Essentials of Descriptive-Interpretive Qualitative Research: A Generic Approach

by Robert Kingwill Elliott, Jr., Ladislav Timulak 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.

This book offers a no-nonsense, step-by-step approach to qualitative research in psychology and related fields, presenting principles for using a generic approach to descriptive-interpretive qualitative research. Based on more than 50 years of combined experience doing qualitative research on psychotherapy, the authors offer an overarching framework of best research practices common to a wide range of approaches.
 

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:	9781433833717
Publisher:	American Psychological Association
Publication date:	01/05/2021
Series:	Essentials of Qualitative Methods Series
Pages:	100
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Robert Elliott, PhD, is Professor of Counselling at the University of Strathclyde. He received his doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and is professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Toledo (Ohio). He has spent most of his career as a psychotherapy researcher trying out and inventing different research methods. He is co-author of Facilitating Emotional Change (1993), Learning Process-Experiential Psychotherapy (2004), Research Methods in Clinical Psychology (3rd ed., 2015), as well as more than 170 journal articles and book chapters. He is past president of the Society for Psychotherapy Research and previously co-edited the journals Psychotherapy Research and Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies.   

Ladislav Timulak, PhD, is an Associate Professor at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He is Course Director of the Doctorate in Counselling Psychology course. Ladislav (or Laco for short; read Latso) is involved in the training of counselling psychologists and various psychotherapy trainings in Ireland and internationally. Laco is both an academic and a practitioner. He is interested in research methodology and psychotherapy research, particularly the development of emotion-focused therapy. He has written six books, over 80 peer-reviewed papers, and various chapters in both his native language, Slovak, and in English. He serves on various editorial boards and in the past served as a co-editor of Counselling Psychology Quarterly.
 

Table of Contents

Series Foreword Clara E. Hill Sarah Knox vii

1 Why a Generic Approach to Descriptive-Interpretive Qualitative Research? 3

Qualitative Research as a Descriptive-Interpretive Process 4

Origins of This Approach to Qualitative Research 5

Qualitative Research and the Brand Names Problem 7

What Lies Outside the Descriptive-Interpretive Genre of Qualitative Research? 10

Psychotherapy and Psychotherapy Research as Context for Our Approach 11

Philosophical and Epistemological Background 12

A Few Key Pointers for Readers 14

2 Designing the Study 15

Defining the Research Problem and Questions 16

The Research Team 18

Getting Your Head Around Preunderstandings and Bias 19

Choosing Data Collection Procedures 21

Anticipating and Addressing Ethical Issues 27

Building in Integrity Checks 29

Summary of Key Points 30

3 Collecting the Data 31

Developing the Organizing Conceptual Framework for the Research ("Domains") 31

Piloting the Data Collection Protocol 35

Sampling, Selecting, and Recruiting Participants 35

The Research Alliance 38

Data Collection as Continuous Analysis 39

Summary of Key Points 40

4 A Framework of Key Modes of Qualitative Data Analysis 41

Pre-Analysis Activities 42

Understanding and Translating Modes of Analysis 48

Categorizing: Creating and Working With Categories 55

Integrating the Findings 64

Summary of Key Points: Qualitative Research "Secrets" 64

5 Writing the Manuscript 69

Introduction 70

Method 71

Results 72

Discussion 73

Key Points and Examples of Generic Descriptive-Interpretive Qualitative Research Studies 74

6 Methodological Integrity 75

7 Summary and Conclusions 81

Main Strengths of GDI-QR 81

Limitations of GDI-QR 83

In Parting: Hard-Won Lessons 84

Appendix: Exemplar Studies 87

References 89

Index 99

About the Authors 105

About the Series Editors 107