The Critical Incident Technique in Student Affairs Research and Practice

Abstract

Since the 1950s, the critical incident technique (CIT) has aided researchers in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of qualitative data. In the student affairs literature only a very small number of CIT studies exist. Using the two most recent publications as examples, this article provides a detailed overview of the CIT, highlights its benefits and limitations, and offers specific recommendations for future applications of the CIT in student affairs research and practice.In 1954, John C. Flanagan, professor of industrial psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, and one of the founders of the American Institute for Research (AIR), published his landmark article on the critical incident technique (CIT)-a qualitative research method. The CIT was an outgrowth of the Aviation Psychology Program of the U.S. Army Air Forces, which Flanagan was commissioned to lead in the early 1940s. In spite of its original military applications, the CIT has been widely heralded and used in several fields and professions, including counseling, psychology, nursing, communications, medicine, and social work (Butterfield, Borgen, Amundson, & Maglio, 2005). The marketing literature, in particular, has witnessed an explosion of CIT-related articles-more than 150 studies have been published since the early 1990s (Gremler, 2004).

Ties That Bind: Academic Advisors as Agents of Student Relationship Management

“…The CIT, a qualitative method, relies on participants sharing detailed descriptions of their encounters, events, or incidents most satisfactory (or unsatis factory), critical, memorable, or important to them (Gremler, 2004;Vianden, 2012).…”

“…In qualitative research studies on academic advising, participants generally answer a set of researcher-created questions or prompts. Through the CIT, partici pants report, from their perspective, the most critical or memorable incidents, experiences, or encounters with a phenomenon under study (Gremler, 2004;Vianden, 2012); in this study, participant perceptions of academic advising on their individual campus were recorded via the CIT.…”

“…The CIT served as the method for data collection and analysis (as per Gremler, 2004;Vianden, 2012). Taken from a larger study of 157 college students who shared 309 incidents about their perceived relationship with their institution (Vianden, 2015), 32 critical incidents about academic advising, as reported by 29 students from three comprehensive midwestern institutions, are presented herein.…”

Uncovering cultural assumptions: Using a critical incident technique during an international student-teaching field experience

“…The model for the data analysis was adapted to fit this particular study on the basis of adaptations from the original techniques used by the founder of the critical incident technique (Flanagan, 1954) and a critical incident methodologist (Vianden, 2012). Using an inductive process, the 34 written critical incidents were first categorized based on who took part in the event (teacher, child, student teacher), the subject of the event (food, curriculum, child behaviors, discipline), and assumptions identified by the teacher in self-analysis of the event (e.g.…”

Critical incidents in learning child-centered play therapy: Implications for teaching and supervision.

“…However, Vianden (2012) also argued that the CI technique has many advantages in helping to examine participants' perspectives in depth and in their own language without any cultural boundaries (Vianden, 2012).…”