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 Jimenez-Dominguez, Universidad de Guadalajara, Mexico “For me personally, the book worked very well, I very much appreciated the fact that the book went beyond a presentation of ‘the state of the art’, and that it offered new ideas and suggestions about how to take qualitative research further.” Qualitative Research in Psychology This 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 theoretical 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: 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 marking of practical reports in relation to specific methods Coverage of ethical issues, reflexivity and good report writing Qualitative Psychology is essential reading for students of psychology and other 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.

Author Biography

Ian C. Parker received his B.A. (Hons.) in economics and English from the University of Manitoba in 1966, and completed a Masters program in economics and in English at the University of Toronto in 1968. As a volunteer with Canadian University Service Overseas (CUSO), he then worked for three years as an economist with the National Development Corporation of Tanzania. He subsequently received his doctorate in economics from Yale University. Since 1975, he has taught at the University of Toronto. He has conducted economic research in East and West Africa and in Europe, and has served as an economic consultant in the area of media economics. His principal current research preoccupations include the economics of the Internet, the contributions of Keynes’s theory of probability to the economics of information and uncertainty, and the theoretical and practical implications of fixed capital for the economics of communications systems.