The Rise of Qualitative Research in Psychology
DAVIDL. RENNIE
KIMBERLYD. WATSON
ALTHEAM. MONTEIRO
York University
Abstract
A study is presented on the rise of qualitative research in
psychology over the 20th centup/. The incidence of qualitative research as indicated by several search terms (i.e.,
"qualitative research," "grounded theop/," "discourse
analy*," "empirical phenomenological," and "phenomenological psychology") was traced through the PsycINFOand
Dissertation Abstractsh~terr~atior~aldatabases. Itwas found
that, with the exception of the search terms having m do
with phenomenology, records containing these search
terms were basically non-existent until the 1980s, when
there was a sharp rise that intensified in the 1990s. The
PsycINFOrecords were sorted according m (1) whether
they came from psychology or other social and health science disciplines; (2) region of origin; (3) the types of document m which they referred; and (4) whether they
focused on the methodology or the application of qualitative research. A number of interesting differences
emerged from this comparative analysis. Implications of
the findings for the supposition that a paradigm shift may
be underway are discussed.
T h e t e r m "qualitative r e s e a r c h " refers to a variety o f
a p p r o a c h e s to e n q u i r y in t h e h e a l t h a n d social sciences that a d d r e s s the m e a n i n g o f verbal text in verbal
r a t h e r t h a n n u m e r i c a l terms. M o r e f u n d a m e n t a l l y ,
qualitative r e s e a r c h is m o r e subjective than quantitative r e s e a r c h ; m o r e e x p l o r a t o r y t h a n c o n f i r m a t o r y ;
m o r e descriptive t h a n explanatory; m o r e i n t e r p r e t i v e
t h a n positivist (see D e n z i n & Lincoln, 1994). Thus, in
m a n y ways qualitative r e s e a r c h cuts across the grain of
a c c u s t o m e d r e s e a r c h p r a c t i c e . Accordingly, t h e r e is
r e s i s t a n c e to a c c e p t i n g i t i n m a n y q u a r t e r s .
Nevertheless, a p a t h has b e e n c l e a r e d for it in p a r t by
the postmodern critique of the modern quest for
objective k n o w l e d g e . M o r e f u n d a m e n t a l l y , p e r h a p s ,
Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne, 43:3
the a p p e a l of qualitative r e s e a r c h is so g r e a t for some
investigators that they a r e e n g a g i n g in it d e s p i t e the
resistance to it (McMullen, 2002; S t o p p a r d , 2002).
T h e r e seems to have b e e n an u p t a k e o f qualitative
r e s e a r c h in psychology in r e c e n t years. It also seems
that n o o n e has e x a m i n e d the e x t e n t o f this u p t a k e . A
number of questions are of interest: When did the
t u r n to qualitative r e s e a r c h in p s y c h o l o g y b e g i n a n d
how has its growth d e v e l o p e d ? W h a t kinds of publications constitute the resulting literature? Are there
r e g i o n a l differences in the use of qualitative research?
H o w m u c h e m p h a s i s has b e e n p l a c e d on qualitative
r e s e a r c h m e t h o d o l o g y as o p p o s e d to its a p p l i c a t i o n ?
It a p p e a r e d to us that the answers to questions like
t h e s e w o u l d have a b e a r i n g on t h e m o s t i n t e r e s t i n g
q u e s t i o n o f all: W h a t is to b e m a d e o f t h e arrival o f
qualitative r e s e a r c h on the scene in terms of the pred o m i n a n c e o f t h e n a t u r a l s c i e n c e a p p r o a c h to
enquiry? Is its p r e s e n c e now large e n o u g h that it can
b e c o n s i d e r e d a m a j o r m o v e m e n t - the e m e r g e n c e o f
a n a l t e r n a t i v e " p a r a d i g m , " as K u h n ( 1 9 7 0 ; cf.
M c M u l l e n , 2002; O ' N e i l l , 2002) m i g h t p u t it? O r
alternatively, is it the case that, u n d e r close scrutiny, it
b e c o m e s e v i d e n t t h a t qualitative r e s e a r c h has yet to
m a k e a significant i m p a c t on the psychology r e s e a r c h
infrastructure?
In an a t t e m p t to a d d r e s s these questions, we decide d to study t h e p s y c h o l o g i c a l l i t e r a t u r e p r o d u c e d in
the 20th century. This decision p r e s e n t e d a n u m b e r
o f difficulties having to d o with c h a n g e s in the use o f
language over that period of time. This problem
could have been addressed through the study of
w h o l e d o c u m e n t s . To d o that w o u l d have necessitated
s a m p l i n g in o r d e r to h a n d l e the v o l u m e o f them, however. T h e alternative was to apply search terms to an
e l e c t r o n i c database. This a p p r o a c h h a d the a p p e a l o f
b e i n g m o r e c o m p r e h e n s i v e . Even h e r e , t h o u g h , such
a study w o u l d b e l i m i t e d by the scope o f the p a r t i c u l a r
d a t a b a s e a n d by t h e p a r t i c u l a r s e a r c h t e r m s u s e d .
Thus, n e i t h e r a p p r o a c h is ideal but, on balance, given
that we wished to d o an e x p l o r a t o r y study, we d e c i d e d
that the latter strategy is the b e t t e r of the two a n d so
t u r n e d to PsyclNFO, p r o d u c e d by t h e A m e r i c a n
Psychological Association (APA).
After applying a number of search terms (see
b e l o w ) to PsydNFO, we e v e n t u a l l y c h o s e five t e r m s
having to do with qualitative r e s e a r c h . O n e was the
180 Rennie, Watson, and Monteiro
blanket term, "'qualitative research." T h e other four
terms pertained to particular m e t h o d s and approaches. T h e first was "grounded theory," referring to the
m e t h o d developed by Glaser and Strauss (1967). T h e
second was p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l psychology represented by the terms " p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l psychology" and
"empirical p h e n o m e n o l o g y " (see, e.g., Fischer, 1998;
Giorgi, 1970). Finally, "discourse analy*" was used to
cover a n u m b e r of approaches related to the analysis
of discourse (see, e.g., Ibanez & Iniquez, 1997; Potter
& Wetherell, 1987). Moreover, once using PsycINFO,
our attention was drawn to its coverage of publications
c o m i n g out of fields other than psychology. Hence,
we traced the a p p e a r a n c e of the terms in records coming out of these other fields to provide a r o u g h comparison between t h e m and psychology. Finally, u p o n
the discovery that the database incompletely
addressed dissertation abstracts, we applied the search
t e r m s to a s e c o n d d a t a b a s e , Dissertation Abstracts
Interr~ational, to get a b e t t e r sense o f the u p t a k e o f
qualitative research by graduate students. We did n o t
isolate psychology dissertations in this large search,
however.
As will b e s e e n , t h e s t u d y i n d i c a t e d t h a t t h e
i n c r e a s e in p u b l i c a t i o n s e n t a i l i n g several o f these
s e a r c h t e r m s h a s b e e n d r a m a t i c in t h e last two
decades. It also revealed interesting variations in the
use of different a p p r o a c h e s to qualitative research,
a m o n g the disciplines and regions that we studied.
Method
1. PsyclNFO
In what follows, the term "record" refers to depiction
in PsyclNFO and Dissertation Abstracts [rtterrtational (DAI)
of publications and dissertations. This depiction typically consists of the item's title, author(s), affiliation of
the first author (but see below), source, date of publication/dissertation, abstract and major descriptors or
key words. In the case of PsycINFO, records containing the search terms were scrutinized to determine if
they in fact were pertinent to the search terms as we
u n d e r s t o o d t h e m . T h e r e c o r d s t h a t survived this
weeding are referred to as "hits."
T h e searches were c o n d u c t e d with the "word anywhere" option, which scanned across all fields in the
database. T h e initial search in PsyclNFO included 16
w o r d p h r a s e s - "qualitative analysis," "qualitative
research," " g r o u n d e d theory, .... g r o u n d e d analysis,"
"phenomenology," "empirical phenomenology,"
"empirical p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l , " " p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l
p s y c h o l o g y , " " d i s c o u r s e a n a l y * , " " d i s c u r s i v e psycholog*," "content analysis," "case study," "hermeneutic," " i n t e r p r e t i v e , " " i n t e r p r e t a n d r e s e a r c h , " a n d
"interpret* a n d analysis." (The use o f the asterisk
p i c k e d up v a r i o u s suffixes o f t h e stern t e r m , thus
"analy*" c a u g h t "analytic," "analytical," a n d "analysis.")
This a p p r o a c h had limitations. T h e r e were terms
we d i d n o t use, s u c h as " e t h n o g r a p h * , " " a c t i o n
research," and "heuristic research." Also, there may
be disciplines such as a n t h r o p o l o g y that customarily
use qualitative research m e t h o d s of various sorts without putting any label on t h e m because, for that discipline, the practice is taken for granted. Furthm; one
o f the terms we c o n s i d e r e d - case study - y i e l d e d
12,190 records where that term was used in a variety
of ways, only some of which seemed to relate to qualitative research. It was our j u d g m e n t that case studies,
a l t h o u g h a r o u n d for a long time, have b e e n considered in mainstream psychology as a source of theory
d e v e l o p m e n t r e q u i r i n g scientific investigation; they
have n o t b e e n g r a n t e d research status in their own
right (see Kvale, 2001). Instead, it has been empirical
phenomenology and grounded theory methodologists, especially, who have led the way in advocating
that these m e t h o d s are legitimate, alternative m e t h o d s
of research in psychology. In our interpretation, this
assertion has b e e n m a d e on the g r o u n d that these
m e t h o d s allow for g e n e r a l i z a t i o n , albeit of limited
scope. Thus, it has only b e e n recently that users of
case studies have m a d e a c o n c e r t e d bid to have this
m o d e o f e n q u i r y c o u n t e d as a l e g i t i m a t e f o r m o f
r e s e a r c h by i n t e g r a t i n g t h e m i n t o t h e qualitative
research family, as in narrative analysis (e.g., McLeod
& Balarnoutsou, 1996; P o l k i n g h o r n e , 1995). It also
h a p p e n s that m u c h of discourse analysis involves case
studies. T h e focus of this a p p r o a c h is often critical
rather than empirical, however. Still, there are many
who are engaged in this type of discourse analysis who
believe that it is a f o r m of qualitative research (see
Reicher, 2000) and so, in using "discourse analy*" as a
s e a r c h term, we d e c i d e d to go with this tide. O n
a n o t h e r front, an effort is b e i n g m a d e by d e c l a r e d
qualitative research methodologists to derive generalizations f r o m case studies, as in ideal type analysis
(e.g., F r o m m e r & L a n g e n b a c h , 2 0 0 1 ; S t u h r &
Wachholz, 2001). Overall, then, it was our j u d g m e n t
that the case study is being integrated into qualitative
research m o r e than being considered formative of it.
It was thus our opinion that the term "case study" is
n o t as i m p o r t a n t an indicator of qualitative research
as are the search terms we finally decided on, which
were "qualitative research," "grounded theory,"
"empirical p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l , " " p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l
psychology," and "discourse analy*."
T h e searches were c o n d u c t e d by d e c a d e , f i o m
1900 to 1999. We also obtained the total n u m b e r of
records in PsycINFO per decade, so that we could c o r n -
Rise o f Qualitative R e s e a r c h in Psychology 181
pare the growth of records containing the search
terms to the growth of r e c o r d s as a whole. A total o f
3,262 r e c o r d s were p r o d u c e d by the search terms for
the p e r i o d f r o m 1900-1999 (see Table 3). We p r i n t e d
t h e s e r e c o r d s a n d s t u d i e d t h e a b s t r a c t s t h e r e i n , in
t e a m s o f two a n d s o m e t i m e s t h r e e , in d e c i d i n g
w h e t h e r or n o t to d e c l a r e the r e c o r d a hit. As will b e
seen, a residual o f 2,467 hits r e s u l t e d f r o m this weeding (see Table 1).
Judgments of what constituted a hit. In c o n d u c t i n g t h e
s e a r c h , we h a d to d e v e l o p a w o r k i n g d e f i n i t i o n o f
e a c h t e r m . F o r "qualitative r e s e a r c h , " we i n c l u d e d
any r e s e a r c h that e n t a i l e d as] i n t e r p r e t i v e r e p r e s e n t a tion o f m e a n i n g s e m e r g i n g f r o m analysis o f text a n d
was e x p r e s s e d p r i m a r i l y in n o n n u m e r i c a l l a n g u a g e .
Thus, we e x c l u d e d c o n t e n t analysis involving a p r i o r i
categories a n d / o r the cursory use o f qualitative d a t a
(i.e., verbal text) in quantitative studies. T h e use o f
" g r o u n d e d theory" was g o v e r n e d by evidence that the
t e r m a p p l i e d to this m e t h o d as a f o r m o f qualitative
research, as o p p o s e d to any o t h e r use o f the term, as
in, say, a t h e o r y t h a t is g r o u n d e d w i t h o u t any refere n c e to the m e t h o d . T h e features of the m e t h o d that
we l o o k e d for were c a t e g o r i z a t i o n as a f o r m of r e p r e s e n t a t i o n o f m e a n i n g o f text; c o n s t a n t c o m p a r a t i v e
analysis; t h e o r e t i c a l m e m o i n g ; a n d t h e o r e t i c a l sampling. W i t h r e g a r d to "empirical p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l , "
we drew on Fischer's (1998) d e p i c t i o n o f this m e t h o d
as i n v o l v i n g t h e c o n c e p t u a l i z a t i o n o f s t r u c t u r e s o f
e x p e r i e n c e a n d c o n d u c t d e s c r i b e d in p s y c h o l o g i c a l
language.
T h e o t h e r two t e r m s w e r e c o m p a r a t i v e l y m o r e
p r o b l e m a t i c , especially "discourse analy*." We f o u n d
that in PsycINFO this stem a p p l i e d b o t h to qualitative
a n d q u a n t i t a t i v e analysis o f d i s c o u r s e . M o r e o v e r , a
n u m b e r o f r e c o r d s having to do with psychoanalysis
were called "discourse analysis" (e.g., when the
a n a l y s a n d ' s d i s c o u r s e was r e f e r r e d to in t h e r e c o r d )
w h e n t h e r e c o r d simply r e f e r r e d to discourse r a t h e r
that] d e p i c t i n g w h a t a p p e a r e d to be as] actual analysis
of it. We j u d g e d that this use of the t e r m e x t e n d e d it
beyond the range of the broadest definition of
"research," w h e t h e r qualitative or quantitative. Thus,
we f o u n d that we h a d to refer to the l i t e r a t u r e on disc o u r s e analysis r e p e a t e d l y in o u r d e v e l o p m e n t o f a
w o r k i n g d e f i n i t i o n ( t h e e d i t e d b o o k by I b a n e z &
I n i g u e z , 1997, p r o v e d to b e e s p e c i a l l y h e l p f u l ) .
A c c o r d i n g to this d e f i n i t i o n , q u a l i t a t i v e d i s c o u r s e
analysis is the n o n q u a n t i t a t i v e analysis of units of text
larger that] a s e n t e n c e w h e r e the e m p h a s i s is on the
discourse itself. It is n o t on the discourse as a r e p r e sentation o f m e a n i n g i n t e r p r e t e d to have b e e n experie n c e d by the a u t h o r of the text, as is the focus in, say,
empirical phenomenology and the grounded theory
m e t h o d . Instead, it is d i r e c t e d m o r e to the analysis of
political, cultural, a n d social m e a n i n g s evident in the
text irrespective o f the i n n e r e x p e r i e n c e o f its author.
N e v e r t h e l e s s , we i n c l u d e d as a h i t f o r " d i s c o u r s e
analy*" m e t h o d s that strictly speaking were o t h e r that]
discourse analysis b u t which were l a b e l e d as discourse
analysis by the PsycINFO c o m p i l e r s - m e t h o d s such as
narrative analysis, conversation analysis, ethn o m e t h o d o l o g y , a n d pragmatics. (On the o t h e r side
o f the coin, o f course, b e c a u s e we d i d n o t search the
last four m e t h o d s as such, we w o u l d have missed those
for which "discourse analy*" was n o t m e n t i o n e d in the
records.)
We also h a d difficulty with the t e r m " p h e n o m e n o logical psychology," finding many records that had
m o r e to do with the p h i l o s o p h y o f m i n d t h a n with psychology. It is possible that this d e v e l o p m e n t derived
f r o m Husserl's (1977/1925) lectures on p h e n o m e n o logical psychology. This work was Husserl's a t t e m p t to
d e s c e n d f r o m p h i l o s o p h y to p s y c h o l o g y a n d , g o i n g
with it, f r o m r a t i o n a l i s m to empiricism, b u t this was a
h a l f - h e a r t e d a t t e m p t that h a d m o r e to do with philoso p h y t h a n with psychology despite his i n t e n t i o n to d o
o t h e r w i s e (see S c a n l o n ' s I n t r o d u c t i o n to t h e a b o v e
b o o k ) . Initially, we were i n c l i n e d to e x c l u d e the former type of records but eventually changed our
minds, on the ground that any application of the
method of p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l analysis, w h e t h e r r a t i o n a l
o r e m p i r i c a l , s h o u l d c o u n t . By this we m e a n t h e
a t t e m p t to b r a c k e t (i.e., s u s p e n d ) p r e d i s p o s i n g conc e p t u a l i z a t i o n s o f t h e p h e n o m e n o n u n d e r study in
the i n t e r e s t of d e s c r i b i n g its structure. O t h e r r e c o r d s
h a d to d o w i t h e x i s t e n t i a l - p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l psyc h o t h e r a p y theory, which we did exclude.
Procedurally, for each search term, e i t h e r M o n t e i r o
or W a t s o n d i d an initial e x a m i n a t i o n o f t h e r e c o r d s
p e r t a i n i n g to a given search t e r m to d e t e r m i n e its fit.
R e n n i e t h e n c h e c k e d these j u d g m e n t s . In the case of
" d i s c o u r s e analy*," t h e w e e d i n g a n d c h e c k i n g w e r e
d o n e twice. W h e n w e e d i n g t h r o u g h the records, we
n o t i c e d that t h e r e was s o m e overlap in search t e r m s
(e.g., a given r e c o r d w o u l d c o n t a i n r e f e r e n c e s to b o t h
" g r o u n d e d t h e o r y " a n d "qualitative r e s e a r c h " ) . To
a c c o u n t for overlaps, at] a d d i t i o n a l PsycINFO l i t e r a t u r e
search was c o n d u c t e d in which each two-way c o m b i n a tion o f the five search terms was e n t e r e d . T h e r e t u r n s
o f these searches were r e c o r d e d . We d e c i d e d against
g o i n g t h r o u g h the hits again to c h o o s e b e t w e e n comp e t i n g terms w h e n they o v e r l a p p e d , however, on the
g r o u n d that d o i n g so w o u l d n o t a p p r e c i a b l y alter the
overall p i c t u r e ( m o r e on this in the Results section).
Classifying the hits. In a s u b s e q u e n t textual analysis, we
182 Rennie, Watson, a n d M o n t e i r o
e x a m i n e d all hits a n d n o t e d i n f o r m a t i o n on each one.
W e d e v e l o p e d t h e f o l l o w i n g c a t e g o r i e s . Discipline
r e f e r r e d to e i t h e r Psychology or Other. Document Type
m e a n t w h e t h e r the hit was a Book, Chapter, J o u r n a l ,
or Dissertation. Regior~ a p p l i e d to N o r t h A m e r i c a (i.e.,
C a n a d a a n d t h e USA); t h e U n i t e d K i n g d o m a n d
I r e l a n d ; S c a n d i n a v i a (i.e., F i n l a n d , Sweden, N o r w a y
a n d D e n m a r k ) ; Australia a n d New Zealand; G e r m a n i c
countries
(i.e., Germany,
Austria, and the
N e t h e r l a n d s ) ; S o u t h Africa; or Other. Focus r e f e r r e d
to e i t h e r M e t h o d o l o g y or A p p l i c a t i o n o f a m e t h o d .
In the case of chapters and books and edited
books, t h e c a t e g o r i z a t i o n o f Discipline was b a s e d on
t h e first a u t h o r ' s a f f i l i a t i o n . T h i s d e c i s i o n was n o t
ideal because, o f course, it is possible for n o n p s y c h o l ogists to b e affiliated in a psychological setting a n d for
psychologists to be affiliated in n o n p s y c h o l o g i c a l settings. To c o m p l i c a t e m a t t e r s further, a u t h o r affiliations a r e n o t listed c o n s i s t e n t l y in PsycINFO. W h e n
a u t h o r affiliations were n o t listed for b o o k s a n d chapters, we c o n d u c t e d a search of the a u t h o r ' s n a m e in
PsycINFO, to see if t h e affiliation was listed in o t h e r
publications. If this was n o t fruitful, t h e n the s e c o n d
a u t h o r ' s or e d i t o r ' s affiliation was sought. J o u r n a l articles were too n u m e r o u s to allow for such a r e t u r n to
t h e d a t a b a s e each time t h e i n f o r m a t i o n was n o t present, so in this case t h e c a t e g o r i z a t i o n o f D i s c i p l i n e
was b a s e d on t h e n a t u r e o f t h e j o u r n a l r a t h e r t h a n
a u t h o r a f f i l i a t i o n . A g a i n , this t a c t i c was n o t i d e a l
b e c a u s e n o n m e m b e r s of a discipline s o m e t i m e s publish in j o u r n a l s o u t s i d e it. Most j o u r n a l s were easily
c a t e g o r i z e d b u t for s o m e i n t e r d i s c i p l i n a r y j o u r n a l s a
j u d g m e n t was r e q u i r e d a n d we r e c o g n i z e that some o f
o u r classifications of j o u r n a l s c o u l d b e disputed. All
o f this m e a n t that o u r estimates o f affiliations a r e only
a p p r o x i m a t e . Finally, for the p u r p o s e of analysis, the
fields other than psychology were collapsed into
"Other."
D i s s e r t a t i o n r e c o r d s in PsycINFO d i d n o t i n c l u d e
a u t h o r s ' a f f i l i a t i o n s so we r e l i e d o n t h e d i s c i p l i n e
code. Specifically, we l e a r n e d that all dissertations in
PsyclNFO were classified as "psychology." As a result,
we c o n d u c t e d a s u p p l e m e n t a l l i t e r a t u r e search in t h e
Dissertation Abstracts Interr~ational (DAD d a t a b a s e , t h e
details o f which are d e s c r i b e d below.
A u t h o r affiliation was also u s e d to d e t e r m i n e t h e
hit's g e o g r a p h i c a l Region. W h e n it was impossible to
c l a s s i f y R e g i o n in t h i s way, it was a s s i g n e d to a n
"Other" category.
T h e decision a b o u t a hit's D o c u m e n t Type was usually straightforward b e c a u s e it was b a s e d on w h e t h e r
t h e p u b l i c a t i o n was a book, chapter, j o u r n a l article, or
dissertation. If all o f as] e d i t e d b o o k was relevant to
t h e search term, t h e n the hit was c o u n t e d as a Book.
If only certain c h a p t e r s f r o m an e d i t e d b o o k were relevant, t h e n each o f the r e l e v a n t c h a p t e r s was c o u n t e d
as a Chapter.
2. DissertationAbstractsInternational (DAI)
Because PsycINFOpicks up dissertations c o m i n g o u t o f
psychology, only, we d e c i d e d to c o n d u c t a s u p p l e m e n ta W l i t e r a t u r e s e a r c h in DAI to a d d r e s s q u a l i t a t i v e
r e s e a r c h activity e v i d e n t in d i s s e r t a t i o n s e m e r g i n g
f r o m o t h e r d i s c i p l i n e s as well. A g a i n , a s e a r c h was
c o n d u c t e d for each o f the five search terms, by d e c a d e
f r o m 1900 to 1999. We n o t e d the n u m b e r o f r e c o r d s
for e a c h s e a r c h t e r m b u t we d i d n o t p r i n t r e c o r d s ,
w e e d t h r o u g h t h e m , or c o l l e c t d a t a on t h e m , given
that they totalled to 7,146. We also o b t a i n e d the total
n u m b e r o f r e c o r d s for each d e c a d e in DAI, to get an
i n d i c a t i o n o f t h e rise o f s e a r c h t e r m s in this r e g a r d
c o m p a r e d to the rise in dissertation r e c o r d s taken as a
whole. Finally, we did a search of the overlap a m o n g
search terms, l i m i t e d to c o m b i n a t i o n s o f two terms.
Results
O C C U R R E N C E OF T H E SEARCH TERMS: 1900-1999
PsycINFO. T h e d a t a for the five search terms - "qualitative research," "grounded theory," "discourse
analy*," " p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l psychology," a n d "empirical p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l " - in t h e PsycINFO d a t a b a s e
d u r i n g four time intervals since 1900 (i.e., 1900-1969,
1970-1979, 1980-1989, a n d 1990-1999) a r e shown in
Table 1. It can b e seen that the p a t t e r n of hits for the
two search terms having to do with p h e n o m e n o l o g y is
different t h a n that for each o f the o t h e r t h r e e terms.
First, it is only " p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l psychology" t h a t
a p p e a r e d in t h e l i t e r a t u r e with any f r e q u e n c y of n o t e
p r i o r to 1970. This is likely e x p l a i n e d by t h e history of
this term, which goes back to 1925 w h e n Husserl p a i d
a t t e n t i o n to it (see above). Second, it is evident that
t h e t e r m " e m p i r i c a l p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l " s t a r t e d to
a p p e a r in t h e 1970s c o m p a r a t i v e l y m o r e t h a n d i d
"qualitative r e s e a r c h , " " g r o u n d e d theory," a n d "discourse analy*." By that time, Giorgi's (1970) p i o n e e r ing effort to a p p l y p h e n o m e n o l o g y empirically to psyc h o l o g i c a l p h e n o m e n a was b e g i n n i n g to take effect,
in a d v a n c e o f o t h e r a p p r o a c h e s to q u a l i t a t i v e
research, certainly in psychology. Finally, it is a p p a r e n t that t h e p a t t e r n o f hits for the two search t e r m s
having to d o with p h e n o m e n o l o g y is similar for t h e
'70s, '80s, a n d '90s.
As Table 1 indicates, t h e n , a p a r t f r o m " p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l psychology" a n d " e m p i r i c a l p h e n o m e n o l o gy," a sharp rise in the a p p e a r a n c e o f o u r search terms
b e g a n in the '80s, a n d i n c r e a s e d f u r t h e r in the '90s. It
can b e seen that this rise across these two d e c a d e s far
o u t s t r i p s t h e i n c r e a s e in r e c o r d s as a w h o l e .
Rise o f Q u a l i t a t i v e R e s e a r c h in P s y c h o l o g y 183
TABLE 1
Growth of Search Term Hits in PsyclNFODatabase
SEARCH TERMS
Decade
Total Records
Qualitative Research
Grounded Theoi T
Discourse Analysis
Phenomenology
PP EP
Totals
1900-1969
347,545
Psych
Other
1
4
Psych
Other
0
0
Psych
Other
0
2
Psych
Other
24
2
2
0
27
8
1970-1979
270,445
Psych
Other
3
0
Psych
Other
1
1
Psych
Other
4
3
Psych
Other
88
3
12
0
108
7
1980-1989
442,551
Psych
Other
64
72
Psych
Other
21
27
Psych
Other
28
26
Psych
Other
75
2
41
0
229
127
1990-1999
543,743
Psych
Other
324
460
Psych
Other
178
216
Psych
Other
408
265
Psych
Other
69
1
39
1
1,018
943
Psych
392
Psych
200
Psych
440
Psych
256
Other
536
Other
244
Other
296
Other
8
PP = Phenomenological Psychology; EP = Empirical Phenomenological; Psych = Psychology; Other = Non Psychology.
94
1
1,382
1,085
Totals
1,604,284
TABLE 2
Growth of Search Term Records in DissertationAbstractsInternationalDatabase
SEARCH TERMS
Decade
Total Records
Qualitative Research
Grounded Theoi T
Discourse Analysis
1900-1969
1970-1979
1980-1989
1990-1999
Totals
351,780
356,801
394,470
566,258
1,669,309
0
1
556
2,726
3,283
0
13
582
2,135
2,730
0
10
253
692
955
Phenomenology
PP
EP
3
9
17
19
48
0
8
73
49
130
Totals
3
41
1,481
5,621
7,146
PP = Phenomenological Psychology; EP = Empirical Phenomenological.
Specifically, t h e n u m b e r o f total r e c o r d s for all public a t i o n s i n c r e a s e d by a f a c t o r o f 2.3 b e t w e e n t h e 1970s
a n d t h e 1990s. I n c o n t r a s t , t h e n u m b e r o f h i t s f o r
"qualitative r e s e a r c h " w e n t f r o m 3 to 784; " g r o u n d e d
t h e o r y " f r o m 2 to 394; a n d " d i s c o u r s e analy*" f r o m 7
to 673.
Dissertation Abstracts Interr~ationaL As i n d i c a t e d a b o v e ,
PsycINFO a d d r e s s e s d i s s e r t a t i o n s c o m i n g o u t o f t h e discipline of psychology only, whereas the database
addresses books, chapters, and journals from many
o t h e r d i s c i p l i n e s as well. It was also i n d i c a t e d a b o v e
that those dissertations entailing our search terms are
i n c l u d e d in T a b l e 1. H a v i n g g o n e to DAI, t h e n , t h e
r e t u r n s f r o m o u r s e a r c h for t h e t e r m s in this d a t a b a s e
a r e s h o w n in T a b l e 2. It m u s t b e r e m e m b e r e d that, in
this analysis, we m a d e n o a t t e m p t to i s o l a t e " o t h e r "
d i s s e r t a t i o n s f r o m "psychology" dissertations. N o r did
we l o o k for false positives in t h e r e c o r d s . T h u s , t h e s e
f i g u r e s m u s t b e i n f l a t i o n a r y c o m p a r e d to t h o s e f r o m
PsycINFO. E v e n so, t h e d a t a in this table r e l a t e well to
t h o s e in T a b l e 1 in s h o w i n g t h a t a s h a r p rise in t h e
s e a r c h t e r m s o t h e r t h a n t h e o n e s to d o w i t h p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l p s y c h o l o g y b e g a n in t h e '80s.
Overlap of search te*wzs. As i n d i c a t e d , t h e d a t a in t h e
a b o v e two tables r e p r e s e n t t h e r e t u r n s f i o m a p r o c e d u r e in w h i c h e a c h o f t h e five t e r m s was s e a r c h e d separately. T h i s p r o c e d u r e t h u s d i d n o t c o n t r o l for o v e r l a p
b e t w e e n t e r m s in t h e s a m e r e c o r d in a d a t a b a s e . A
s u b s e q u e n t analysis was d o n e to e x a m i n e t h e e x t e n t o f
t h e o v e r l a p in t h e r e c o r d s p r i o r to a n y w e e d i n g for
false positives. T h e results o f this analysis a r e s h o w n
in T a b l e 3.
I n t e r m s o f PsyclNFO, it can b e s e e n t h a t in P a r t 1 o f
t h e table t h e r e w e r e two m a i n overlaps. T h e first was
b e t w e e n t h e t e r m "qualitative r e s e a r c h " a n d t h e o t h e r
s e a r c h terms, as w o u l d b e e x p e c t e d . T h e r e w e r e 118
instances in which the terms depicting the four
a p p r o a c h e s to q u a l i t a t i v e r e s e a r c h o v e r l a p p e d w i t h
"qualitative research."
T h e s e c o n d e n t a i l e d 13
i n s t a n c e s o f o v e r l a p b e t w e e n " p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l psychology" and "empirical phenomenological."
Given
that the total number of records for "qualitative
r e s e a r c h " was 928, a n d f o r " p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l psyc h o l o g y " was 264, t h e o v e r l a p s a m o u n t to 12.2% in
t h e first case a n d 5% in t h e s e c o n d . T h u s , t h e incid e n c e o f hits n e e d s to b e r e v i s e d d o w n w a r d s to t h a t
e x t e n t . G i v e n t h a t o u r i n t e r e s t is e x p l o r a t o r y , b o w e r -
184 Rennie, Watson, and Monteiro
TABLE 3
Overlap of Search Terms 1900-1999
1. PsyclNFO Database
GroundedTheoi T
(527)
Grounded Theoi y (527)
Qualitative Research (1,160)
Discourse Analy* (1,101)
P h e n o m Psych (366)
Empirical P h e n o m e n (108)
---.
.
Qualitative Research
(1,160)
Discourse Analy*
(1,101)
P h e n o m e n Psych
(366)
Empirical P h e n o m e n
(108)
76
--.
5
32
--
1
8
0
0
2
0
13
P h e n o m e n Psych
(48)
0
Empirical P h e n o m
(130)
0
.
.
.
.
.
.
2. Dissertation Abst*z~cts Inter~nationalDatabase
Grounded Theoi T
(2,730)
Grounded Theoi T (2,730)
-Qualitative Research (3,283)
-Discourse Analy* (955)
-P h e n o m Psych (48)
.
Empirical P h e n o m (130)
.
Qualitative Research
(3,283)
256
--.
.
.
.
Discourse Analy*
(955)
8
11
1
3
--
2
0
1
.
.
.
Note: The numbers in brackets are the total n u m b e r of records.
TABLE 4
Hits in Terms of Source, Region, and Type of Publication in Psychology and Other Disciplines (PsyclNFO)
Search Term
Source
Disc
Region
Focus
Book
Chap
Jrnl
Diss
NA
UK+
Irlnd
Sc
Au +
Nz
Ger
S. Afr
Other
Mthd
App
Qual
Research
Psy
Other
32
90
30
30
308
414
22
2
249
383
68
66
19
15
11
27
14
12
10
1
21
32
213
263
179
273
Grounded
Theoi T
Psy
Other
1
7
16
13
99
193
84
31
161
210
19
6
8
13
9
7
0
1
0
1
3
6
29
30
171
214
Discourse
Analysis
Psy
Other
50
23
70
20
296
244
24
9
175
173
144
40
15
14
23
22
19
15
11
0
53
32
113
46
327
250
Phenomen
Psych
Psy
Other
17
2
6
0
226
3
7
3
173
6
18
0
11
0
2
0
12
1
6
0
34
1
114
5
142
3
Empirical
Phenom
Psy
Other
5
0
0
0
17
1
72
0
87
1
1
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
2
0
2
0
3
0
91
1
Disc = Discipline (Psychology or Other); Chap = Chapter; Jrnl =Journal; Diss = Dissertation; NA = North America (US and Canada); UK +
Irlnd = United Kingdom and Ireland; SC = Scandinavia (including Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Denmark); AU + NZ = Australia and New
Zealand; Ger = Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands; S.Afr = South Africa; Other = Other counU%s including Belgium, Brazil, Chile,
China, Czechoslovakia, France, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Namibia, Poland, Portugal,
Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, and Unknown Countries; Mthd = Methodology; App = Application; Qual = Qualitative;
Psy = Psychology; Other Disciplines = Disciplines other than psychology; P h e n o m Psych = Phenomenological Psychology; Empirical
P h e n o m = Empirical Phenomenology.
m , T a b l e 1 still g i v e s a r e a s o n a b l y a c c u r a t e p o r t r a y a l o f
the rise in incidence of the search terms.
R e g a r d i n g DAI, P a r t 2 o f T a b l e 3 s h o w s t h a t t h e
greatest overlap was between "grounded theory" and
"qualitative research," which amounted to 9.4% of the
r e c o r d s f o r t h e f o r m e r t e r m ( s e e T a b l e 2). A p a r t f r o m
these two terms, the overlap was small. Indeed, there
a r e o n l y 11 o v e r l a p s b e t w e e n
"discourse analy*" and
the 3,283 records for "qualitative research."
We find
this discrepancy between grounded
t h e o r y a n d discourse analysis to be interesting
and wonder if it
r e f l e c t s less a f f i l i a t i o n w i t h q u a l i t a t i v e r e s e a r c h a m o n g
graduate
remarks
students doing discourse analysis, the above
about the claimed inclusion of discourse
analysis in qualitative research notwithstanding.
In
a n y c a s e , t a k e n as a w h o l e t h e a n a l y s i s o f o v e r l a p s i n
Rise of Qualitative Research in Psychology 185
TABLE 5
PsychologyJournals Publishing five or More Articles Involving the Search Terms:
JOURNAL
Addiction (Health)
American Journal of Conmmnity Psychology
BritishJournal of Guidance and Counselling
BritishJournal of Social Psychology
Canadian Psychology
Counseling Psychologist
Counselling PsychologyQuarterly
Disability,Handicap and Society (Rehabilitation)
Discourse Processes (Language and Conmmnication)
Feminism and Psychology
Human Conmmnication Research
Humanistic Psychologist
Journal of Applied Behavioral Science
Journal of ConmmnicationDisorders
Journal of Conmmnity and Applied Social Psychology
Journal of Counseling Psychology
Journal of FamilyTherapy (Counselling)
Journal of Health Psychology
Journal of Language and Social Psychology
Journal of Marital and Family therapy (Counselling)
Journal of Phenomenological Psychology
Journal of pragmatics (Language and Conmmnication)
Journal of the Association for Persons with Severe Handicaps (Health)
Narrative Inquiry (Language and Conmmnication)
Philosophical Psychology
PsychoanalyticDialogues
Psychologist
Psychology and Health
South African Journal of Psychology
Sport Psychologist
Theory & Psychology
Topics in Language Disorders
QR
GT
DA
3
11
7
PP
EP
2
2
181
8
8
5
5
10
7
4
4
1
1
4
3
3
15
11
6
1
4
1
4
7
2
8
1
5
3
6
5
9
1
3
1
7
10
6
6
54
5
7
1
6
3
2
11
2
Note:Focus of some journals indicated in parentheses.
QR = "qualitative research"; GT = "grounded theory"; DA = "discourse analy*"; PP = "phenomenological psychology";EP = "empirical phenomenological".
the DAI search does n o t appreciably alter the picture
of growth given in Table 2, despite our having chosen
terms that in some cases were expected to overlap.
Type of document, regior, of origin, type of publication, and
joc,~ of p,mic~,tion: e~y~/~ology ~,nd ot/~e, di~ipline~
(PsyclNFO only). Table 4 gives a b r e a k d o w n of the hits
of the five search terms r e g a r d i n g the type of docum e n t (book, chapter, j o u r n a l article or dissertation);
region yielding the d o c u m e n t ; a n d focus of the docum e n t ( e m p h a s i s o n m e t h o d o l o g y vs. a p p l i c a t i o n of
m e t h o d ) . I n each case, a f u r t h e r b r e a k d o w n is m a d e
b e t w e e n what, we d e c i d e d , are "psychology" versus
"other" p u b l i c a t i o n s . T h e values e n t e r e d i n t o this
table are collapsed across the time intervals used in
Table 1. It is i m p o r t a n t to m e n t i o n that the values
given in the table with respect to dissertations refer to
those cited by PsycINFO, n o t to the r e t u r n s from our
search of DAI. (We used the f o r m e r database for this
table despite its i n c o m p l e t e n e s s relative to what the
latter search gave b e c a u s e to delete the dissertation
d a t a w o u l d h a v e r e q u i r e d a r e - a n a l y s i s o f all o u r
PsyclNFO data.)
T h e c o m p a r i s o n s that stand o u t for us are as follows. First, the term "qualitative research" was f o u n d
m o r e in the "other" than in the "psychology" publications (536 vs. 392). Second, in all regions except the
U n i t e d K i n g d o m a n d Ireland, the hits for "discourse
analy*" were fairly evenly distributed between the disc i p l i n e of p s y c h o l o g y a n d the o t h e r fields (296 vs.
256). I n the UK a n d Ireland, on the other h a n d , "discourse analy*" was m u c h m o r e p e r t i n e n t to psychology t h a n to the o t h e r fields (144 vs. 40). T h i r d , the
terms " p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l psychology" a n d "empirical
p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l " o v e r w h e l m i n g a p p e a r e d in psychology p u b l i c a t i o n s a n d dissertations rather t h a n in
186 R e n n i e , Watson, a n d M o n t e i r o
TABLE 6
NonpsychologyJournals Publishing 5 or More Articles Involving the Search Terms
JOURNAL
QR
GT
DA
PP
EP
Advances in Nursing
2
American Journal of Occupational Therapy (Heahh)
7
Archives of Psychiatric Nursing
1
Exceptional Children (Education)
5
Family Practice (Health)
6
4
Health Care For Women International
1
10
Health Education Research
10
1
IMAGE:Journal for Nursing Scholarship
4
13
InternationalJournal of Linguistics (Language and Communication)
InternationalJournal of Nursing Studies
9
Issues in Mental Health Nursing (Nursing)
3
Journal of Research in Science Teaching (Education)
1
Journal of Social Issues
4
Journal of Market Research Society
21
Journal of Narrative and Life HistoIT (Language and Communication)
33
Language in Society
14
Modern Language Journal
6
Music Therapy (Counselling)
5
Nursing Research
2
12
Qualitative Heahh Research
178
29
Research in Nursing and Health (Nursing)
8
9
Review of Educational Research
5
ScandinavianJournal of Caring Sciences (Health)
3
Scholarly Inquiry for Nursing Practice
1
Social Science and Medicine (Health)
13
Teaching and Teacher's Education
WesternJournal of Nursing Research
1
Note:Focus of somejournals indicated in parentheses.
QR = "qualitative research"; GT = "grounded theory"; DA = "discourse analy*"; PP = "phenomenological psychology";EP = "empirical phenomenological."
those c o m i n g from other fields (350 vs. 9). Also, the
" p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l psychology" a n d "empirical phenomenology" publications and dissertations came
m a i n l y f r o m N o r t h A m e r i c a n s (269 vs. 92). Finally,
publications involving the " g r o u n d e d theory" and
"empirical p h e n o m e n o l o g y " search terms a d d r e s s e d
t h e a p p l i c a t i o n of t h e s e m e t h o d s m o r e t h a n t h e i r
methodologies. Also, p u b l i c a t i o n s entailing "discourse
analy*" that focused o n m e t h o d o l o g y were m o r e freq u e n t in psychology t h a n in other disciplines.
JOURNALS PUBLISHING THE SEARCH TERMS
We f o c u s e d m o r e n a r r o w l y o n j u s t o n e of the f o u r
d o c u m e n t types - j o u r n a l s - a n d b r o k e t h e m i n t o
"psychology" vs. "other" j o u r n a l s . All told, as of the
fall of 1999, PsycINFOh a d records for 1 , 4 9 0 j o u r n a l s in
b o t h of these c a t e g o r i e s c o m b i n e d . O f these, 496
(32.3%) p u b l i s h e d at least o n e article picked u p by
o u r search terms as we d e f i n e d them. As indicated,
we felt that it was i m p o r t a n t to d i s t i n g u i s h b e t w e e n
j o u r n a l s , books, a n d c h a p t e r s that s e e m e d to c o m e
f r o m i n s i d e as o p p o s e d to o u t s i d e psychology, even
t h o u g h the latter were i n c l u d e d in PsycINFO. (For
examples of our b r e a k d o w n of publications, c o m p a r e
Tables 5 a n d 6 below.) Because only those publications from outside psychology d e e m e d relevant to psychology are r e c o r d e d by this database, however, o u r
"other" category r e p r e s e n t s the qualitative r e s e a r c h
p u b l i c a t i o n s in these o t h e r fields less t h a n does o u r
"psychology" category as a r e p r e s e n t a t i o n of publications in the discipline of psychology.
Psychology. T h e r e
were 3 1 5 j o u r n a l s that we j u d g e d to
p e r t a i n to the field of psychology. T h e r e were 946 hits
of the search terms a m o n g these j o u r n a l s (see Table
4). T h e distribution of hits was as follows: r a n g e = 1195; m e d i a n = between 1 a n d 2; m o d e = 1; m e a n = 3.0.
T h e high e n d of the r a n g e resulted from the hits for
the p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l search terms a p p e a r i n g in the
Jou,~al of PhenomenologicalPsychology. Accordingly, the
m o d e a n d m e d i a n are m o r e representative t h a n the
m e a n as indicators of the typical extent to which o n e
or m o r e of the five search terms a p p e a r e d in each of
the 3 1 5 j o u r n a l s .
I n o r d e r to i s o l a t e t h e j o u r n a l s t h a t w e r e m o s t
active in the p u b l i c a t i o n of the articles involving the
Rise o f Qualitative R e s e a r c h in Psychology 187
search terms, we set a cut-off of five hits or m o r e for
all search terms taken collectively, b a s e d on o u r sense
of the literature. Table 5 shows the f r e q u e n c y o f hits
o f e a c h o f t h e five s e a r c h t e r m s for t h e 32 j o u r n a l s
meeting this criterion.
The term "qualitative
research" was a hit at least o n c e for 22 o f these j o u r nals; "discourse analy*" for 22; " g r o u n d e d theory" for
12; " p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l psychology" for 2; a n d "empirical p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l " for 2. A m o n g t h e j o u r n a l s
involved, seven have to d o with l a n g u a g e a n d c o m m u n i c a t i o n ; seven with c o u n s e l l i n g a n d p s y c h o t h e r a p y ;
six with health, r e h a b i l i t a t i o n or sport psychology; a n d
two with c o m m u n i t y psychology. T h e r e m a i n i n g 11
a r e m i x e d . Lastly, o f w h a t may b e d e s c r i b e d as flagship j o u r n a l s o f n a t i o n a l p s y c h o l o g i c a l associations,
only Canadian Psychology a n d the South African Jourr~al
of Psychology were in this g r o u p o f j o u r n a l s that p u b lished at least five articles involving t h e search terms.
Otherjourr~als. A c c o r d i n g to o u r j u d g m e n t , 181 of the
j o u r n a l s listed by PsycINFO, a n d for which o u r search
terms were relevant, h a d to d o with fields outside psychology. As can be d e t e r m i n e d f r o m Table 4, t h e total
n u m b e r o f hits for t h e s e " o t h e r " j o u r n a l s was 855.
Across these j o u r n a l s , t h e d i s t r i b u t i o n o f hits was as
follows: r a n g e = 1-211; m o d e = 1; m e d i a n = b e t w e e n 1
a n d 2; m e a n = 4.7. T h e h i g h e n d o f t h e r a n g e was
c a u s e d by t h e h i t s f o r " q u a l i t a t i v e r e s e a r c h " in
Qualitative Health Research. Thus, this p a r t i c u l a r j o u r nal c r e a t e d a large skew in the average n u m b e r of hits,
a n a l o g o u s to t h e s k e w c r e a t e d by t h e Journal of
Phenomenological Psychology in the case o f the "psycholog y " j o u r n a l s . Accordingly, t h e m o d e a n d the m e d i a n
a r e t h e best i n d i c a t o r s o f c e n t r a l t e n d e n c y for these
" o t h e r " j o u r n a l s as well, and, as is evident, these values
are quite small.
Parallel to t h e a p p r o a c h used for the "psychology"
j o u r n a l s , for these "other" j o u r n a l s we isolated those
t h a t h a d five o r m o r e hits o f t h e five s e a r c h t e r m s
taken collectively. T h e results a r e given in Table 6. It
can be seen that 27 of the 181 j o u r n a l s m e t this criterion. T h e t e r m "qualitative r e s e a r c h " was a hit at least
o n c e for 22 o f them; " g r o u n d e d theory" for 17; "discourse analy*" for 15; while " p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l psychology" a n d "empirical p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l " o c c u r r e d
in n o n e . Thus, the p a t t e r n for these j o u r n a l s is differe n t thai] that o f the " p s y c h o l o g y ' j o u r n a l s in the sense
that r e f e r e n c e to g r o u n d e d t h e o r y is now on p a r with
discourse analysis, a n d t h e r e was n o r e f e r e n c e at all to
the use o f the p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l a p p r o a c h to qualitative research. Lastly, w h e n these " o t h e r " j o u r n a l s were
classified a c c o r d i n g to d i s c i p l i n a r y fields, t h r e e pred o m i n a t e d , n a m e l y N u r s i n g = 9, o t h e r H e a l t h disciplines = 7, a n d E d u c a t i o n = 4.
Discussion
Strictly speaking, this study was a b o u t the rise of the
a p p e a r a n c e o f five s e a r c h t e r m s j u d g e d by us to b e
p e r t i n e n t to q u a l i t a t i v e r e s e a r c h m o r e t h a n it was
a b o u t the rise o f qualitative r e s e a r c h p e r se. O u r most
i n c l u s i v e t e r m was " q u a l i t a t i v e r e s e a r c h , " w h i c h we
e m p l o y e d k n o w i n g t h a t it w o u l d o v e r l a p to s o m e
e x t e n t with o u r o t h e r search terms. As for p a r t i c u l a r
qualitative research methods, after experimenting
with a n u m b e r o f s e a r c h terms, we settled on t e r m s
having to d o with g r o u n d e d theory, discourse analysis,
phenomenological psychology, and empirical phen o m e n o l o g y . We also i n c l u d e d conversation analysis,
narrative analysis, a n d p r a g m a t i c s into discourse analysis w h e n e v e r t h e y a p p e a r e d u n d e r t h e " d i s c o u r s e
analy*" search t e r m b u t d i d n o t search t h e m in their
own right. O n t h e whole, doubtless m a n y d o c u m e n t s
were missed in o u r search. Despite the m a n y limitations of t h e study, however, it is likely that o u r findings
reflect an actual m a r k e d rise of qualitative research.
Before t u r n i n g to PsycINFO, we h a d the i m p r e s s i o n
that the uptake of qualitative research has been
g r e a t e r in s o m e fields o t h e r thai] psychology. Thus,
t h e c o v e r a g e g i v e n by t h e d a t a b a s e to t h e s e o t h e r
fields o f f e r e d a c h a n c e to check on that i m p r e s s i o n .
A n d so we m a d e t h e p a r t i t i o n b e t w e e n psychology a n d
o t h e r fields, knowing that it w o u l d u n d e r r e p r e s e n t the
qualitative r e s e a r c h activity in those fields b e c a u s e of
the only partial coverage o f t h e m given by this particular database.
It was thus i n t e r e s t i n g to find that, d e s p i t e this limit a t i o n , g r o u n d e d t h e o r y e v i d e n t l y is u s e d m o r e in
n u r s i n g thai] in psychology ( c o m p a r e Tables 5 a n d 6).
Alternatively, the a p p r o a c h f a v o u r e d by psychologists
taken as a w h o l e w o u l d a p p e a r to be discourse analysis. In this r e g a r d , it is useful to k e e p in m i n d that psyc h o l o g i s t s e n g a g i n g in d i s c o u r s e a n a l y s i s in t h e
U n i t e d K i n g d o m draw heavily on p o s t s t r u c t u r a l a n d
p o s t m o d e r n t h o u g h t , w h e r e a s t h o s e in t h e U n i t e d
S t a t e s t e n d to b e m o r e m o d e r n i s t ( R e i c h e r , 2000;
Roiser, 1997).
M o r e b r o a d l y , we a r e r a t h e r s u r p r i s e d by w h a t
s e e m s to b e t h e s t r e n g t h o f q u a l i t a t i v e r e s e a r c h in
o t h e r h e a l t h fields in a d d i t i o n to n u r s i n g . O n t h e
o t h e r s i d e o f t h e c o i n , we n o t i c e few q u a l i t a t i v e
r e s e a r c h i n d i c a t o r s for sociology a n d social work. We
f o u n d o n l y o n e h i t a m o n g o u r s e a r c h t e r m s in t h e
American Jourr~al of Sociology a n d five hits d i s t r i b u t e d
a m o n g Social Work Research, Social Work Research and
Abstracts, a n d Social Work with Groups. T h e s e small fieq u e n c i e s are in line with what we f o u n d for two prestig i o u s APA j o u r n a l s t h a t a r e t r a d i t i o n a l l y positivistic
(i.e., the Jourrtal of Personality and Social Psychology a n d
the Jourrtal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, which
188 Rennie, Watson, a n d M o n t e i r o
had one hit each).
It is p o s s i b l e , o f c o u r s e , t h a t
PsycINFO has u n d e r - r e p r e s e n t e d coverage o f j o u r n a l s
in t h e s e two d i s c i p l i n e s c o m p a r e d to h e a l t h c a r e
fields.
Admittedly, precisely b e c a u s e DAd applies to all disciplines, it offered an o p p o r t u n i t y to m a k e an objective estimate of t h e qualitative r e s e a r c h activity in psyc h o l o g y versus o t h e r fields, at least in t e r m s o f t h e
work by g r a d u a t e students. However, to d o so w o u l d
h a v e n e c e s s i t a t e d p o r i n g o v e r m o r e t h a n twice as
m a n y abstracts as we derived f r o m PsycINFO a n d studied. Moreover, j u s t as PsycINFO r e p o r t e d studies coming from outside the field of psychology, there are
d a t a b a s e s s u c h as MedLINE a n d ERIC d i r e c t e d to
o t h e r f i e l d s t h a t i n c l u d e s t u d i e s by p s y c h o l o g i s t s .
Ideally, they w o u l d have b e e n used as well. We comm e n d o t h e r s to these tasks. We were n o t u p to them.
Overall, the rise in qualitative r e s e a r c h as reflected
by t h r e e o f o u r search terms, at least, has b e e n dramatic, especially in the last 10 years or so. It is crucial,
however, to look at the growth in the r i g h t way. O n
t h e o n e h a n d , it is t h e case that, a c c o r d i n g to even
only o n e database (i.e., PsycINFO) qualitative r e s e a r c h
p a p e r s m a d e their way into 496 j o u r n a l s in a n d outside psychology, by t h e e n d o f 1999. O n t h e o t h e r
h a n d , for m o s t of these j o u r n a l s the m o d a l n u m b e r o f
p u b l i c a t i o n s was one. This r e c o r d is h a r d l y a sign o f a
m a j o r shift by t h e s e j o u r n a l s t o w a r d p u b l i s h i n g articles involving o u r search terms. Instead, t h e growth
o f p u b l i c a t i o n has b e e n heavily swayed by t h e p r o d u c tion o f j u s t a few j o u r n a l s that were created/or qualitative r e s e a r c h - t h e Jour~al 4 Pher~°mer~°l°g7 Psych°l°g7
a n d Qualitative Health Research in particular. T u c k e d
well b e h i n d t h a t i m p a c t , b u t still by a l a r g e m a r g i n
g r e a t e r t h a n is characteristic o f the 4 9 6 j o u r n a l s taken
as a whole, is t h e c o n t r i b u t i o n of those j o u r n a l s that
we t a b u l a t e d in Tables 5 a n d 6. A few o f these a r e
j o u r n a l s t h a t have b e e n firmly l o c a t e d in t h e m a i n s t r e a m a n d a r e t h u s n o t e w o r t h y . We a r e t h i n k i n g
e s p e c i a l l y o f t h e Jourr~al oat Cour~selir~gPsycholog7 a n d
Cartadiart Psycholog% with 14 a n d 20 hits, respectively.
But t h e i r p u b l i c a t i o n o f qualitative r e s e a r c h articles
reflects t h e s e n t i m e n t s o f t h e e d i t o r s they have h a d
over the past 10-15 years, at least in part. Thus, the
f o r m e r has b e e n u n d e r t h e e d i t o r s h i p o f C l a r a Hill,
whose own r e s e a r c h has taken a qualitative t u r n (see
Hill, T h o m p s o n , & Williams, 1997). Meanwhile, two
o f the editors o f Cartadiart Psychology f r o m the '80s on
have b e e n J o h n Conway a n d Patrick O'Neill, b o t h o f
whom have practiced qualitative research (e.g.,
M c M u l l e n & Conway, 1994; O'Neill, 1998).
In m a k i n g the above s o b e r i n g remarks, we do n o t
wish to go too far toward scepticism. W h a t e v e r is the
situation r e g a r d i n g j o u r n a l s , t h e i n c r e a s e s in hits o f
o u r search terms p e r t a i n e d to b o o k s a n d c h a p t e r s as
m u c h as to j o u r n a l articles ( e x c e p t for the p h e n o m e n o l o g i c a l s e a r c h t e r m s ) . T h e r e is n o q u e s t i o n t h a t
t h e r e is a r e a d y m a r k e t these days for such material, as
r e f l e c t e d in t h e e m p h a s i s given it by t h e p u b l i s h e r ,
Sage. T h e p u b l i c a t i o n o f b o o k s a n d c h a p t e r s is a
g o o d way to bypass j o u r n a l e d i t o r i a l p r e j u d i c e s . As
b o o k s a n d c h a p t e r s m o u n t , they signal a shift in the
wind. G r a d u a t e students take n o t i c e a n d force their
s u p e r v i s o r s to t a k e n o t i c e a l o n g w i t h t h e m
( M c M u l l e n , 2002; R e n n i e , W a t s o n , & M o n t e i r o ,
2000), a n d courses in qualitative r e s e a r c h b e g i n to b e
o f f e r e d ( S t o p p a r d , 2002). P r o f e s s i o n a l c o n f e r e n c e s
start getting p r o p o s a l s for qualitative r e s e a r c h p a p e r s
a n d p u t t h e m o n t h e i r p r o g r a m s as a r e s u l t .
Eventually, j o u r n a l editors start to take notice. S o m e
o f t h e m set up special sections or issues, as a way o f
s t e p p i n g in t h e water. O t h e r s go so far as to invite
qualitative r e s e a r c h m a n u s c r i p t s for r e g u l a r issues.
All o f this h a s b e e n h a p p e n i n g b u t it is still t o o
early to d e c l a r e t h a t a r u p t u r e in t h e d o m i n a n c e o f
positivism is now underway, at least a c c o r d i n g to o u r
findings. T h e n u m b e r of PsycINFO hits involving o u r
search terms ( i n c l u d i n g overlaps a m o n g t h e m ) in the
1990s, c o n s t i t u t e d only 0.45% o f the total n u m b e r of
PsycINFO r e c o r d s for that d e c a d e . As we have e m p h a sized t h r o u g h o u t , o u r study is d i r e c t e d t o w a r d t h e
c o m p a r a t i v e r i s e o f t h e a p p e a r a n c e o f five s e a r c h
terms across d e c a d e s r a t h e r than to the actual n u m b e r
of p u b l i c a t i o n s having to d o with qualitative research.
But, on that score, even if o u r estimation o f qualitative
r e s e a r c h activity in t h e '90s u n d e r e s t i m a t e s the actual
activity by a factor of 20, the actual activity w o u l d still
o n l y a m o u n t to 9% o f t h e w h o l e . I n t h i s l i g h t ,
w h e t h e r t h e i n c r e a s e in q u a l i t a t i v e r e s e a r c h r e p r e sents t h e b e g i n n i n g o f a significant shift in t h e cond u c t o f psychological r e s e a r c h as suggested by O ' N e i l l
(2002) r e m a i n s to b e seen.
This article is derived from a paper presented in a panel
on "Qualitative Psychology: HismiT, Theoi T and Practice"
(Michael Kral, Chair) at the annual meeting of the
Canadian Psychological Association, Ottawa, June 2000.
The authors appreciate the support given this study by the
Faculty of Arts, York University and comments by anonymous reviewers on an earlier draft. Correspondence may
be directed m David Rennie, Department of Psychology,
York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M3J 1P3.
(E-mail: [email protected]).
Rise o f Qualitative R e s e a r c h in Psychology 189
R6sum6
Une 6rude est p r t s e n t t e sur la m o n t t e de la recherche
qualitative en psychologic au cours du XXe si&cle.
L'incidence de la recherche qualitative a 6t6 r t v t l t e par la
recherche de plusieurs mots-clts (p.ex. <~qualitative
research ,,, <~grounded theoi y ,,, <~discourse analy* ,,, <~
empirical phenomenological ,, et <~phenomenological
psychology ,,) dans les bases de d o n n t e s PsycINFO et
Dissertation Abstracts International. On a trouvt, qu'~t
l'exception des termes de recherche portant sur la
p h t n o m t n o l o g i e , les notices bibliographiques contenant
ces termes de recherche n'existaient pas ~t mute fin pratique avant les anntes quatre-vingts, o6 on a connu une
m o n t t e p r o n o n c t e qui s'est intensifite au cours des a n n t e
quatre-vingt-dix. Les notices PsycINFO ont 6t6 trites en
fonction des crit&res suivants : 1) si elles provenaient de la
psychologic ou d'autres disciplines en sciences sociales ou
de la santt, 2) la r t g i o n d'origine, 3) les types de documents auxquels il est fair r t f t r e n c e et 4) si ces documents
portaient sur la mtthodologie ou l'application de la
recherche qualitative. Un certain nombre de difftrences
inttressantes ont 6merg6 de cette analyse comparative. Les
constquences de ces dtcouvertes ~t l'effet qu'un changement de paradigme pourrait ~tre en cours sont abordtes.
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