Handbook

This subject aims to facilitate students’ understanding of the differing epistemological and methodological assumptions underpinning different approaches to qualitative research.

Qualitative research spans a broad range of historical, theoretical and contextual assumptions and in this subject students are exposed to various paradigms in qualitative research. By the end of the subject, students should be able critically to evaluate a broad range of approaches to qualitative research and published material. The subject engages students in a range of qualitative methods and methods of analysis, giving students practical experience in carrying out qualitative research. It also introduces students to critical bodies of work such as feminist and Indigenous Australian perspectives including those of other First Nations peoples, all of which have had significant and valuable impacts on qualitative research and psychology.

• Epistemology: historical, philosophical and theoretical underpinnings of qualitative research in psychology
• Ethics: critical reflection of ethical issues and considerations in qualitative research
• Reflexivity: critical and theoretical interrogation of the socially constructed nature of selves and the place of subjectivity in psychological research
• Methodology: assumptions and principles of design and theoretical approaches to qualitative research methods
• Methods and analyses: designing qualitative research, producing and managing data, interpreting and analysing data text
• Critical methodologies including feminist and Indigenous Australian perspectives including those of other First Nations peoples to qualitative research and psychology
• Producing knowledge: writing and evaluating qualitative research