Overview
Based on the module readings and additional resources respond to the following:
1) Explain the ethnographic and narrative psychology approaches.
2) How would you conduct a study in a culture unfamiliar to you.
3) Are these approaches suitable for your area of interest? Explain your reasoning.
Required Reading:
Dikomitis, L., & Shergill, S.S. (2025). Why psychiatry needs ethnography. British Journal of Psychiatry, 227(4), 664-666. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.2025.10318
McGrath, C., McFarland, J., Mohler, E., Hand, C., Laliberte Rudman, D., Fitzgeorge, B., & Stone, M. (2025). A critical ethnographic approach for understanding how environmental factors shape experiences of community mobility for older adults aging with and into vision loss: A protocol paper. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 24. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069251357772
MAXQDA Official Channel. (2025, April 14). Grounded theory guide (2025): Explained step-by-step [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5G9c-58QSdE (10:35)
Willis, R.K., & Harvey, S. (2025). Doing interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) in applied linguistics research: A field-specific guide. Research Methods in Applied Linguistics, 4(3), 100279. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmal.2025.100279
Killingback, C. (2024, October 2). Qualitative data collection methods [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COsDXXY9i2I (5:15)
Keane, E. (2025). Constructivist grounded theory in qualitative research for social justice: Purpose, process, promise. New Trends in Qualitative Research, 21(2), e1289. https://doi.org/10.36367/ntqr.21.2.2025.e1289
Killingback, C. (2024, September 25). Qualitative research designs: An overview [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8--ku1pgPZc (12:16)
Clarke, V. (2025, October 10). Qualitative interviewing Part 4. [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onwKiHrqdJ8&t=14s (25:15)
Bhatti, F., Leeuwerik, T., Savins, C., & Jackson, L. (2025). An interpretative phenomenological analysis of the experience of a nature-based therapy intervention for children with long-term health conditions and associated psychological difficulties. Journal of Health Psychology, 30(9), 2264-2281. https://doi.org/10.1177/13591053251315380
American Psychological Association. (2021, December 7). Essentials of interpretative phenomenological analysis [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YM8Xxs8ucA (30:17)
American Psychological Association. (2021, November 12). Essentials of thematic analysis [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1eZGe0uuvY (37:01)
American Psychological Association. (2021, May 3). Essentials of critical constructivist grounded theory research CCGT [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InpBIqmPdXM (44:55)
Simanjuntak, E., Suryanto, S., & Hendriani, W. (2022). Using ethnography in psychological research: Challenges and opportunities. Buletin Psikologi, 30(1), 45-58. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/367675953_Using_Ethnography_in_Psychological_Research_Challenges_and_Opportunities
| Objectives |
|---|
- Define qualitative inquiry, its vocabulary, key concepts, and describe common theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of qualitative inquiry
- Compare and contrast ethnography, grounded theory, and phenomenology methods.
- Employ methods based on narrative psychology and action research
Welcome to Module 4.
Ethnography: This framework uses a descriptive approach for in-depth study of cultures, cultural groups, large organizations, and their features. With this framework, the researcher immerses themself in the culture or population being studied. Data collection occurs in the field and includes participant observation, naturalistic observation, written field notes, unstructured and structured interviews, source documents, records, photographs, and focus group interviews. Thematic analysis is used to make sense of the data.
Grounded Theory: When this framework is used, the goal is to gather enough descriptive data to ultimately develop propositions that may be turned into theories to explain phenomena. Data collection in grounded theory studies involves primarily interviews. These are oftentimes recurring, in that once preliminary data has been analyzed, the researcher goes back to re-interview people to ensure the meaning is correct. Data analysis occurs in many phases. Open coding begins the process by reading and identifying themes. Axial coding follows, which begins to link the initial themes into categories. Finally, selective coding allows the identification of the main phenomenon (core category) around which the other categories may be grouped.
Phenomenology: This framework seeks to understand the lived experience of persons undergoing some phenomenon. The researcher is trying to describe the phenomena in detail, illuminating the experience of those who have lived it. Data collection here requires the researcher to constantly work to reduce their preconceptions and biases, a process referred to as epoche. Data collection is primarily done through in-depth interviews. Analyzing these data is a more rigorous thematic analysis. It requires multiple steps to have a sense of the whole while connecting meaningful units within the description.
Narrative Psychology: Narrative psychology is still new in the qualitative world. The focus relates to the structure, content, and function of the stories people tell in social interactions. How the stories are told and what emphasis is placed on particular topics is what is analyzed in narrative psychology. Data is collected primarily through interviews, which need to be left completely unencumbered by the researcher who may interrupt the narrative being told. Keep in mind that the narrative account is center stage in this type of research. With narrative analysis, the key is to understand the account as a whole, not break it down to component parts through recursive coding.