HIGHLIGHT #2 | 54
HIGHLIGHT | #2
Title
Qualitative Psychology Forum:
Supporting Qualitative Research in
Psychology
Author(s)
Jenny Taylor
Alexandra Kent
Contact
[email protected][email protected]
School
School of Psychology
Faculty
Faculty of Natural Sciences
Abstract
The School of Psychology launched
their first ever qualitative research
group last year – the Qualitative
Psychology Forum. The main aim of
the forum is to provide support for
both psychology staff and students (of
all levels) who are interested in and/
or conducting qualitative research,
theoretically drawing upon social
learning theory and the idea of a
shared ‘community of practice.’ Since
its inception, the forum has been
holding monthly meetings consisting of
an exciting and diverse mix of events.
So far, events have included workshops
(including a thematic analysis and a
‘future creating’ workshop), discussion
groups, and research presentations.
The forum continues to thrive with
another full programme of events
planned.
Keywords
Qualitative, Psychology, Support,
Community
HIGHLIGHT #2 | 55
QUALITATIVE PSYCHOLOGY FORUM: SUPPORTING QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN
PSYCHOLOGY
In January 2015, the School of Psychology were delighted to
launch our qualitative research group – the Qualitative Psychology
Forum (QPF). The primary aim of this forum is to support
psychology members of staff and students who are interested in
and/or conducting qualitative research. By including both staff
and students (this includes our undergraduate students (UG),
MSc, and PhD); the secondary aim of the forum is to bring all
those with an interest in qualitative research together to share
ideas and interests related to our research to help everyone
improve and extend their skills.
The idea for the forum came from Dr Alexandra Kent, a
psychology lecturer, who suggested the benefits of having a
friendly, informal support network for qualitative researchers to
touch base, and engage with qualitative specific issues. The
QPF draws theoretical inspiration from social learning theory,
in particular the concept of a ‘community of practice’ in which
learning is viewed, not as the property of an individual mind
but as a relational and cultural construction created through
interaction with more knowledgeable others (Lave and Wenger,
1991; Hoadley, 2012).
Conducting qualitative research can, at times, be a lonely
experience, with lengthy data collection, transcription, and timeconsuming analyses being common practice. For qualitative
psychologists in particular, we are often a fragmented and
minority group within the larger, still predominantly quantitative
discipline. By creating a platform for qualitative research
practice to be discussed, shared, critiqued and modelled by
active researchers we have the potential to help all members
build their skills, but also value their membership of the group
and their identity as qualitative psychologists.
The community of practice approach to learning requires
learners to a) have access to experts and b) aspire to or
already consider themselves members of a group to which the
expert practices are central. “Through legitimate peripheral
participation, learners enter a community and gradually take
up more and more of the identity of group membership and
centrality and more and more of the central practices of the
group” (Hoadley, 2012, p291). In this respect the QPF represents
a deliberate attempt to create a ‘knowledge building community’
focused on all forms of qualitative inquiry (Hoadley and Kilner,
2005).
We want to use the QPF as a vehicle for enculturation into a
community of qualitative psychologists where everyone’s
emphasis is on learning and developing their research skills. The
QPF is designed for all researchers (UG, MSc, PhD students and
staff of all levels and experience). Novice researchers (e.g., UG
students) or any one unfamiliar with a particular methodological
approach (e.g., conversation analysis) can attend events and learn
from and contribute more as they gain in confidence or experience.
The forum’s meetings and activities are co-ordinated by Jenny
Taylor – a Teaching Fellow in Psychology who has recently
submitted her qualitative PhD thesis. Since its inception, the forum
has been holding monthly meetings consisting of an exciting mix of
events. The events are organised and led/facilitated by members of
the forum, which currently consists of psychology and counselling
members of staff and PhD students. So far, these have included
workshops, discussion groups, and research presentations.
Our first event was a World Café Style Thematic Analysis Workshop,
which was met with great success. Over 30 people attended
(including staff, and students of all levels), who enjoyed learning
about how to conduct a thematic analysis in a fun world café style
format, an engaging and commonly used action research method.
The attendees worked collaboratively conducting a thematic
analysis, which is a very widely used, foundational qualitative
analytic method (Braun and Clarke, 2006). In terms of the world
café format, for each stage of the analysis (following the guidelines
outlined by Braun and Clarke, 2006), attendees worked with
different people, which enabled them to discuss and share their
thoughts on the analysis as it developed. Instructions and guidance
for the different analytic stages were printed on menu cards, and
refreshments were provided on each table. Feedback after the event
was overwhelmingly positive, and those who attended commented
on how they enjoyed learning how to conduct a thematic analysis,
as well as engaging with an innovative action research method.
Other events have included a ‘Future Creating’ Action Research
Workshop, which gave attendees a fascinating introduction to this
innovative participatory research method. Developed by Jungk,
Lutz and Muellert in the 1970s (Muellert and Jungk, 1987), in essence,
the aim of this type of workshop is to engage a group of people in
developing ideas and even solutions relating to an identified topic.
All future creating workshops involve three key stages: critique,
utopian/fantasy, and a final actualisation/implementation stage,
whereby realistic solutions to the identified problem are noted and
discussed. The event was a success in introducing attendees to the
theory behind the workshop and also in providing a taster as to
what it would actually be like taking part in such an event. As a
result of its success, and the positive feedback from attendees, the
workshop ran again, on a larger scale. It focused on the topic of
qualitative research in Psychology at Keele, and generated useful
insights that we have been able to feed back to the school.