Qualitative Psychology: Introducing Radical Research

by Ian Parker

Why is qualitative research the most radical research in psychology today? How can research be directly linked to social change? What is the role of theory in the development of reflexive action research? This book is designed as a practical guide for the student that is also grounded in the latest developments in theory in psychology. interviewing, narrative, discourse and psychoanalysis, and the substantive chapters on these methodological approaches include worked-through examples clearly structured around methodological stages. A case is made for new practical procedures that bring the student up to the limits of mainstream psychological research methods, and then take them beyond those limits. Resource links guide the student to theoretical debates and to ways of making these debates relevant to a psychology genuinely concerned with critical reflection and social change. Interwoven with the lucid description of conceptual issues and methodological frameworks are 44 boxes which outline key issues in the development, application and assessment of qualitative research methods. qualitative methods taught in psychology today. There are summaries of methodological stages and points to be aware of in the marking of practical reports in relation to specific methods. There also boxes that include coverage, in an accessible point-by-point format, of the context for different kinds of psychology, for ethics and reflexivity, and boxes that explain the parameters for criteria and good report writing.

Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Ian Parker is a British psychologist who has been a principal exponent of three quite diverse critical traditions inside the discipline. His writing has provided compass points for researchers searching for alternatives to ‘mainstream’ psychology in the English-speaking world (that is, mainstream psychology that is based on laboratory-experimental studies that reduce behavior to individual mental processes).

The three critical traditions Parker has promoted are ‘discursive analysis’, ‘Marxist psychology’ and ‘psychoanalysis’. Each of these traditions is adapted by him to encourage an attention to ideology and power, and this modification has given rise to fierce debates, not only from mainstream psychologists but also from other ‘critical psychologists’. Parker moves in his writing from one focus to another, and it seems as if he is not content with any particular tradition of research, using each of the different critical traditions to throw the others into question.