Call for papers: qualitative research in psychology

CALL FOR PAPERS
January 2010
Qualitative Research in Psychology

Special Issue: Pluralism in Qualitative Research in Psychology

Guest Editors: Nollaig Frost and Sevasti-Melissa Nolas

Qualitative research methods in psychology are widely accepted. Single method approaches (e.g. narrative analysis, discourse analysis, ethnography, grounded theory, thematic analysis, interpretative phenomenological analysis) can be found on their own or in combination with quantitative methods. Less well-explored and debated is the combination of qualitative methods with each other - an approach that can be termed ‘pluralism’. This combining of ontologies and epistemologies gives rise to both benefits and creative tensions and provides a focus for inquiry into enhancing awareness of researcher impact.

The aim of this Special Issue is to provide an international forum within which the disparate array of questions that are arising about a pluralistic approach to qualitative research in psychology can be posed and debated. Recognising the potential that this approach offers for accessing the different layers and dimensions of a complex and constructed social reality brings with it both curiosity and questions about its ontology, epistemological tenets, theoretical frameworks and practical applications.

We invite contributions from those working with a combination of qualitative research methods in psychology. We are interested in submissions that address a range of ontological, epistemological and practical issues in pluralistic qualitative research in psychology including, but not limited to, the following questions and topics:


How are reflexivity and/or subjectivity managed (or not) in qualitative pluralistic research? What does pluralism do to either?
What is the relationship between pluralism and polyvocality in the research context? Does pluralism guarantee polyvocality?
How does pluralism relate to epistemological (in) coherence? Are there tensions? What are the consequences?
Is pluralism unattainable? Discussion of pluralism in theory and in practice
Practical considerations: research design, data analysis, data synthesis.
What challenges does pluralism pose to the paradigm of the lone researcher?
What are the roles of transparency, rigour and reflexivity when working pluralistically?

While we do not want to narrow the possible contribution we imagine that contributors are likely to be working in a range of applied psychology domains including but not limited to: social, community, health, forensic, and clinical psychology, psychoanalysis, and psychotherapy. Contributors are also likely to be involved in applied forms of research that call for an eclectic and creative use of qualitative research methods. Papers should place a strong emphasis on conceptualising and discussing the issues arising from pluralistic qualitative research in psychology and not merely provide methodological solutions.

To be considered for publication, papers must be electronically received by the Guest Editors by 19 April 2010. Please submit papers as Microsoft Word email attachments to both Guest Editors (n.frost@mdx.ac.uk and s.nolas@mdx.ac.uk). Please prepare manuscripts according to the guidelines for submission of Qualitative Research in Psychology http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/journal.asp?issn=1478-0887&linktype=44

Call for articles: action research

Call for Articles
Special Issue on Action Research
Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology

The Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology (JSACP) is planning a special issue on change-oriented research, or action research, and invites authors including scholars, researchers, community members and students to submit manuscripts in English or Spanish.

One of the main avenues for the participation of university-based counselors and psychologists in social change for social justice is through participatory action research. There are as many types of action research as there are practitioners, but all have in common an interest in linking systematic inquiry to the process of change in a particular setting with some degree of participation by community members. We want to open up a space not only for the presentation of successful action research projects, but also for reflection on the following sorts of questions or topics linked to action research:
· How can the participation of community members in the initiation, design and conduct of the project be as meaningful as possible? What obstacles arise in trying to achieve this aim?

· How do action research techniques need to be modified for use in settings that are not typical organizations or communities, such as virtual communities, professional associations, or communities of practice?

· How do action researchers resolve the tension between meeting the goals of academic publishing on one hand and the aims of the change project on the other, especially since things rarely go as planned?

· What are the lessons that can be learned through action research about the nature of system change for social justice?

Manuscripts are due by August 1, 2010 and will be reviewed by peers. Guidelines for submission can be found at www.psysr.org/jsacp. We specifically seek articles that describe the complexities of social change work and the lessons learned from hard experience. Most aspects of the work deserve further systematic reflection, ranging from the personal struggles of activists and group process issues in grassroots organizing to analyses of change processes related to power and policy in macrosocial structures. The Journal is open to a variety of formats for addressing such topics: research articles, interviews, essays, autoethnography, etc.

The Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology invites a wide array of articles and essays focusing on how we can be more effective as counselors, therapists, and psychologists in fostering system-level change for peace and social justice. The Journal's original mission statement can be found here: http://www.psysr.org/jsacp/sloan-toporek-V1N1-07.pdf

JSACP is indexed by EBSCO and is available free of charge to readers all over the world. The first three issues of the Journal may be accessed for free at http://www.psysr.org/jsacp
Inquiries should be addressed to the editors at jsacp@lclark.edu

How not to write a PhD thesis - Tara Brabazon

Here is were you can find the whole of Tara Brabazon's top ten tips for doctoral failure. Summarised, don't do this if you want to successfully finish your Ph.D.:

1. Submit an incomplete, poorly formatted bibliography

2. Use phrases such as “some academics” or “all the literature” without mitigating statements or references

3. Write an abstract without a sentence starting “my original contribution to knowledge is…”

4. Fill the bibliography with references to blogs, online journalism and textbooks

5. Use discourse, ideology, signifier, signified, interpellation, postmodernism, structuralism, post-structuralism or deconstruction without reading the complete works of Foucault, Althusser, Saussure, Baudrillard or Derrida

6. Assume something you are doing is new because you have not read enough to know that an academic wrote a book on it 20 years ago

7. Leave spelling mistakes in the script

8. Make the topic of the thesis too large

9. Write a short, rushed, basic exegesis

10. Submit a PhD with a short introduction or conclusion

How to pass your PhD

Tara Brabazon: Road map to doctoral failure

In this ten-step guide, Tara Brabazon presents the don’ts and don’ts of the PhD process.

Part one: bibliographies

The canary in the mine

Doctoral students need to be told that most examiners start marking from the back of the script. Just as cooks are judged by their ingredients and implements, we judge doctoral students by the calibre of their sources.

The moment examiners see incomplete references or find that key theorists in the topic are absent, they worry. This concern intensifies when in-text citations with no match in the bibliography are located.

If examiners find ten errors, then students are required to perform minor corrections. If there are 20 anomalies, the doctorate will need major corrections. Any referencing issues over that number and examiners question the students’ academic abilities.

If the most basic academic protocols are not in place, the credibility of a script wavers. A bibliography is not just a bibliography: it is a canary in the doctoral mine.

UPDATE the link to the article appears to have stopped working and I can't find it anywhere on THES website but it was there! A search in google does find the page but clicking on it doesn't work either. If it comes back I'll put the link up again. Here is a link to the cached version which might disappear soon: http://tiny.cc/LaKfs

The Simpson's view of Grad students

Something to lighten your morning with, thanks to the Simpsons:

Radio show on bail in America

There is a new three part series on the burden of bail in America's criminal justice system that should prove to be interesting listening. There is an accompanying article on the website linked above.

Evidence by La La & the Boo Ya

I couldn't resist posting this, partly because my friends made it, but also because it's about time people made statements about the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008, section 76 which bans people from taking photos of the police in novel and interesting ways.

This line is my favourite:

The law, creates an uproar,

the uproar justifies the law,