The role of qualitative research

[beginner2011]

Hello! I'm curious to hear a little about where people feel like qualitative research fits into the field of psychology right now.

As an undergraduate I attended a program that was very qualitative heavy (particularly Phenomenological research), and I felt that the research findings were profoundly meaningful and relevant to clinical work. As a research assistant and coordinator on several R01s after graduation I found that there was very little actual qualitative research being done in this area of the field. I've recently been accepted into a quantitative-heavy program starting in the fall, and have been encouraged to pursue my interest in applying qualitative research to the specialty that drew me to graduate school in the first place.

Where do you all feel that qualitative research plays a role in the field right now? How have you seen qualitative research being employed in effective ways?

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[psychology24]

I think this is a great question! I am also a big proponent of qualitative inquiry and find it too often is neglected and marginalized from the "real" research.

Right now, I am part of a new working group on qualitative research at a prestigious hospital. Most recently, we have had seminars/lectures/workshops on conducting and analyzing qualitative research. From what I have heard, there is a big momentum happening especially with the movement towards patient-centered care (this is at least in medicine). Specifically, I have heard NIH grants will soon (if not already) require a qualitative component, and PCORI grants must have a qualitative component as well.

I am sure you will get some responses and feedback that qualitative research has little to no importance in the grand scheme of research because generalizability, etc. However, I really don't believe that's where things are going. I really see things going more into a mixed-methods approach because while we can determine what treatments are effective, the qualitative component will help us understand why these treatments are effective, how can patients use these treatments, and what are some of the barriers that are preventing patients from using them.

 

[Neuropsych2be]

This is really a great question. Qualitative research can be deeply and profoundly informative. My impression is that it is becoming increasingly important. I think one ought not get caught up in an either or dichotomy. Both qualitative and quantitative research can compliment each other. A well designed and executed qualitative study can provide a decade's worth of ideas for quantitative research. Certainly in our sister fields of sociology and especially anthropology, various qualitative methods are used extensively. Indeed, in cultural anthropology, ethnography and participant observation have defined the field. Some psychologists sniff dismissively at these methods but they are perfectly valid.

In psychology, some research questions simply can't be answered using quantitative methods. Even in areas where we can use a quantitative approach, the pertinent question is why and for what purpose? In psychotherapy outcome research, what is more valuable, a series of in depth case descriptions or a statistical study showing that the application of treatment X to population Y produces effect Z with such and such an effect size. Oh you can create a scale to measure a construct, check it for reliability and validity and administer it, but have you truly captured the depth and complexity of the construct?? I think that increasingly we will resolve these questions through the use of mixed methods.

 

[jrscientist]

I agree with both responses mentioned above. The medical community has become more accepting of qualitative research, especially regarding patient-centered care. I currently work for a qualitative researcher in a medical center and she has never had any trouble receiving NIH grants.

I will always support a mixed-methods approach because sometimes it really depends on what you are examining. A new or unique phenomena, almost always, will require a qualitative or ground up approach.

As for psychology and the direction the field is going (i.e., neuroscience), I think we will see it used less. With the recently announced "brain mapping" initiative, I feel the available grants will go towards expensive apparatuses that take a quantitative approach.