Rediscovering the roots and wonder of qualitative psychology in Spain: A cartographic exercise

ABSTRACT

After providing a short introduction to qualitative research in psychology in Spain, we report and interpret the results of an online survey in which 47 qualitative psychologists answered questions about their location, research topic, research group, and the strengths, limitations, and challenges of being a qualitative researcher in Spain. The participants enthusiastically endorsed the use of qualitative methodologies, which were especially praised for being able to bring researchers closer to the roots of psychology by acknowledging fundamental human processes such as interpretation, depth in data collection and analysis, research rapport, care, epistemological and cultural diversity, and commitment to social justice. They also pointed out some practical challenges related to methodological standardizations and feeling undervalued within Spanish psychology, which tends to be positivist, empiricist, and realist. Last, the participants provided specific suggestions to increase the knowledge, visibility, and appreciation of qualitative methodologies in psychology in Spain.

Keywords:

• Spain
• qualitative research
• experiences of researchers
• psychology
• strengths
• limitations
• challenges

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. José Alberto Salinas Pérez for his help with the visual representations in this manuscript. We also wish to thank our research participants for taking the time to critically reflect on their work and for answering questions that in many cases required sharing uneasy opinions and experiences.

Notes

¹ “It is not sufficient to examine; it is also necessary to observe and reflect: we should infuse the things we observe with the intensity of our emotions and with a deep sense of affinity. We should make them our own where the heart is concerned, as well as in an intellectual sense. Only then will they surrender their secrets to us, for enthusiasm heightens and refines our perception.” (Ramon y Cajal, 1899/1999, p. 112).

² Please note that the survey was translated from the Spanish language.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marco Gemignani

Marco Gemignani is associate professor of psychology at the Universidad Loyola Andalucía, Seville, Spain, where he specializes in qualitative methodologies and clinical community psychology. Through forms of critical participatory and community-based research, Dr. Gemignani’s inquiries concern social processes and practices that allow for the becoming of specific possibilities, subjectivities, and ontologies for migrants and minorities. He mainly works from cultural studies, constructionist, and critical perspectives.

Sara Ferrari

Sara Ferrari is a postgraduate student at the University of Padua. In 2018, she started a research training at Universidad Loyola Andalucía. She holds a sharp interest in clinical and community psychology and she is particularly interested in clinical applications of phenomenology and constructivism. Her current work concerns reflexive practices of qualitative research, such as autoethnography, and their intersection with clinical care.

Isabel Benítez

Isabel Benítez is associate professor at the Universidad Loyola Andalucía (Seville, Spain). She specializes in psychometrics and pretest methods for evaluating survey questionnaires. Her research concerns cognitive interviewing, behavior coding, survey questionnaire design, test design, validity, cross-cultural/lingual assessment, and DIF. More recently, mixed methods research has been one of her main interests, and her current projects are focused on applying this framework for resolving research questions in different fields.