Premium
Also against methodolatry: A reply to Reicher
Author(s) -
Elliott Robert,
Fischer Constance T.,
Rennie David L.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
british journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0144-6657
DOI - 10.1348/014466500163068
Subject(s) - positivism , psychology , qualitative research , epistemology , interpretative phenomenological analysis , hermeneutics , sociology , social science , philosophy
The development and publication of proposed guidelines for qualitative research (Elliott, Fischer, & Rennie, 1999) is a politically fraught process. We support Reicher's (2000) basic position, that postmodernist critical discourse analysis a la Potter and Wetherell (1987) should develop its own standards of good practice. However, we take exception to Reicher's caricature of phenomenological‐hermeneutic research approaches as philosophically naive, and with his grouping of them with positivist quantitative/experimental methods. We contend that he based his response on prior assumptions which in fact do not pertain to our article or our own work as qualitative researchers. In our response, we correct the mischaracterization and aim to encourage all involved to keep communication channels open.