Ian Parker Qualitative Psychology Qualitative Psychology “An introduction to the varieties of qualitative research in psychology is long overdue, and Parker's book should with its broad scope, accessible style, and controversial viewpoints on trends of the current qualitative wave, have a wide audience.” Steinar Kvale, Aarhus University, Denmark “This is a wonderful, insightful and necessary book…It takes students through this complex terrain in a clear, readable and yet challenging way.” Bronwyn Davies, University of Western Sydney, Australia “This book makes important contributions to theoretical, political and methodological debates on qualitative and action oriented research.” Bernardo Jiménez-Domínguez, Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico his book is designed as a practical guide for students that is also grounded in the latest developments in theory in psychology. Readers are introduced to Ttheoretical approaches to ethnography, interviewing, narrative, discourse and psychoanalysis, with each chapter on these approaches including worked examples clearly structured around methodological stages. A case is made for new practical procedures that encourage students to question the limits of mainstream psychological research methods. Resource links guide students to theoretical debates and to ways of making these debates relevant to a psychology genuinely concerned with critical reflection and social change. The book includes numerous boxes that clearly outline: Qualitative Key issues in the development, application and assessment of qualitative research methods Current debates and problems with particular qualitative methods taught in psychology Summaries of methodological stages and points to be aware of in the Psychology marking of practical reports in relation to specific methods Coverage of ethical issues, reflexivity and good report writing Ian Parker Qualitative Psychology is essential reading for students of psychology and other Introducing Radical Research related social sciences who want a polemical account that will also serve as a well- balanced and rigorous introduction to current debates in qualitative psychology. Ian Parker is Professor of Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University. He has been teaching qualitative methods for over twenty years and is author of numerous books on innovative research and radical theory, including Qualitative Methods in Psychology (with Banister, Burman, Taylor and Tindall, published by Open University Press in 1994). Cover design Hybert Design • www.hybertdesign.com www.openup.co.uk BL2105 Prelims 26/10/2004 8:24 PM Page i Qualitative Psychology: Introducing Radical Research BL2105 Prelims 26/10/2004 8:24 PM Page ii BL2105 Prelims 26/10/2004 8:24 PM Page iii Qualitative Psychology: Introducing Radical Research Ian Parker Open University Press BL2105 Prelims 26/10/2004 8:24 PM Page iv Open University Press McGraw-Hill Education McGraw-Hill House Shoppenhangers Road Maidenhead, Berkshire England SL6 2QL email: [email protected] world wide web: www.openup.co.uk and Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 1012–2289 USA First published 2005 Copyright © Ian Parker 2005 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited of 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 4LP. A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 335 213499 (pb) 0 335 213502 (hb) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data CIP data has been applied for Typeset by BookEns Ltd, Royston, Herts. Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bell and Bain Ltd, GlasgowMP????G Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall BL2105 Prelims 26/10/2004 8:24 PM Page v Contents List of boxes vii Acknowledgements x Preface xi 1 Groundwork 1 Four resources for the groundwork 2 In and against the discipline 5 The stories and subtexts of individuality 7 Subjects and experts, and the process of discovery 8 Accounting and evaluating in a contested network 10 Further reading 12 2 Ethics 13 Five resources for ethics 14 Anonymity as alibi 16 Transparency as theory 18 Representation as position statement 20 Institutional requirements as ethical frames 22 Further reading 24 3 Reflexivity 25 Three resources for reflexivity 26 Confessions (first person) 28 Positions (second person) 30 Theorizing (third person) 32 Crafting (fourth dimension) 33 Further reading 35 BL2105 Prelims 26/10/2004 8:24 PM Page vi vi QUALITATIVE PSYCHOLOGY: INTRODUCING RADICAL RESEARCH 4 Ethnography 36 Four key ideas in ethnography 37 Degrees of inclusion and separation 40 Micropolitical features of power and space 44 Observing risks to the self in ethnographic research 47 Accounting for oneself in relation to others 49 Further reading 52 5 Interviewing 53 Five key ideas in interview practice 54 Questions with (rapport, narrative and containment) 57 Questions against (ideology, power and resistance) 60 Transcriptions (as thematic anticipations) 64 Groupwork (as qualitatively different) 67 Further reading 70 6 Narrative 71 Five key ideas in narrative analysis 72 Shaping limited narratives 75 Biography and identity 78 Narrative truth in context 82 Reproduction and transformation 84 Further reading 87 7 Discourse 88 Four key ideas in discourse analysis 89 Discourse-analytic reading 92 Discourse-analytic interviewing 94 Thematic analysis and discourse analysis 99 Semiotic patterns in myth 101 Further reading 104 8 Psychoanalysis 105 Four key ideas in psychoanalytic research 106 Noticing and characterizing pathological differences 109 From defence mechanisms to discursive complexes 113 Consciousness, conversation and repression 117 Social representations of psychoanalysis 119 Further reading 122 BL2105 Prelims 26/10/2004 8:24 PM Page vii CONTENTS vii 9 Action research 123 Four key issues in action research 124 Empowerment – pedagogy of the oppressed 125 Radical psychology – application and intervention 127 Participation – recruitment and transformation 129 Politics – academic frames and their outside 130 Further reading 133 10 Criteria 134 Four key issues in the formulation of criteria 135 Paradigmatic framing – options and exclusions 136 Conceptual resources – handled with care 138 Guidelines – the rules and the exceptions 140 Psychological questions – including questioning psychology 142 Further reading 145 11 Reporting 146 Four key issues in writing reports 147 Accounting (with the audience in mind) 149 Writing (so the audience can read and respond) 151 From the same (old things that comfort and limit) 154 To the other (new questions that disturb and change) 155 Further reading 157 References 159 Index 175 BL2105 Prelims 26/10/2004 8:24 PM Page viii List of boxes Box 1.1 A problematic starting point: psychology 6 Box 1.2 Contexts for studying ‘psychology’ 7 Box 1.3 For and against ‘quantitative research’ 9 Box 1.4 The next steps: five methodological routes to radical research 11 Box 2.1 A problematic starting point: the ethics committee 18 Box 2.2 Contexts for specifying ‘ethics’ 19 Box 2.3 For and against good behaviour 21 Box 2.4 The next steps: five methodological routes to ethical research 22 Box 3.1 A problematic starting point: the self 29 Box 3.2 Contexts for describing where you are and what you can do 31 Box 3.3 For and against knowing your ‘standpoint’ 33 Box 3.4 The next steps: five methodological routes to reflexive research 34 Box 4.1 Beware community psychology 39 Box 4.2 Stage by stage to ethnography 46 Box 4.3 Marking out the pitfalls in ethnographic research 48 Box 4.4 Theoretical resource link to anti-colonialism 50 Box 5.1 Beware grounded theory 56 Box 5.2 Stage by stage to an interview 64 Box 5.3 Marking out the pitfalls in interview research 66 Box 5.4 Theoretical resource link to carnival 68 Box 6.1 Beware interpretative phenomenological analysis 74 Box 6.2 Stage by stage to narrative 81 Box 6.3 Marking out pitfalls in narrative research 83 Box 6.4 Theoretical resource link to queering identity 85 BL2105 Prelims 26/10/2004 8:24 PM Page ix LIST OF BOXES ix Box 7.1 Beware conversation analysis 91 Box 7.2 Stage by stage to discourse 97 Box 7.3 Marking out pitfalls in discourse research 100 Box 7.4 Theoretical resource link to rhetorical forms of myth 102 Box 8.1 Beware the free-association narrative interview 108 Box 8.2 Stage by stage to psychoanalytic research 116 Box 8.3 Marking out pitfalls in psychoanalytic research 118 Box 8.4 Theoretical resource link to Lacanian psychoanalysis 120 Box 9.1 Where are we now with empowerment? 126 Box 9.2 Open questions about psychology and liberation 128 Box 9.3 Explicating the parameters of action research 129 Box 9.4 Don’t stop there! Beyond action research 131 Box 10.1 Where are we now with science? 137 Box 10.2 Open questions about quality 140 Box 10.3 Explicating the parameters of criteria 141 Box 10.4 Don’t stop there! Beyond criteria 144 Box 11.1 Where are we now with accessibility? 150 Box 11.2 Open questions about creative writing 153 Box 11.3 Explicating the parameters for a good report 155 Box 11.4 Don’t stop there! Beyond the report 157 BL2105 Prelims 26/10/2004 8:24 PM Page x Acknowledgements One of the many fictions perpetrated in this book is that one single author could ever really be responsible for what lies within it. My name is on the cover, but I could not have written all this without the help of Mark Barratt, Alex Bridger, Erica Burman, Rose Capdevila, Khatidja Chantler, Gill Craig, Michele Crossley, Babak Fozooni, Thekla Giakeimi, Eugenie Georgaca, Brendan Gough, David Harper, Daniel Heggs, Derek Hook, Carolyn Kagan, Rebecca Lawthom, Sue Lewis, Ken McLaughlin, Tom Phillips, David Putwain, Judith Sixsmith, Carol Tindall, Justin Vaughan, Katherine Watson, Christian Yavorsky and Alexandra Zavos.