Comparing qualitative research methodologies for systemic research: the use of grounded theory, discourse analysis and narrative analysis

Many of the qualitative research methods developed in the social sciences are well suited to explore research questions pertinent for the systemic field, and make a good fit with systemic thinking. In this paper I briefly outline the value of qualitative research for systemic psychotherapies. I explore some parallel developments in the field of qualitative research and systemic therapy which can inform each other. Three qualitative methodologies, a grounded theory approach, discourse analysis and narrative analysis, particularly useful for the research of subjective experience and meaning, are briefly outlined. To compare and contrast these methodologies, I discuss their application to a pilot study concerning the experiences of living life in more than one language. I demonstrate how each research methodology can highlight different aspects of qualitative research material and address different research questions. The challenge of how these methodologies may be further developed for systemic research is posed.     

New indirect measures of “inattentive” visual grouping in a change-detection task

It has often been suggested that Gestalt-like visual grouping processes may operate preattentively, but Mack and Rock (1998) suggested that no visual grouping takes place under “inattention.” We introduced a new method to assess this. While participants performed a demanding change-detection task on a small matrix at fixation, task-irrelevant background elements were arranged by color similarity into columns, rows, or pseudorandomly. Independent of any change in the target matrix, background grouping could also change or remain the same on each trial. This influenced accuracy of change judgments for the central task, even though background grouping or its change usually could not be explicitly reported when probed with surprise questions as in Mack and Rock. This suggests that visual grouping may arise implicitly under inattention and provides a new method for testing the boundaries of this processing. Here we extended the initial result to changes in background grouping remote from the target and to those occurring across an intervening saccade.     

Understanding Women's Body Satisfaction: The Role of Husbands

This study was designed to examine the role women's husbands may play in determining their body satisfaction. One hundred and seventy-two (172; mean age = 37.53 years) European American women's body satisfaction, their perceptions of their husbands' satisfaction with their bodies, and their husbands' actual satisfaction with their bodies were assessed using the Body Figure Rating Scale; women's weight status was assessed using body mass index (BMI). Results indicated that wives were much more dissatisfied with their bodies than were their husbands and that wives thought their husbands were much more dissatisfied with their bodies than the husbands actually were. Further, findings suggested that wives' BMIs were not as strongly related to husband's satisfaction with their wives' bodies as they were to wives' own satisfaction or perceptions of their husbands' satisfaction with their bodies.     

Division of Labor Among Lesbian and Heterosexual Parenting Couples: Correlates of Specialized Versus Shared Patterns

One of the central tasks that couples face in coparenting is the division of labor. In this study, we explored division of family labor among lesbian and heterosexual couples who were parenting 4 to 6 year-old children. Sixty-six families, half headed by lesbian couples and half headed by heterosexual couples, participated in the study. Measures of parental attitudes, resources, demographics, and division of labor were collected. As expected, lesbian couples were more likely to divide paid and unpaid labor evenly, whereas heterosexual couples were more likely to show specialized patterns, with husbands investing more time in paid employment and wives devoting more time to unpaid family work. Structural variables (e.g., husband's hours in paid employment) were the best predictors of division of labor among heterosexual couples. Among lesbian couples, however, ideological variables (e.g., ideas about ideal divisions of labor) were the better predictors. Discrepancies in occupational prestige were greater among heterosexual than among lesbian couples. Discussion centers on the ways in which gender and sexual orientation may relate to couples' decisions about division of labor.     

Psychological type and sex differences among church leaders in the United Kingdom

A sample of 135 female and 164 male church leaders of mixed denominations completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales. The female church leaders demonstrated clear preferences for extraversion over introversion, for sensing over intuition, for feeling over thinking, and for judging over perceiving. The male church leaders demonstrated clear preferences for introversion over extraversion, for sensing over intuition, for thinking over feeling, and for judging over perceiving. The predominant type among the women was ESFJ (22%) and the predominant type among the men was ISTJ (30%). Extravert and feeling types were significantly overrepresented among female church leaders, compared with male church leaders.     

Error adaptation in mental arithmetic

Until now, error and conflict adaptation have been studied extensively using simple laboratory tasks. A common finding is that responses slow down after errors. According to the conflict monitoring theory, performance should also improve after an error. However, this is usually not observed. In this study, we investigated whether the characteristics of the experimental paradigms normally used could explain this absence. More precisely, these paradigms have in common that behavioural adaptation has little room to be expressed. We therefore studied error and conflict adaptation effects in a task that encounters the richness of everyday life's behavioural adaptation--namely, mental arithmetic, where multiple solution strategies are available. In accordance with our hypothesis, we observed that post-error accuracy increases after errors in mental arithmetic. No support for conflict adaptation in mental arithmetic was found. Implications for current theories of conflict and error monitoring are discussed.     

Preparing or executing the wrong task: the influence on switch effects

In a previous study, it was proposed that executing a task leads to task strengthening. In other words, task activation at the moment of response execution determines subsequent switch effects (Steinhauser & Hübner, 2006). The authors investigated this issue by comparing switch effects after task and response errors. However, the use of bivalent stimulus-response mappings might have obscured some of the effects. Therefore, we replicated the experiment using univalent stimulus-response mappings. With this adjusted design, which overcomes some shortcomings of the original study, we were able to replicate the finding of switch benefits after task errors. Closer inspection of the data showed the importance of preexecution processes on subsequent switch effects. In a second experiment, we further elaborated on these preexecution processes. More precisely, we investigated the effect of task preparation on subsequent switch effects. Taken together, our data extend current accounts of task switching by showing that the preparatory processes occurring before the response on trial n influence the switch cost on trial n?+?1.     

An outcome evaluation study of a psycho‐educational course in a primary care setting

Rationale: To date relatively little research has examined the effectiveness of psycho‐educational courses provided in a primary care setting to adults with mild‐to‐moderate mental health concerns. Aims: To determine whether group psycho‐education could be a viable alternative to individual counselling by (1) assessing the clinical effectiveness of an 8‐week psycho‐educational course, and (2) examining the group outcomes in comparison with individual treatment outcomes from a previous study in the same counselling service. Method: A total of 57 participants attending a psycho‐educational course provided data over a 36‐month period, using the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure (CORE‐OM) pre‐ and post‐intervention. A comparison was then made with the data of 58 previous participants of individual counselling evaluation, using the same CORE‐OM system. Results: Participants reported significantly lower levels of psychological distress after attending the course and these results are comparable to outcomes measured in the same service for individual counselling, indicating that group interventions could be considered a legitimate alternative to individual counselling, thus increasing cost effectiveness and reducing waiting times. Limitations of the study and implications for practice and further investigation are considered.     

La pratique physique,un moyen de circonscrire les effets délétères du confinement en milieu carcéral : impact d’un programme d’activités physiques sur la santé perçue et le bien-être psychologique de détenus

To be in prison consists in enduring the enticements of multiple stressors and constraints leading to an unpredictable and often uncontrollable situation. This generates serious health troubles and distress in the population living in prison. Physical Exercise (PE) is well acquainted for its benefits in terms of health and as such it seems reasonable to suggest its contribution in ameliorating life conditions among detainees, although the literature on the subject is quite scanty. The present report shows that moderate PE may contribute actively in ameliorating the health status. Notably perceived stress and other psychological factors are significantly improved in a small and particular population of detainees, sex offenders.     

Skilled German Migrants and Their Motives for Migration Within Europe

German migration within Europe has so far received little attention from researchers. This is especially true of migrants with intermediate qualifications (vocational training, technical school, master craftsman’s certificate). The present contribution is devoted to this phenomenon and examines the reasons why people belonging to this particular group migrate. To do this we pick up on central theoretical arguments in migration research, on the basis of which we examine the relevance of economic and social factors for Germans who migrate within Europe. It emerges that, empirically, for Germans with intermediate qualifications, economic factors are crucial. In particular, unemployment, low or falling wages, as well as poor working conditions in Germany constitute important push factors, while job offers, higher wages and better working conditions in the destination countries constitute the main pull factors. In comparison, social networks are less important factors in migration, since only in a few cases did the interviewees have solid contacts abroad. The empirical results of the study are based on the analysis of available population statistics and 40 problem-centred, biographical interviews carried out between October 2006 and April 2007 in various regions of Germany (Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Bremen, Lower Saxony, Berlin).