Week 1 - Context of qualitative research

Who established the first psychology lab and is considered the 'founding father' of experimental psychology?

Wilhelm Wundt established the first psychology lab in Leipzig in 1879.

What is the focus of Lawrence Kohlberg's research?

Moral development using qualitative methods.

Briefly outline Lawrence’s study on moral development

• Used Piaget's storytelling technique.

• 72 Chicago boys aged 10-16 

• 58/72 were followed up a 3-yearly intervals for 20 years (1984) 

• Each boy given a 2-hour interview based on the 10 dilemmas 

• Kohlberg interested in whether the boys judged the action right or wrong 

What was the Heinz dilemma used in Kohlberg's research?

Should Heinz steal a drug to save his dying wife?

What concepts did Abraham Maslow propose?

• Self-actualisation: achieving one’s full potential 

• Hesitated to publish his work as he viewed it as personal inquiry rather than scientific 

What method did John Flanaghan devise for qualitative research?

Critical Incident Technique (CIT).

• CIT: research method that relies on set of procedures to collect, analyse and classify observations of human behaviour 

• Collection and inductive analysis 

• Obtained from groups/individuals through written means/interviews

• Ask them to describe exact situations they remember well 

What significant development in qualitative research occurred from the late 1960s to 1980s?

The rise of qualitative methods among sociologists.

What is the main premise of Grounded Theory as proposed by Glaser and Strauss?

Theory is developed inductively from the data itself, rather than starting with a pre-existing hypothesis 

Who is known for contributions to phenomenology and humanistic psychology?

Amedeo P. Giorgi.

What qualitative method did Potter and Wetherell develop?

Discourse analysis.

What is narrative inquiry as advanced by Polkinghorne?

A qualitative method focusing on personal stories and experiences.

What is meta-synthesis in qualitative research?

Combining qualitative data and interpretations from different studies to inform practice and theory.

What significant change occurred in 2003 regarding qualitative research in the UK?

Qualitative Research in Psychology was established by the British Psychological Society (BPS).

What is the focus of ontology in research?

The study of reality or being.

What does epistemology study?

The study of knowledge and how we know what we know.

What is the difference between objectivism and interpretivism?

Objectivism seeks stable laws independent of consciousness - reality exists independently of people’s thoughts and interpretations

Interpretivism emphasises subjective meaning generated through human interactions - reality is constructed through human interaction

What is constructivism in the context of qualitative research?

The belief that meaning is constructed through the subject's interaction with the world.

What is positivism in qualitative research?

Reality consists of what is available to the senses, inquiry should be based on scientific observation, objective, dominant approach, reality consists of what is available to the sense 

What are the characteristics of qualitative research?

Analysis of words and images, preference for naturally occurring data, and inductive hypothesis-generating research.

What type of sampling is preferred in qualitative research?

Purposive sampling.

What is the key focus of phenomenology in research?

Understanding social reality through people's subjective experiences.

What is ethnography in qualitative research?

A qualitative approach that seeks to understand cultural perspectives through observation.

How does positivism critique the scientific method?

• Set of beliefs about how legitimate knowledge about the world may be required 

• Quantitative research involves designs with little or no contact with people or field settings 

• Quantitative research excludes ‘outliers’ 

• New theories difficult to be generated when always testing someone else’s 

• > Difficult concepts e.g. criminality or intelligence are treated unproblematically