quantitative methods and statistics. This paper was then followed up with a piece highlighting the virtues of subjectivity and reflexivity in psychological science in the same 8 journal (Gough & Madill, 2012). In another APA journal with a history of publishing mainly quantitative research -Health Psychology -a special issue on Qualitative Research in Health Psychology has recently been published (Gough & Deatrick, 2015) These changes are important to herald as we educate future psychology researchers.…”

Reflexivity in qualitative psychological research

“…There are a number of practices which can be adopted to facilitate greater reflexivity when studying positive psychology: on the personal level, a research journal can prove to be a valuable resource where important decisions and events can be captured at different stages of the research process; working within a research team, regular reflexive discussions can help group cohesion and the development of shared goals; at the disciplinary level, interrogating prevailing assumptions and practices can help refine ones position; with respect to discourse, attending to the language games of self and others can raise awareness of particular agendas (see Gough & Madill, 2012;Gough & Finlay, 2003). To finish with a note of caution: one must be careful not to slide into a reflexive spiral where a preoccupation with self obscures the phenomenon of interest (see Pels, 2000).…”