Qualitative Psychology

1. Qualitative Psychology Research Methods

2. What are `Qualitative’ Psychologies Concerned with the meanings people understand and the norms to which people conform, not with the causes of human behaviour. Situating Qualitative Methods Before we start on learning methods of research in QC we need to have a clear idea what QC psychology is - in contrast to classical or traditional psychology. Psychology - the scientific study of people thinking, acting, feeling and perceiving. Individually and/or collectively? Recent expansion of the field to include group activities, such as conversations, as part of psychology.

3. What makes a study scientific? a. A reliable method of gathering knowledge; in the natural sciences, experimentation and observation. E.g. In chemistry, experiments, weighing and measuring, etc. In geology, observation and analysis of rocks etc. b. There are reliable methods for the systematic classification of phenomena into kinds, and for authenticating patterns of change. These are based on hierarchical systems of categories, taxonomies. c. Explanatory theories to account for the phenomena that appear as the results of the use of appropriate methods. E.g. In chemistry - structures and rearrangements; of atoms; In biology – Darwinian selection and genetics. This results in a growing body of knowledge. This knowledge can be put to use in practical tasks and also in adding more items to and revisions of that body of knowledge.

4. Quantitative Psychology Original idea for creating a scientific psychology involved adopting several principles from the physical sciences and later from biology. Basic Principles a. Patterns of change are causal - that is we look for necessary and sufficient conditions for the occurrence of events of interest. b. Knowledge acquired by using quantitative research methods , predominantly experiments using dependent and independent variables,and to a lesser extent observations. c. This knowledge is supposed to be: i. Public and independent of individuals. ii. Best expressed numerically, in measures and analyzed by the use of statistics.

5. Where the numbers come from? Head counts – assuming common `mechanism’ and deviant responses due to random faults in the experimental system. Correlations Scales: assumes shared meanings and interpretations – how much does it hurt on a scale 1 – 10? Irish footballers?

6. Problems with using these methods as the exclusive basis of empirical research Thinking and acting are primarily carried by symbols. Symbols are entities with meanings for the people who make use of them Example: Making a decision by considering verbally expressed alternatives. Expressing political dissent by waving banners. 2. Perception and feeling are the result of interpretation of physiological states, in relation to the meanings of the situations in which they occur, that is the story-lines then taken to be unfolding. Examples: A patch of colours is seen as an I-pad (needs the concept) , a feeling is experienced as an emotion (needs to understand the situation in a certain way). 3. Many psychological phenomena, such as deciding, remembering are collective, not individual and exist in conversational patterns, that is dialogically, according to certain rules and conventions. Example: Friends remembering a ball-game (who has the last word?), a committee deciding an issue (what are the rules of discussion, motions, amendments etc.)

7. Qualitative Psychology Research aimed at discovering The meanings that actors assign to what they are doing, feeling and perceiving, in the actual circumstances of the psychological process then and there occurring, as the actors interpret them. The rules, conventions and customs that represent the norms that are expressed in the unfolding patterns of meanings in actual contexts, in accordance with the local culture. c. The story-lines that are known by members of a culture and that serve to shape conversations and written texts making them immediately intelligible How far meanings and norms are common to groups of people, from friends, families, ethnic cultures, national cultures, and may be to all of humanity.

8. The Idiographic Problem The more closely we investigate the meanings that are current among the actors in the sort of situation studied by qualitative psychologists, the more we realize that each actor has his or her own interpretation of what is going on what he or she intends by what they have done or are doing. Idiographic psychology unveils the meaning systems used by individuals: How much overlap with the meaning systems of others? When does this matter? Possible illustration: De Waele’sidiography of murder and the technique of assisted autobiography and the life inventory.

9. Basic Qualitative Research Methods • A. Person to Person interactions • a. Ethnography and Observation • Researcher does not interact with the people being studied. • Example: Halloween– who takes part? What are the meanings of what people wear, what they do and son ion. What stories are told? Learning to `do Halloween’. • Guy Fawkes night? • b. Interviewing • Researcher interacts with the people being studied, questionnaires, collecting stories etc. • Example: Fan loyalty to team. How and when is it acquired? How is displayed? What is its importance in someone’s life? Hoya basketball supporters.

10. The Components of a Research Program Identify and classify the meanings that the actors give to the actions and the situations. Meaning in Wittgenstein’s sense – what people are using these items for. 2. The scenarios, story-lines, conventions, protocols, etiquettes, that are displayed in or used to shape the form of what people do.

11. These `shapers’ may never be consciously attended to or deliberately followed. However, they appear in various degrees of explicitness and are more or less consciously attended to in the early stages of acquiring a culture. Possible extra material: immigrant experiences.

12. Meaning in this context There are many meanings for `meaning’. We will generally NOT be taking meaning to be object signified (of whatever sort). We will follow Wittgenstein in taking meaning to be the use to which we intend to put a sign. This may include referring to an object, but many other uses will be relevant, particularly in qualitative psychology. For example performing social acts, issuing instructions and so on.

13. B. Analyses of Document: Some brief examples • a. Discourse analysis • i. Grammatical studies, for example pronouns • ii. Narratology, story lines. Are there common forms for many stories as Quests for something? Scientific research? • Examples: • i. Negotiating with Japanese business people. • ii. The Holy Grail as heroic quest; the human genome. • b. Positioning Theory • Role of beliefs about rights and duties in shaping thought and action. • Example: George Bush and Kuwait, George W Bush and Iraq.

14. Uses of Qualitative Psychology 1. In understanding the life ways of other cultures – for example of Wahabist Muslims. In understanding the nature of the problems that troubled people in our own culture – for example paranoia. In understanding many facets of the judicial systems of our own and other cultures – for example attitudes to capital punishment. In understanding conspiracy theories – for example that the Moon landings were a NASA fake. In understanding the conversational and other symbolic exchanges by which social relations are created, for example variations of marriage, making friends and enemies.

15. 6. In understanding the genesis of conflicts and how they might be brought to a resolution. For example the Rwandan genocide and the story-lines that drove it on. 7. In understanding cults, fan clubs and other enthusiasms. For example how scientology works as a cultural system, or what one must know to be a sport fan.

16. Research Exercise Program Assessing the success or failure of a conversational interaction by identifying speech acts and checking against felicity conditions: marriage ceremony and bank interview. 2. Development of story-lines using narratological analyses: Little Big Horn stories. 4. Conversation analysis using all four analytical tools: The Emergency Room story within a story! 4. Interview to extract knowledge base of sport fan activities. 5. Alien ethnography: Witches of Salem – court records and depositions.

17. Part One Basic Principles and Research Tools Methods for Understanding Stories that are constitutive of a person or a relationship or of a strip of life.

18. Grounded Theory Inaugurated by Paul Glaser and Anselm Strauss. Principle: People generally have implicit conceptions something like theories, as to what is going in some domain of human activity, which tend to guide the way people think, talk and act in those circumstances. Attempts to identify the meanings and rules, conventions and story-lines are treated as hypotheses and tested by further data collection. Explanations not based established social or psychological theories.

19. Method: Begin with a common sense analysis of ethnographic and linguisticdata; then propose an explanation for the phenomena so identified. • Take note of `sensitizing data ‘- something that strikes you as odd, unexpected and so on. • Proceed to collect more data and move from `open coding’, that is initial common-sense categories to `axial coding’, using these categories to identify sequences of action, to `selective coding’ – identifying core categories for events, situations etc of this type.

20. Worked Example 1: To understand the behaviour of crowds, do not start from an explanation scheme such as Freudian psychodynamics or socio-biology, but work from a concept that appears in the analysis of the data. Sensitizing data: `Fighters do not make physical contact; pub talk describes bloody encounters. Open coding: chanting, posturing, Axial coding: a. `fight sequences’ b. gradual adoption of costume and change of seating location. Selective coding: ritual fighting, status hierarchy. British football hooligans’ behaviour can be explained by coming to treating the phenomena (ritual fights etc) as efforts to establish a place in a status hierarchy. This may then be linked to socio-biology perhaps, but not before the status seeking theory has been explored, and authenticated. Comparisons: Tory Island fighting (Fox); New Guinea warfare.

21. Worked Example 2: • Nicknaming practices in small social groups, such as schools, bands and so on. Do not start with the idea that nicknames are for amusement! e • Sensitizing datum: child trying to get others to call her by a pejorative nickname! • Open coding: • What nicknaming systems exist? • Who gives them and how are they received? • Axial codings • What is the role or roles that nicknaming plays? • Selective codings • Creating social order • Illustrating correct ways to be.

22. Grounded Theory Details Making explicit what someone must know to be able to perform adequately in a task Reminder of Method Record phenomena of interest using open coding, that is common sense interpretations of meanings. 2. Attend to sequences to begin axial coding. 3. Revise meanings with selective coding.

23. Presentation of Results • What is the situation in which the events are happening? • Same coding – open, axial, selective. • Meanings of actions in that situation. • Performance rules and conventions. • This is a representation of the tacit knowledge required of a person engaging in this activity. • Research question: what do people need to know to do hooliganism? • Parallel question: what do people need to know to be a jihadist, a tran driver, and so on. • This is what a person would need to learn – by some means.

24. Meaning in Relation to Situation Example 1: `It’s the economy, stupid!’ attributed to William Jefferson Clinton in his 1992 Presidential Campaign (invented by James Carville to distract attention from foreign policy). Said by Mary Smith of Akron Ohio to explain why they are having a chicken for Thanksgiving! Example 2: `You can’t be serious’ said by John Macinroe in 1981 Wimbledon. Said by James Smith husband of Mary on getting the repair bill for his car. Need to ask: Where, when, who and why?

25. Basic Tool Kit In order to carry out analyses of transcripts (from interviews and ethnographic explorations, and of documents such as newspaper reports, we will need some analytical tools. Performatives; Positions; Pronouns; Plots’ Speech-act theory – introduces a way of interpreting conversations with respect to the social meanings of what has been said. Positioning theory – introduces a way of interpreting conversations, stories and so on in terms of the rights and duties that actors take themselves to have to speak and act in certain ways.

26. 3. Terms of address – introduces ways in which the choice of pronouns, names and so on shapes the way interactions develop and people think of themselves with respect to others. • 4. Story-lines (narratology) – introduces the role of schemata in shaping our lives, as rules, conventions, story-lines and narrative forms generally.

27. 1: Speech Act Analysis This technique was pioneered by J. L. Austin (How to do Things with Words) Forces of personal acts Locutionary force: literal meaning Illocutionary force: social meaning Perlocutionary force: effects of the uptake of the illocutionary force by other people. Example: `That’s hot!’ Loc. Description of an object Illoc. Warning not to touch Perloc. Person withdraws hand. Compare `You’re fired’, etc. GM Feb 4

28. Speech Act Categories • We take these from Austin’s classic work. • Note that they are functional categories - classifying speech acts by the type of social/cognitive force they are standardly taken to express. • We begin with commonsense terminology, such as warning, grading, threatening, apologizing and so on.

29. Types of Speech Acts Exercitives: in saying something a change in the world is brought about. Interpersonal relation. Inauguration oath etc. makes BO president. Makes something so: I declare this couple man and wife’. This formulacreatesa marriage bond. NB a counter formula is needed to delete it from the social world: `Ego admitote ad gradum …’, makes someone a doctor of philosophy but stripping someone of a degree also requires a formula. A marriage bond can be deleted from the social world only by a divorce proceeding.

30. B. Verdictives: • In saying something an assessment or judgment is expressed, e.g. `Guilty!’, Beware! ‘ (more than a description!)a warning9that’s dangerous • Express a judicial act. • `I give you a B-’ • `I assess a fair rent as $500/month’ • `We find you guilty as charged!’

31. C. Commissives In producing a commissive one not only sets up relation with one or more others but also commits oneself to a course of action, belief, political opinion and so on, or to the person or institution. Making a promise. Swearing an oath in court not only establishes one’s self as witness, but also commits oneself to telling the truth. Inauguration: B. O. becomes President but commits himself to defending the Republic.

32. D. Behabitives In uttering a behabitive I express an attitude or opinion concerning a topic of concern. I thank …, I welcome …., I’m sorry …, I congratulate. NB not descriptive of a state of mind of speaker but expressive. of what is required socially. State of mind not relevant unless blatantly insincere.

33. The Key Role of Felicity Conditions in the Analyses. Was the conversation, document, witness evidence, and so on a success or a failure? To make that judgment we need to consider hypotheses as the what the conversants intended by the speech acts they uttered. A. A speech act is successful only if it is up-taken by its intended recipient as its illocutionary force was intended by the speaker – and reciprocally. A conversation is successful only if the intentional structure presumed between speakers, authors etc. is mutually locked in. 4. These questions can be made specific in terms of felicity conditions.

34. Sequence We have noticed the importance of `uptake’ – unless the illocutionary force has been understood and accepted as intended then nothing will happen. Sequences of linked speech acts may be quite prolonged – but usually start with an adjacency pair - `offence – remedy’; `question – answer’ ; `invitation – acceptance or rejection which requires excuse’.

35. Truth v. Efficacy In giving Descriptions we try to fit words to what we think is the state of the world. `That’s hot’ as a description can be true of false depending on the temperature of the object. In offering Performatives we try to fit the world to the words. `That’s hot!’ as a performative can be effective or in effective depending on whether you take it as awarning, or something else.

36. Conversations which Fail The place of shared or diverse intentions and the important of uptake is crucial to assessing whether a conversation, witness statements, ceremony negotiation and so o n has been a success or a failure. It can be that parties believe the exchange gas been a success: Each has made the same interpretation of the illocutionary forces. Each has understood the illocutionary forces differently. Revealed by staying the perlocutionary effects. It can be that one party interprets the conversation as a success (intentions realised) , but others internet it as a failure (intentions not realised). Both parties take the conversation to be a failure.

37. Felicity Conditions • For 2000 years attention was almost exclusively focused on the truth of utterances, rather than the success or efficacy of social force of utterances. • In contrast to descriptive utterances speech acts actually dominate ordinary conversational interactions. And are crucial the conduct of courtroom talk, negotiations and so on. • Felicity Conditions: Success or Failure of the Conversation • a. 1. There must exist an accepted conversational procedure. • a. 2. The right, the people authorized to the performative acts to accomplish the project in hand. • b. 1. The procedure must be performed correctly. occasion and situation must be the proper one. • b.2. The procedure must be executed completely.

38. Additional Conditions c.1. In many cases conversation is set up just so as to make formal the intentions (and thoughts and feelings ) of participants, and the must have them. c.2. Those who took part must conduct themselves according to that which they have committed themselves to. This is crucial for applying speech act analysis to real world events: did the conversation succeed or fail with respect to the intention's of the participants? (Were the suckers taken in?)

39. Austin’s Catalogue of Failures AB conditions not met: (act is void) A: Misinvocation (act disallowed) B: Misexecution: (act vitiated) C: Insincerities (act professed but hollow)

40. Methodical Steps for Speech act analysis • Identify which statements are speech acts and which are descriptions, remembering that some descriptive statements, saying how things are, are also performatives. • NB Some performatives are used to perform more than one speech act.``That was a terrible essay’ – reprimand and assessment. • 2. Evaluate with respect to the situation and the task in hand whether the felicity conditions have been met. • In formal episodes like swearing in the US President the limits of variation are narrow. `Guilty! / `Well, we think he probably did it’ • In informal episodes like teaching some one cooking whether the felicity conditions have been met is shown by the later utterances. Don’t add water to hot oil! Serves you right!

41. Worked Example: The Black Box recording • What speech act or acts? Sequence of warnings. • What sequence of response's? Correct or incorrect? • Uptake (as intended) – yes or no • Upshot? Perlocutionary effect – take-off not aborted. • Plane crashes.

42. Research Exercise #1 • Speech-act analysis of 2 texts to identify sources of success or failure. • A. Text of formal ceremony: {Protestant Marriage Ceremony or a marriage ceremony from any of Islamic, Jewish or Russian Orthodox. • B. Text of a commercial conversation. • NB. There are no correct answers - just the most plausible and insightful interpretation. • Step 1: identity descriptive statements from performatives utterances, remembering that many speech acts are used to perform both functions.

43. Step 2: Construct a table with 4 columns (column 3 in three subcolumns) and number the speech-acts if not already numbered. • Column 1: characterize each speech-act with an ordinary language term, e.g. warning, threat, and so on, • Column 2: : Assign each speech-act to one of Austin’s four categories, exercitives, verdictives, commissives and behabitives. • Column 3: Note what would count as failures of felicity conditions for marriage ceremony. Check satisfaction of felicity conditions for commercial conversation, with respect to people, situation and words. • Column 4: Perlocutionary effect of success or failure of conversation as sequence of speech acts.

44. 2. Label each speech act with the best common language term for the illocutionary force of the utterance, e.g., warning, threat, promise, decisions and so on. • 3. Lay out the structure of the conversation in terms of the pattern of speech acts – using the common language terms, and suggest the conventions that are realised in the flow of speech acts. • Have the felicity conditions been met? Has there been uptake of the intended illocutionary force of the speaker’s utterance? • Assess from each participant’s point of view and implicit intention is so speaking whether • each speech-act was a success or failure • The conversation as a whole was a success or failure.

45. Additional Notes on Research Paper #1 1.Remember that illocutionary force is the social act (co-pilot warns) – perlocutionary effect/force is the consequence(s) of that act – (co-pilot : get the captain to attend – get the take-off aborted.. THE COPILOT’S PROJECT FAILED 2 For the marriage ceremony: Identify and display 5 speech-acts – illocutionary force and expected/actual perlocutionary effects. What violations of the felicity conditions would nullify the ceremony?

46. 3..For the bank interview: • Identify and display 7 speech acts – illocutionary force and expected perlocutionary force. • NB. Take the differing points of view of the bank clerk and the customer into account in assessing whether the felicity conditions have been met! • Was the conversation a success from the banker’s point of view (perlocutionary effect and felicity conditions)? • Was it a success from the customer’s point of view (perlocutionary effect and felicity conditions)? • GU 1/31

47. Functional Categories of Speech Acts Verdictives: Determine the meaning of an existing phenomenon with respect to certain standards. A person has done something – an authority determines that what was done was a crime and the person is guilty. NB What is assessed already exists! Exercitives: Creates a social object (status, relation etc.) that did not previously exist. Agreeing to a price creates a sale.

48. 2: Positioning Theory Moral Orders All thought, feeling expression (emotion displays), and social actions take place within shared systems of belief about the moral standards in use in a community and about the distribution of rights and duties to think, speak and act in certain ways. Duties arise from powers and capacities – what you can do (for someone else or the community for example) Rights arise from vulnerabilities – what you are entitled to but do not have the power to accomplish. Supererogatory duties – informally demanding but not enforceable or enforced.

49. The distribution of rights and duties depends on • The story line or lines that the actors take themselves to be living out. • Example: Acting in loco parentis to GU students • b. The meanings of the actions (including speech actions as acts) that the actors perform singly or jointly. • Example: Community complaints are jealousy. • c. Beliefs about the attributes of the people involved in an episode, particularly their powers and vulnerabilities. • These become salient in so far as they are themselves morally qualified. • Example: Student are not savages

50. Positions • A cluster of rights and duties relevant to the actions of a person or group of people is a position. • There are social-cognitive processes by means of which people and groups are positioned, that is assigned or ascribed or taken up positions as theirs. • We can track these by following positioning conversations or exchanges of messages. • NB. An assignment or ascription of a position may be refused, disputed, declared illegitimate (for example that no such position exists in that culture corner) and so on. These are then second order social-cognitive processes.