Essentials of Consensual Qualitative Research

by Clara E. Hill, Sarah Knox PhD

Overview

The brief, practical texts in the Essentials of Qualitative Methods series introduce social science and psychology researchers to key approaches to capturing phenomena not easily measured quantitatively, offering exciting, nimble opportunities to gather in-depth qualitative data.
 
In this volume, Clara E. Hill and Sarah Knox describe consensual qualitative research (CQR), an inductive method characterized by open-ended interview questions, small samples, a reliance on words over numbers, the importance of context, an integration of multiple viewpoints (for example, the consensus of the research team and auditors), and a high emphasis on rigor and replicability.  
 
CQR is especially well suited to research that requires rich descriptions of inner experiences, attitudes, and convictions, and is therefore widely used by psychotherapy researchers. 
 
About the Essentials of Qualitative Methods book series: Even for experienced researchers, selecting and correctly applying the right method can be challenging. In this groundbreaking series, leading experts in qualitative methods provide clear, crisp, and comprehensive descriptions of their approach, including its methodological integrity, and its benefits and limitations. Each book includes numerous examples to enable readers to quickly and thoroughly grasp how to leverage these valuable methods. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781433833458
Publisher:	American Psychological Association
Publication date:	01/05/2021
Series:	Essentials of Qualitative Methods Series
Pages:	104
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Clara E. Hill, PhD, is professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park. She has been the president of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, the editor of the Journal of Counseling Psychology, and the editor of Psychotherapy Research. Her major research interests are helping skills, psychotherapy process and outcome, training therapists, dream work, and qualitative research. She has published more than 170 journal articles, 40 chapters in books, and nine books (including Therapist Techniques and Client Outcomes: Eight Cases of Brief Psychotherapy; Helping Skills: Facilitating Exploration, Insight, and Action; and Dream Work in Therapy: Facilitating Exploration, Insight, and Action). 

Sarah Knox, PhD, is a professor of counselor education and counseling psychology at Marquette University. Her research has been published in numerous journals, including The Counseling Psychologist, Counselling Psychology Quarterly, Journal of Counseling Psychology, Psychotherapy, Psychotherapy Research, and Training and Education in Professional Psychology. Her publications focus on the psychotherapy process and relationship, supervision and training, and qualitative research. She is Co-editor-in-chief of Counselling Psychology Quarterly and serves on the Publication Board of Division 29 (Psychotherapy) of the American Psychological Association. Dr. Knox is a Fellow of Division 17 (Counseling Psychology) and Division 29 (Psychotherapy) of the American Psychological Association.  

Table of Contents

Series Foreword Clara E. Hill Sarah Knox vii

1 Conceptual Foundations of Consensual Qualitative Research 3

Situating CQR Within the Qualitative Tradition 4

Philosophical Underpinnings of CQR 5

Rationale for Using CQR 6

Key Features of CQR 7

Conclusions 10

2 Getting Started 11

Selecting the Topic 11

Reviewing the Literature 12

Wnting a Proposal and Constructing Research Questions 12

Identifying the Population 13

Selecting, Training, and Working With the Research Team 14

Auditors 19

Conclusions 20

3 Developing the Interview Protocol 21

Revising, Piloting, and Revising the interview Protocol 23

Number of Interviewers and Interviews 24

Training Interviewers 24

Recording Biases and Expectations 25

Attending to Ethical and Cultural Considerations 26

Conclusions 27

4 Collecting the Data 29

Recruiting the Sample 29

Conducting the Interview 33

Conclusions 37

5 Analyzing Data Within Cases 39

Domains 39

Core Ideas 45

Audit 49

Conclusions 51

6 Analyzing Data Across Cases 53

The Cross-Analysis 53

The Audit 58

Conclusions 62

7 Writing the Manuscript 63

Introduction 63

Method 64

Results 64

Discussion 65

General Considerations 67

Conclusions 67

8 Variations on Consensual Qualitative Research 69

CQR-M 69

CQR for Case Study Research 73

Qualitative Meta-Analyses of CQR Studies 77

Other Possible Modifications to or Extensions of CQR 80

Conclusions 80

9 Conclusions 81

Summary of the Method 81

Comparing CQR With Other Methods 84

Methodological Integrity of CQR 84

Implications for the Future Development of CQR 86

Appendix: Exemplar Studies 87

References 89

Index 97

About the Authors 103