Qualitative Research and Evidence-Based Practices in Psychology and Education

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Abstract

The article is dedicated to the relationship of qualitative research and evidence-based movement in psychology and education. We analyze the ways in which they enrich and reshape each other. The qualitative research methods open up additional opportunities for evaluating the social validity of practices, ways of their implementation, and allow taking into account contextual factors in studying the efficacy of practices. To meet the demand to increase evidence, qualitative researchers are developing the principles and procedures of meta-synthesis (as an equivalent of meta-analysis in quantitative research) aimed at integrating the results of many qualitative studies on a specific topic. The article focuses on the role of the qualitative research methods in the development of causal explanation. We follow the realist approach to causality and accept the view that qualitative research is a particular way of identifying causal processes. The explanatory possibilities of the qualitative research methods for the studies of practice efficacy are discussed.

General Information

Keywords: qualitative research, evidence-based practice, meta-synthesis, positivist and realist approaches to causality, variance theory and process theory, social validity of practice, practice implementation, context of practice, education.

Journal rubric: Developmental Psychology

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/pse.2021260609

Funding. The reported study was funded by the Ministry of Education of Russia, project No.073-00041- 21-03 dated 06/11/2021 «Development of methodological foundations for the formation of a unified national approach to the definition of evidence-based practices in social sphere and education».

Received: 12.11.2021

Accepted:

For citation: Busygina N.P., Gorobtsova A.V. Qualitative Research and Evidence-Based Practices in Psychology and Education. Psikhologicheskaya nauka i obrazovanie = Psychological Science and Education, 2021. Vol. 26, no. 6, pp. 117–127. DOI: 10.17759/pse.2021260609. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Natalya P. Busygina, PhD in Psychology, Assistant Professor, Department of Counselling and Clinical Psychology, Chair of Individual and Group Psychotherapy, Moscow State University of Psychology an Education, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2344-9543, e-mail: boussyguina@yandex.ru

Anna V. Gorobtsova, PhD in Sociology, Lecturer, Chair of Individual and Group Psychotherapy, Faculty of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, Moscow State University of Psychology & Education, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5045-0638, e-mail: anyag89@mail.ru

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