Revision (content from lecture #10)

Question 1

Qualitative Research

Answer 1

Introductory psychology textbooks present psychology as a quantitative discipline
- Quantitative = numbers and lots of them

Qualitative growth spurt 1980’s
- Qualitative = words an in-depth understanding

Question 2

Quantitative Imperative

Answer 2

Science is about quantification 
Physics as the model to follow 
Psychology’s “physics envy’
- Statistical methods 
--> Funding
- Objectivity 
- The ‘received view’ of what science is.

Question 3

The received view of science

Answer 3

Objects in the natural world are objective and real, and they enjoy an existence independent of human beings.
- It follows from this that scientific knowledge is determined bu the actual character of the physical world.

Science comprises ka unitary set of methods and procedures

Science is an activity that is individualistic and mentalistic (cognitive)

Question 4

Logical Positivism

Answer 4

Dominant view in the philosophy of science
Scientific knowledge
- Comes from on’s direct observations
- Is based on sensory experience
- Is based on application of tight logical reasoning

Science is a cumulative process

Sciences are reducible ultimately to a single science of the real world (reductionist view)

Science is the independent of the investigator

Question 5

Postmodernism

Answer 5

Defined by an attitude of scepticism, or distrust in theories

Critices universalist notions of objective reality, morality, truth human nature, reason, language and social progress

Question 6

Social constructionism

Answer 6

Knowledge sustained by social processes

Historical and with cultural specificity of language

Reject mainstream psychology view that we can observe the world objectively

Knowledge and social action are integrated

Realism- relativism

Agency determinism

Question 7

Knowledge sustained by social processes

Answer 7

Social constructionists argue that knowledge is constructed by people through their interactions.

Question 8

Historical and with cultural specificity of language

Answer 8

The way we think about any aspect of the world will vary in different cultures and in the same culture at different time periods

Question 9

Reject mainstream psychology view that we can observe the world objectively

Answer 9

The ways in which people perceive the world do not correspond to reality

Question 10

Knowledge and social action are integrated

Answer 10

The different constructions that we have about the world each have their implications for different sorts of social action

Question 11

Realism- relativism

Answer 11

Quantitative assumption there is a physical reality which can be assessed through research

Social constructionist view- there are a multitude of different perspectives or views on reality, none of which corresponds to reality

Question 12

Agency determinism

Answer 12

Quantitative Assumption- human behaviour is determined by external forces

Question 13

Qualitative Approach:

Answer 13

Rejects the logical positivist view
Relies on linguistic data
- Language may be the window onto reality but does not represent reality

Critical realism- regardless of whether there is a truly real world, our knowledge of it can only be approximate and there can be many versions of reality
Interested in people real life experiences
Verisimilitude ‘similarity to the truth’
Caring ethic

Question 14

Personal construct theory

Answer 14

Method: Repertory grid
“What makes a good lecturer?”
– Identify three lecturers
– Differentiate between the three lecturers by saying which two are similar (and how) and which one is different (and how)
Statements are bipolar
“Lecturer A explains things clearly, whereas B and C are hard to follow”

Question 15

Grounded theory

Answer 15

Discovery of emerging patterns in data
Generate theories from data
– Inductive reasoning
– A theory which is grounded in data

Provides guidelines for collecting and analysing data
Some researchers avoid literature reviews
Concurrent data collection and data analysis

1. Question formulating
2. Theoretical sampling
3. Interview transcribing
4. Data chunking and data naming
5. Developing conceptual categories
6. Constant comparison
7. Analytical memoing
8. Growing theories

Question 16

Can we de- contextualize the person?

Answer 16

Mainstream psychology methods are prone to a decontextualized understanding of the person with little attention paid to culture and context

Question 17

Mainstream psychology

Answer 17

Assumes that everyone shares fundamental cognitive and affective processes
–Findings from one population can be generalised to another
–Strong indications that this is not true
–Strong variability between human populations

Question 18

“WEIRD” people

Answer 18

Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, and Democratic

1. University undergraduates are the most studied population in the world
2. They come from WEIRD countries
3. They are not representative of all cultures
4. But generalisations are made based on results from students from WEIRD populations
5. But, most people are not “WEIRD” but are from the “majority world”

Question 19

Cultural psychology

Answer 19

• An approach to the study of culture that emphasises the interrelatedness of persons and their specific contexts
• Requires culturally appropriate research methods and makes no assumption that results will be cumulative or will lead to the identification of causal relationships

Question 20

Indigenous psychology

Answer 20

An approach whose goal is to achieve an understanding of a particular national or cultural group, using concepts that are developed locally rather than drawing on those provided by mainstream psychology