Steinar Kvale

The Social Construction of Validity

Validation of qualitative research is here discussed in relation to postmodern conceptions of knowledge. A modernist notion of true knowledge as a mirror of reality is replaced by a postmodern understanding of knowledge as a social construction. Of the common psychometric concepts of validity, predictive validity is related to a modernist correspon dence theory of truth, whereas construct validity may be extended to encompass a social construction of reality. Three approaches to validity are outlined in some detail. First, validity is treated as an expression of craftsmanship, with an emphasis on quality of research by checking, questioning, and theorizing on the nature of the phenomena investigated. Second, by going beyond correspondence criteria of validity, the emphasis on observation is extended to include conversation about the observations, with a communicative concept of validity. Third, by discarding a modern legitimation mania, justification of knowledge is replaced by application, with a pragmatic concept of validity. In conclusion, the validity of the validity question is questioned.

Dominance through interviews and dialogues

The article discusses common conceptions of interviews as dialogues and the extensive application of qualitative research interviews in a consumer society. In the first part, an understanding of research interviews as warm, caring, and empowering dialogues is questioned by highlighting power asymmetries in interview relationships. Agonistic interview techniques, which play on contradictions and power differences, are outlined. The second part of the article points to the prevalence of dialogues as exercises of power in politics, management, and education. The third part outlines the interview production of knowledge for consumption in a postmodern society. The article concludes that recognition of power dynamics by the social construction of knowledge in interviews is necessary to ascertain objectivity and ethicality of interview research.

CONFRONTING THE ETHICS OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH

Abstract In this article we question the “ethicism” that often permeates the discourse on qualitative research, that is, the implicit idea that qualitative research is ethically good in itself, or at least ethically superior to the uncaring quantitative approaches. In order to throw light on the ethics of qualitative interviews in contemporary consumer societywhat has also been called “the interview society”we draw on microethics as well as macroethics, that is, on the relationships within the interview situation, as well as the relations to society and culture at large. We argue that prevailing forms of warm, empathic interviews are ethically questionable, and, as an antidote, we propose various forms of actively confronting interviews. We argue that ethics is a real and inescapable domain of the human world, and we propose that “The real has to be described, not constructed or formed” (Merleau-Ponty, 1945, p. xi). Therefore we relocate the focus away from the construction of our ethics, to the question of how the researcher should be enabled to skillfully confront ethical reality, particularly by mastering the art of “thick ethical description.”

The Psychoanalytic Interview as Qualitative Research

The psychoanalytical interview is one innovative form of knowledge production that has remained outside the discussions of scientific method in psychology. Major parts of the knowledge presented in current textbooks of psychology stem from psychoanalytical interviews, a method that does not exist in textbooks of psychological methods. Some postulates and paradoxes about psychoanalytical knowledge production are posited and aspects of the psychoanalytical interview as a research method are outlined on the basis of Freud’s writings on therapy and technique. Drawing on postmodern conceptions of knowledge, the relational and constructive aspects of therapeutic knowledge production are emphasized. Characteristics of psychoanalytical knowledge production are then discussed, and it is concluded that therapeutic researchers may learn from current developments in social science interview research, and that social scientists may learn from the knowledge production in therapeutic interviews, a knowledge source that remains to be taken seriously by therapeutic researchers themselves.

What is anthropological research? An interview with Jean Lave by Steinar Kvale

Steinar Kvale has conducted an interview about anthropological research with Jean Lave. The interview focuses on Jean Laves anthropological field work on apprenticeship among Liberian tailors. It pursues issues such as whether there is an anthropological “method”; the practicalities of doing field work, including the use of interviews; the role of interpretation and theory in empirical work in the field; and the issue of subjectivity in reporting anthropological studies.

The Church, the Factory and the Market Scenarios for Psychology in a Postmodern Age

Shifting styles of doing psychology reflect assumptions from the culture at large. In the first section, three cultural metaphors for the science and profession of psychology are put forth—the church, the factory and the market. The picture they provide of psychology is then contrasted with the common histories of psychology as a succession of ideas. The metaphors are thereafter invoked in a discussion of psychology as a postmodern religious, industrial and commercial collage. What counts in a postmodern age is less the truth claims of thedifferent psychological approaches than their marketability. Potentialities of a pragmatic anda culturally situated psychology are discussed in relation to challenges to Western psychologytoday raised by the psychological profession and the globalization of culture.

Memory and Dialectics: Some Reflections on Ebbinghaus and Mao Tse-tung

The metaphysical character of psychological memory research that originated with Ebbinghaus is pointed out. This research emphasizes isolated, static elements and quantitative relat

Postmodern psychology: A contradictio in adjecto?

Abstract In art and philosophy, the current age is described as a postmodern age. Psychology is a project of modernity, coming into use as a term during the Age of Enlightenment and founded as a science in the late nineteenth century. If these two premises are correct — that is of psychology as a modern project and the current age as postmodern — the science of psychology may be out of touch with the current age. Then the two terms psychology and postmodernity are incompatible, and a postmodern psychology is a contradictio in adjecto.

The Quantification of Knowledge in Education: On Resistance toward Qualitative Evaluation and Research

The Pythagoreans insisted that everything is numbers. Modern education involves a related assumption: evaluation of pupils’ learning and educational research findings must be expressed in numbers—as grades and statistics—in order to be considered really real.

Noen Inntrykk Fra Tysk Psykologi i Dag

SUMMARYPrior to 1933 Germany held a leading position in international psychology. This article attempts to trace developmental trends in German psychology from 1933–63, a field of which little is known abroad. Some characteristics of contemporary German psychology are discussed with especial reference to the Verstehen- and Ganzheit schools which originate from the 1920s.In West Germany psychology today is eclectic. Research is proceeding in a wide range of areas and is typically less theory-bound than American psychology. The philosophical basis for psychological problems is often discussed before empirical research is begun.In East Germany psychology is dogmatically based on dialectic materialism. The reasons for banning psychoanalysis, social psychology and until recently, psychological testing are mentioned. There is intense concern with the historical and philosophical foundations of scientific psychology. East German views on Western psychology are discussed. Research is mainly concentrated on mathe...