The relationship between qualitative and quantitative research: Lessons from feminist psychology

The dominant methodological approach in psychological research has involved the use of quantitative methods within a positivist framework. In this article we argue that both qualitative and quantitative methods have their strengths and limitations, depending on the research question under investigation. We examine some of the advantages of qualitative methods, paying particular attention to the value of such methods for feminist researchers. We challenge the positivist assumption that all research should be apolitical and value-free, arguing that the political context in which all research studies take place plays an important role in decisions about the appropriate research methods to use. Despite the value attached to qualitative methods by feminist researchers, there may be projects for which quantitative methods, or a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques, are more suitable. We draw on examples from our research on the transition from school to the job market for young people, and a study of 16- to 19-year-old first time mothers to illustrate these points, examining the practical implications of our arguments for applied social psychology research.     

Reviewing effective components of feminist therapy

Despite the broad application of feminist techniques and advances in defining feminist theory for psychological practice, consensus regarding the effectiveness of core components and techniques specific to feminist therapy is still evolving. This paper identifies four core components of feminist therapy: consciousness raising, social and gender role analysis, resocialization and social activism, and evaluates existing research evaluating their therapeutic effectiveness. Research to date suggests that many of these core components are promising. Future research on each of these key components is proposed.     

A History of Women and Feminist Perspectives in Community Psychology

Using an historical framework, we document and assess efforts to include women, women's issues, and feminism in community psychology and in the Society for Community Research and Action (SCRA). Initiatives of the SCRA Task Force/Committee on Women are traced from its inception to present. We also chronicle the dilemmas and difficulties of moving toward a feminist community psychology. The history is divided into five phases. Each phase is described in terms of women's involvement in the field and efforts to integrate feminist content into research and practice of the field. Reflections on the qualities of contexts that have both supported and inhibited inclusion are identified. We look to this history to try to understand the observation that while women have been increasingly visible in leadership roles and women's professional development has been encouraged, less progress has been made toward building a feminist community psychology.     

Feminism and Evolutionary Psychology: Allies, Adversaries, or Both? An Introduction to a Special Issue

This special issue on feminism and evolutionary psychology addresses current theory and research from feminist and evolutionary psychologists, focusing on gender differences in mate selection as conceptualized by Sexual Strategies Theory. This introduction begins with feminist critiques of evolutionary psychology as well as attempts by Darwinian feminists to integrate the two. It then reviews the papers, which generally fit into one of three lines of research. One group of papers critiques evolutionary psychology claims and presents research to support alternative theoretical explanations. A second group uses evolutionary psychology to support research on gender differences in alignment with Sexual Strategies Theory. A third group utilizes theory and empirical research to integrate evolutionary psychology and feminist theories. The introduction concludes with a call for furthering our understanding of the relationship between these theories.     

Feminism and the Evolution of Sex Differences and Similarities

Distrust between most evolutionary psychologists and most feminist psychologists is evident in the majority of the articles contained in this Special Issue. The debates between proponents of these perspectives reflect different views of the potential for transforming gender relations from patriarchal to gender-equal. Yet, with respect to the overall prevalence of sex differences or similarities, the articles in the Special Issue show that neither feminist psychologists nor evolutionary psychologists have uniform positions. Questions about how and if women and men differ are still under negotiation in the articles in this Special Issue as well as in other research related to evolutionary and feminist psychology. Clearer conclusions would be fostered by standardized metrics for representing male?Cfemale comparisons, more varied research methods for assessing both psychological and biological processes, greater diversity in populations sampled, and more researcher openness to taking into account findings that challenge their theories. Theoretical growth also is needed, especially to develop and integrate the many individual feminism-influenced theories represented in this Special Issue. To this end, we propose an integrative evolutionary framework that recognizes human culture in both ultimate and proximal causes of female and male behavior.     

Bridging the personal and the political: practices for a liberation psychology

In the Irish context, legacies of colonialism, the Northern Ireland conflict situation, and the strength of community and women's liberation movements all provide rich resources for understanding the processes involved in both oppression and liberation. This paper draws on the theoretical and research literature and on Irish experiences to develop an understanding of some of the processes and practices that aid in liberation. The research is grounded in diverse writings on oppression and liberation, which include writings on colonialism (E. Duran &B. Duran, 1995; F. Fanon, 1967; V. Kenny, 1985, L. Maracle, 1996), feminist psychology (J. B. Miller, 1986; S. Wilkinson, 1996), liberation psychology (H. A. Bulhan, 1985; L. Comas-Díaz, M. B. Lykes, & R. D. Alarcon, 1998; I. Martín-Baró, 1994; Starhawk, 1987), and psychological aspects of racism (b. hooks, 1993; A. Mama, 1995; R. J. Watts, D. M. Griffith, & J. Abdul-Adil, 1999), homophobia (A. R. D'Augelli & C. J. Patterson, 1995), poverty (K. O'Neill, 1992), and other dimensions of oppression.     

Integration of Psychological Researches under the Scheme of Subjectivity

The issue of meaning gradually catches psychologists’ attention and is increasingly becoming a focus of study in contemporary psychology. Elstrup’s (2009) research about social evolution gives a reasonable angle on meaning study, which is in accordance with the nature of both human and personal psychological evolution and allows us to see subjectivity and dynamics of psychological phenomena through the focus of the subject-object relation. A phylogenetic system of explanation based on subject-object relation will be able to integrate new psychological research directions. This means that we should see psychological phenomena as historic and the research methods of cultural ecology as absolutely necessary.     

Casting weight goal as a function of weight status among a representative population-based sample of adolescents

This paper pursues two objectives: (1) to estimate proportions of adolescents with a weight goal that matched and mismatched weight status, and (2) to identify correlates of a mismatched weight goal. Data were from a representative population-based sample of adolescents (n = 2346, 51% female; 91.5% complete data). Results showed that 69% of adolescents had a weight goal that matched weight status whereas 31% had a weight goal that mismatched weight status. Body dissatisfaction was a significant predictor of having a mismatched weight goal for both sexes while elevated psychological distress was a predictor among girls. Being body dissatisfied mediated the association between psychological distress and having a mismatched weight goal among girls. Casting weight goal as a function of weight status may allow for a better understanding of overall weight management strategies.     

Feminism and the Decade of Behavior

This Psychology of Women Quarterly special issue argues that the goals of the Decade of Behavior to foster a healthier, safer, better educated, more prosperous, and more democratic nation cannot be achieved without contributions from feminist psychology. Its individual articles reflect feminist perspectives and provide examples of how feminist perspectives can inform behavioral and social research within Decade domains. In this overview, we outline the challenges that gender poses to achieving Decade goals, and discuss four cross-cutting feminist principles for research to address those challenges: Inclusiveness and Diversity, Context, Power and Privilege, and Activism. We discuss specific limitations of traditional research, and emphasize the need for new models that view the world in more complex, context-based ways. We underscore the importance of generating new, diversity-mindful research questions and of developing and accepting new methods to answer them. We discuss policy implications, stressing the need for activism. We hope this work will encourage the expansion of feminist scholarship in the new millennium and be helpful to researchers, educators, and policymakers in working to achieve the goals of the Decade of Behavior.     

Ready for Anything the World Gives Her? : A Critical Look at Sports-Based Positive Youth Development for Girls

Girl-centered sport and physical activity programs that are grounded in a positive youth development approach have grown tremendously in the United States since the 1990s. While research on the efficacy of sports-based positive youth development is limited, recent studies conducted in the United States suggest these programs yield benefits. Our assessment of the literature and programming efforts however highlight a significant gap in the theoretical assumptions of girl-centered, sports-based positive youth development: an understanding of the complexity of sport and physical activity within a gendered context. Focusing on the U.S. context and using a feminist sociological lens, we articulate a paradox in these programs: sport participation and physical activity can improve girls’ lives along numerous psycho-social dimensions, yet in absence of attention to the social and political context of gender relations, girl-centered, sports-based positive youth development programs risk unwittingly maintaining the gender status quo. We review three specific critiques to illustrate this paradox: 1) the emphasis on the individual and the immediate context of girls’ lives masks larger systems of inequality and privilege; 2) the use of post feminist narratives, such as Girl Power, suggests girls live in a world beyond sexism; and 3) the focus on reducing the childhood “obesity epidemic” through fitness contributes to harmful fat phobic messages for girls. We offer recommendations that assist programs in leveraging their existing strengths to have a meaningful impact on girls’ lives, and that address cultural and structural factors as well as individual and interpersonal ones.     

TRANSFORMING THEORY AND RESEARCH WITH WOMEN

We look at some of the ways in which feminist theorists and researchers apply new insights to established topics in psychology, as they explore the landscape of the unknown and unspoken in the lives of girls and women. The articles in this special issue present research and reflections by a group of feminist scholars, some of us from the editorial board of the Psychology of Women Quarterly and others from the larger academic community. Each contributor, selecting from a personal interest or expertise, reconceptualizes a topical area of psychology with the intent of reframing our understanding of its meaning, its impact on women's functioning, and/or its application to feminist research and theory. To provide a background, we review a sample of contributions of feminist thought to the contemporary revolution in science. We then ask the question: In what ways have feminist perspectives and scholarship transformed psychology in the particular areas addressed by these authors?     

Play Behavior and Playfulness in Adulthood

Although research has established play behavior and playfulness as important to the well‐being of children and animals, researchers have not typically considered the importance or implications of play in human adults. This is surprising given that play behavior is a topic of high relevance to social psychology. Definitional issues, a lack of a theoretical framework, and a dearth of standardized measures have posed obstacles in the advancement of this interesting research area, which is ripe for investigation. In this review, we summarize the extant literature, identify strengths and weaknesses of this literature, propose definitions to guide future work in this area, identify relevant theories that may be expanded to provide a framework for programmatic research on play in adulthood, and elucidate avenues for future research. Our aim is to encourage the development of this research area within social psychology.     

Feminist Interventions: Accountability Beyond Symptom Reduction

Feminist interventions to facilitate women's psychological well-being are forging new pathways to achieving the goals of the Decade of Behavior. In emphasizing the complex interplay between internal and external factors in women's lives, feminist interventions are designed to promote women's safety, health, positive life styles, personal strength, competence, and resilience. In contrast, prevailing medical models locate the problem within the woman by concentrating on diagnosis and treatment of pathology and internal disorders. I offer a model here for implementing and assessing intervention strategies that targets both the effects of unsupportive or negative environments and the imperative to strengthen and empower girls and women, their families, and their communities. The obligation to be accountable for the outcomes of feminist interventions encompasses a major focus of this article. Evolving developments in research on accountability are reviewed in relation to conceptualization, goal setting, and assessment of feminist interventions. I encourage continuing collaboration between the feminist-informed research and practitioner communities to promote women's health, safety, and well-being in the Decade of Behavior.     

PSYCHOLOGY RECONSTRUCTS THE FEMALE 1968–1988

Recent work on the psychology of gender is pluralistic, stemming from varied specialty areas within psychology, grounded in several intellectual frameworks, and reflecting a spectrum of feminist perspectives. This article is a critical appraisal of diverse approaches to the study of women and gender. It first describes prefeminist or "womanless" psychology, then analyzes four co-existing frameworks that have generated recent research. The four frameworks are: Exceptional Women , in which empirical research focuses on the correlates of high achievement for women, and women's history in the discipline is re-evaluated; Women as Problem (or Anomaly ), in which research emphasizes explanations for female "deficiencies" (e.g., fear of success); the Psychology of Gender , in which the focus of inquiry shifts from women to gender, conceived as a principle of social organization that structures relations between women and men; and a (currently relatively undeveloped) Transformation framework that reflexively challenges the values, assumptions, and normative practices of the discipline. Examples of research programs within each approach are described, and the strengths and limitations of each approach are critically examined.     

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR WOMEN IN PSYCHOLOGY

The Association for Women in Psychology (AWP) was founded in 1969 by American Psychological Association (APA) members who were frustrated with sexism in psychology, in the APA, and at the 1969 APA convention itself. The activism of the 1960s, together with the new women's liberation movement, gave the founders tools and justification for a new organization. This article, the first published AWP history, describes the founding circumstances, early skirmishes concerning structure and operations, evolution of major activities (such as the annual conference, importance of lesbians, growing attention to multiculturalism), and ongoing tensions between centralization and "feminist process."     

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

The central theme of this article is that a feminist perspective is not only compatible with the history, objectives, and emphases of social psychology, but necessary for its continued vitality. In view of social psychology's humanist roots and its "nurturist" and "social optimist" tenets, it is not surprising that feminist scholarship has flourished within it. Situational factors and group membership—the focus of social psychological inquiry—are also key to understanding how culture constructs gender, a central issue in the feminist agenda. Some of the important women in the early decades of American psychology are claimed as foremothers of social psychology and as feminist voices, and the feminist perspective is defined and identified in terms of its major interrelated themes. The influence of feminist scholarship on contemporary social psychology is illustrated, and it is argued that a feminist perspective will become increasingly more visible.     

The challenge of a positive self-image in a colonial context: a psychology of liberation for the Puerto Rican experience

Community psychology and the psychology of liberation provide a framework to analyze colonization. Puerto Rico has always been a colony. This experience has direct negative effects on Puerto Ricans' national identities and their emotions. The purpose of this study was to explore emotions associated with Puerto Rican national identities in a sample of 35 high school students. While participating in 4 focus groups, the youths discussed negative and positive emotions associated to their national identities. The most frequent ones were shame and pride. They also identified situations which promoted negative and positive emotions. The role of a community psychology of liberation in understanding these phenomena as well as in embracing resistance to colonization is discussed.     

Understanding psychological distress in Meniere's disease: a systematic review

It has long been suspected that psychological disturbance is common in Meniere's disease (MD), but there has been no systematic review of research on this topic since 1977. The aim of this review was to investigate whether components of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or health anxiety contribute to distress, so that support and psychological therapy can be tailored better to the particular problems of people with MD. We systematically identified all studies of psychological factors associated with MD between 1977 and 2004. We then tabulated the findings from each of the 28 studies to match them to the components of PTSD and health anxiety. Levels of psychosocial impairment and distress were comparable to patients with similar illness. Evidence was found for some of the components of both PTSD and health anxiety. We conclude that more specific research into PTSD-like symptoms and health anxiety in MD is needed. There was a general lack of research into psychological mechanisms contributing to distress in this population, many studies had methodological weaknesses, and only one qualitative and one longitudinal study had been carried out.