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We address the significance and implications of the formal tion, possibly even retrograde. After all, qualitative re-
entry of qualitative inquiry into the American Psychologi- search has been a fixture in psychological research virtually
cal Association. In our view, the discipline is enriched in since its origins. The seminal work of such figures as
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
new and important ways. Most prominently, the qualitative Freud, Piaget, Bartlett, Lorenz, and Vygotsky was primar-
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
movement brings with it a pluralist orientation to knowl- ily based on qualitative research. And more recent lumi-
edge and to practices of inquiry. Adding to the traditional naries such as Leon Festinger, Stanley Milgram, Philip
view of knowledge as empirically supported theory are Zimbardo, and Carol Gilligan have also relied on qualita-
research practices congenial with varying accounts of tive endeavors. So what’s new? At the same time, as we
knowledge, including, for example, knowledge as herme- commonly understand the purpose of research methods,
neutic understanding, social construction, and practice- qualitative approaches are considered rudimentary, even
based experience. Added to the goal of prediction are “prescientific.” They are frequently faulted for the lack of
investments in increasing cultural understanding, chal- interobserver reliability, the absence of standardized mea-
lenging cultural conventions, and directly fostering social surement, and their inability to accommodate inferential
change. The qualitative movement also enriches the disci- statistics. In effect, they cannot provide a proper grounding
pline as a whole through the special ways in which it for general laws and the promise of prediction. From this
inspires new ranges of theory, fosters minority inclusion, perspective, we might scarcely be sanguine about the
and invites interdisciplinary collaboration. Finally, the emerging enthusiasm for qualitative research.
movement holds promise in terms of the discipline’s con- Yet to view the contemporary qualitative movement
tribution to society at large. Here we focus on the advan- through the lens of traditional hypothesis-testing research is
tages of knowing with others in addition to about them, and to misunderstand the logics, values, and goals that are
on ways in which qualitative work enhances communica- represented in the current movement. The movement draws
tion with the society and the world. Realizing these poten- from different reservoirs of thought, new sensitivities, and
tials will depend on developments in responsible research expanded conceptions of what psychology might offer the
and reporting, academic and journal policies, along with world. In important respects, the movement also points
the discipline’s capacities for appreciating a more com- toward a new and more comprehensive vision of the dis-
prehensive orientation to inquiry. cipline itself. As we will propose in what follows, the
contemporary movement in qualitative inquiry holds prom-
Keywords: qualitative research, pluralism, research meth- ise for substantial enrichment of the discipline and its
ods, psychology and society potential contribution to society. To appreciate what is at
I
stake, we first sketch out some of the major influences
n recent years, an active coalition of psychologists informing the present movement, and several prominent
exploring vistas in qualitative inquiry has spearheaded orientations to inquiry. We then consider three resulting
the development of the Society for Qualitative Inquiry forms of enrichment—the potentials of psychological re-
in Psychology. Importantly, the society has now become a search, professional life in the discipline, and the contribu-
full-fledged participant in the American Psychological As- tion of psychology to society.
sociation (APA), prominently situated within Division 5.
The previous name of the division—Evaluation, Measure- The Pluralist Turn and the Flowering
ment, & Statistics—will be replaced with the Division of of Inquiry
Quantitative and Qualitative Methods. Adding further To appreciate the significance of the current qualitative
weight to these ventures, a new APA journal—Qualitative movement, it is important to glimpse the cultural and
Psychology—is in its first year of publication. In the pres- intellectual context from which it has emerged. In our view,
ent article, we address the implications of these events for its most recent beginnings can be traced to the 1960s and
the future of the discipline. In our view, this movement
brings with it an invigorating and enriching expansion in
the vision of psychological inquiry and its potentials. How Kenneth J. Gergen, Department of Psychology, Swarthmore College;
are we to understand this expansion and its offerings? What Ruthellen Josselson, School of Psychology, Fielding Graduate University;
Mark Freeman, Department of Psychology, College of the Holy Cross.
may we anticipate in the future? Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ken-
Such questions are all the more important because neth J. Gergen, Department of Psychology, Swarthmore College, 500
these events might otherwise appear as a minor perturba- College Ave, Swarthmore, PA 19086. E-mail: kgergen1@swarthmore.edu
use that variously serve to oppress, discriminate, dominate, employed and the range of goals for positive social change.
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
or function in other socially corrosive ways. Inspired es- Illustrative here is Fine and Torre’s (2006) research assist-
pecially by liberation psychology ideas (Martin-Baro, ing women in prison, Lykes’s (2001) consciousness raising
1994), the goal of such research is to free the reader from work with rural Guatemalan women, and Russell and Bo-
traditional or commonsense ways of constructing the han’s (1999) efforts to resist antigay legislation. For many
world. For example, Coates (2013) illuminates the way educational psychologists, research begins in the process of
group prejudices are normalized in everyday discourse on teaching, in which the classroom becomes a form of labo-
heterosexuality, Simpson and Mayr (2010) showcase the ratory (Wamba, 2011). And for researchers in community
various ways in which language is used to generate power psychology, action research has been a major means for
differences, and Breeze (2012) demonstrates the rhetorical moving beyond theory and research on building commu-
strategies by which corporations legitimate their malfea- nities to actually bringing them into being (Nelson &
sance. Willig’s (1999) edited volume, Applied Discourse Prilleltensky, 2010). An extended view of the range and
Analysis, features critical analyses of the taken-for-granted potentials of such efforts can be found in journals such as
assumptions in self-help literature, reproductive technolo- Action Research and the International Journal of Action
gies, psychiatric medication, and sex education. Research, along with the Reason and Bradbury’s (2008)
Discourse analysis is not the only form of qualitative Handbook of Action Research (2nd ed.).
inquiry with liberatory ends in mind. Performance-based With the new wave of qualitative inquiry, we thus find
researchers often focus attention on prejudices and injus- the potentials of psychological research vastly increased.
tices, but use performance, as opposed to scientific text, to Although the preceding forms of inquiry are illustrative,
dramatize their positions (see, e.g., M. M. Gergen & Ger- they scarcely exhaust the range of assumptions and aims of
gen, 2012). Autoethnography often carries similar goals qualitative researchers. Focus-group methods have been
(Jones et al., 2013), illuminating, in first-hand language, the with us for decades as means of exploring attitudes and
life of authors who have been the targets of discrimination generating ideas in the public and private sectors (Kreuger
or oppression. Autoethnographic performance, a relatively & Casey, 2008). There are also narrative researchers, for
new departure, achieves similar ends by setting into dra- example, who gather individual life accounts of people
matic performance critical issues of race, gender, and sex- who have overcome difficulties (e.g., physical impairment,
ual preferences (see, e.g., Spry, 2011). More subtly devel- imprisonment). Such narratives are used to provide models
oped explorations in culture critique are also folded into for those who also confront such difficulties, in effect
oral history research (Shapes, 2001). furnishing inspiration and directions toward more promis-
ing ways of life. In the medical arena, first-person accounts
Praxis and Social Action
of being a patient are used in medical education. Medical
Drawing from Aristotle’s early account of knowledge, a students essentially learn about best practices from the
distinction can be drawn between knowledge as theoria and patient’s point of view, and, as well, narrative practices are
as praxis. By and large, psychological research has been encouraged as a major means of communicating between
devoted to establishing the empirical grounds for general doctor and patient (Charon, 2008). In general, the qualita-
theories, essentially reflecting Aristotle’s vision of knowl- tive movement invites psychologists to think creatively and
edge as theoria. However, bearing philosophic traces from expansively, both about what we can achieve as psychol-
both Karl Marx and John Dewey, there has been growing ogists and the practices we may employ in these efforts.
interest in the potentials of viewing knowledge as emerging
from action in the service of reaching a goal. Thus, although The Flourishing of Psychology as a Discipline
much empiricist work is aimed at establishing evidential The new wave of qualitative inquiry substantially expands
grounds for general theory, praxis-oriented research derives the range of potential achievements in psychological in-
working knowledge from specific goal-directed action. Rather quiry. In addition, however, there are significant reverber-
than embracing the traditional dictum that science is de- ations for the field of psychology itself. There is already a
voted to understanding “what is the case rather than what charged atmosphere within the community of qualitative
ought to be,” they ask what might be accomplished if we researchers—a shared enthusiasm in the freedom to move
assumptions and values. Thus, for example, if one chooses itative Psychology and Qualitative Research in Psychol-
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.
to work with an experimental method, one may be invited ogy, are not tied to any particular field of study in psychol-
to theorize in terms of cause– effect relationships, and the ogy. All may participate.
work likely places an implicit value on prediction. Obser- It is this same spirit of inclusion that softens the
vational methods— centering, for example, on children’s tension between quantitative and qualitative researchers.
activities—may favor theories of intrinsic process, with a Although drawing from competing visions of knowledge,
concern for what is normal in human functioning. Phenom- mixed methods are now a common feature of many re-
enological methods may inspire theorists to articulate the search endeavors (Tashakkori & Teddlie, 2003). This wel-
structure of experience, with the hope that the research will coming spirit also ensures a place at the table for the
increase human understanding. Thus, as we enrich the various minority groups in psychology— ethnic, religious,
range of research practices, we simultaneously expand the gendered—and others over which a gray cloud of “going it
arena of theoretical ideas and their associated values. A alone” has sometimes hovered. And the way is open to
prominent example from the contemporary qualitative appreciate multiple cultures and build global understanding
arena is furnished by discourse-focused researchers. The (Christopher, Wendt, Marecek, & Goodman, 2014) A sense
concern with the pragmatic use of language, both in writing of welcoming also means an opening to curiosity about
and conversation, has led to broad theorizing about the what are others are accomplishing, and how are they reach-
challenge of communicating across cultures (Wierzbicka, ing these ends. With curiosity comes respect and cross-
2003). It has inspired widely cited developments in posi- fertilization.
tioning theory (Harré and Moghaddam, 2003), given birth
to new theories of mental functioning (Hermans & Gieser, Interdisciplinary Enrichment
2012), and enabled the formation of an entire movement in
“discursive psychology” (Edwards & Potter, 1992). As noted earlier, qualitative inquiry has burgeoned within
To expand on the point, narrative methods have stim- the social sciences more generally. Consistent with its
ulated theoretical explorations of personal memory (Free- pluralist orientation, one of its most important characteris-
man, 1993); interpretive methods have stimulated dialogue tics is a common sharing. Journals such as Narrative In-
on the moral dimensions of psychological inquiry (Rich- quiry, Qualitative Inquiry, Narrative Matters, and the
ardson, Fowers, & Guignon, 1999); the recognition of Qualitative Report feature contributions from across the
indigenous methods has brought with it an appreciation of social sciences, including practice-oriented disciplines such
psychological theorizing from other cultures (Hwang, as education, medicine, social work, counseling, nursing,
2014); observational methods have given rise to new con- urban planning, and more. The various editions of Denzin
ceptions of infant relationships (Trvarthen & Aitken, and Lincoln’s (2011) pivotal Handbook of Qualitative Re-
2001); case studies have given rise to more complex ideas search have featured contributions by not only psycholo-
about therapeutic change (Sherb, 2014); and ethnographic gists but also scholars in communication, sociology, an-
methods have been vital to the development of cultural thropology, cultural studies, geography, philosophy, and
psychology (Shweder, 2003). In effect, it is not simply that more. Such interdisciplinary sharing is also evident at the
theoretical concerns dictate methodology, but methodolog- meetings of the International Congress of Qualitative In-
ical preferences influence theoretical developments. To quiry, an annual event at the University of Illinois. This
presume a single, best method is to reduce theoretical congress brings together researchers not only from across
horizons. The pluralism of the qualitative movement brings the social science spectrum but also from around the world.
with it rich and ever-expanding resources for theoretical Importantly, the congress now features a full day of con-
innovation (see also Kirschner, 2006). tributions by psychologists to the qualitative culture more
generally. There are no disciplinary hierarchies, no distanc-
Building Community ing between the “pure” and “applied,” no strong separation
In her book on the rise of world hyperpowers, Chua (2007) between the sciences and the arts, and no sense that some
argues that the creative power of a culture is closely asso- disciplines or cultures are more advanced in their method-
ciated with its tolerance for its subcultures and its assimi- ological sophistication than others.
psychology and the society more generally. Two of these “elitism” inherent in traditional writing, along with less
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psychology: Moral dimensions of theory and practice. San Francisco: Revision received October 29, 2014
Jossey Bass. Accepted November 6, 2014 "