The rise of qualitative research in psychology.

Abstract

A study is presented on the rise of qualitative research in psychology over the 20th century. The incidence of qualitative research as indicated by several search terms (i.e., "qualitative research," "grounded theory," "discourse analy*," "empirical phenomenological," and "phenomenological psychology") was traced through the PsycINFO and Dissertation Abstracts International databases. It was found that, with the exception of the search terms having to do with phenomenology, records containing these search terms were basically non-existent until the 1980s, when there was a sharp rise that intensified in the 1990s. The PsycINFO records were sorted according to (1) whether they came from psychology or other social and health science disciplines; (2) region of origin; (3) the types of document to which they referred; and (4) whether they focused on the methodology or the application of qualitative research. A number of interesting differences emerged from this comparative analysis. Implications of the findings for the supposition that a paradigm shift may be underway are discussed.

Principles and practices: An empirical examination of qualitative research in the Journal of Counseling Psychology.

“…Yet, despite evident enthusiasm for qualitative approaches, examinations of published research in psychological journals generally (Rennie, Watson, & Monteiro, 2002) and in journals published by the APA (Kidd, 2002) show slow progress in dissemination of qualitative findings through conventional research outlets. On the basis of a content analysis of journal editorial statements and interviews with editors from 10 APA journals, Kidd (2002) concluded that one barrier to publication of qualitative work in these highly visible journals is precisely their tradition of equating scientific research with quantitative methods and the consequent perceived and actual ambivalence on the part of editors about the potential contribution to knowledge of qualitative scholarship.…”

Learning to Use Discourse Analysis on a Professional Psychology Training Programme: Accounts of Supervisees and a Supervisor

“…In the same way that qualitative approaches in general have grown more quickly in the UK than in some other countries, discourse analysis (DA) is also more common here (Rennie et al, 2002) with many of the key discourse analysts based at centres like Loughborough University, Manchester Metropolitan University and the Open University. Of all qualitative approaches, DA is probably one of the most complex to learn.…”

Travel Into a Fairy Land: A Critique of Modern Qualitative and Mixed Methods Psychologies

“…This conclusion can be further supported by a contradiction that characterizes the status of qualitative research today. On the one hand, even though still peripheral, the frequency of publishing qualitative studies increases in many fields of science, including counseling research (Berrios and Lucca 2006), general medicine (Yamazaki et al 2009), language teaching (Richards 2009), social research (Gwyther and Possamai-Inesedy 2009), and psychology (Rennie et al 2002). At the same time, however, qualitative research is increasingly rejected as non-scientific by major research-funding agencies in different countries, USA (Denzin and Lincoln 2005a;Lather 2004) and Australia (Gwyther and Possamai-Inesedy 2009) among them.…”