Constructivist Approaches and Research Methods: A Practical Guide to Exploring Personal Meanings

This book provides a comprehensive overview of personal construct psychology (PCP) that will help researchers understand the why′s, what′s and how′s of conducting a rigorous constructivist research project. From the theoretical underpinnings of constructivist approaches to the practical values of these techniques, these three expert authors explain how to conduct interpretative, constructivist research from inception to completion. Key topics include: Understanding research philosophies and paradigms Constructing and exploring personal realities Establishing effective research procedures Evaluating grids, mapping, narrative and other research methods Managing the practicalities of fieldwork Analysing and presenting data With activities and procedural examples from a wide range of disciplines woven throughout the text and two special chapters featuring in-depth case studies from a variety of constructivist researchers, this book helps readers grasp the tools, designs, and opportunities of interpretative research. An essential companion for both researchers and practitioners looking to understand people’s values, attitudes, beliefs, perceptions, or motivations!   

Table of Contents:
Part I: Making decisions based on philosophy, theory and project purpose Chapter 1: Introduction and orientation to constructivist research Chapter 2: Understanding the nature of constructivist approaches Chapter 3: Linking philosophy and theory to research purpose Chapter 4: Constructing personal realities Part II: Practicalities of Engaging in Constructivist Research Chapter 5: Exploring personal realities Chapter 6: Setting the climate for effective research encounters Chapter 7: An evaluation of a range of potential research techniques Chapter 8: An evaluation of a range of potential research designs Chapter 9: Realities and practicalities in managing fieldwork Chapter 10: Data analysis, meaning interpretation and management/presentation issues Part III: How others have used PCP – sample research cases Chapter 11: Cases using different designs Chapter 12: Constructive alternatives, psychic mirrors and narrative turns: reflections on a lifetime as a personal construct researcher

About the Author :
Working across a range of disciplines (Psychology, Health & Social Care and Pharmacy), Pam Denicolo, a Professor Emerita from the University of Reading,  a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and an Honorary Member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, has wide-ranging experience both of using a range of research approaches and methods and of teaching how to use them well to a broad range of students and professionals world-wide. She has served on executive boards and committees of national and international learned societies and organisations devoted to research and teaching. She continues to publish widely student support materials, books, and journal articles on research because she remains passionately committed to mentoring and coaching newer researchers and academics. Trevor Long has just completed a part-time PhD in Applied Psychology at the University of Reading, United Kingdom. He is an Independent Educator and consultant in organisational strategy, leadership and change. He has worked over many years with business schools, including Henley, Warwick, Duke and Cambridge, on MBA and Executive Education programmes, in the United Kingdom, other European countries and further afield, including South Africa, the United States, Caribbean, Middle East and New Zealand. Consultancy projects have included strategic direction, leadership development, change programmes and coaching activities in many different sectors and types of organisation.   Kim Bradley-Cole is a Chartered Psychologist and an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society. She has a PhD in Leadership and Organisational Behaviour from University of Reading, and an MSc in Occupational and Organisational Psychology from University of Surrey.  Kim retrained as a psychologist after a successful career in FMCG marketing and innovations, working on developing some of Britain’s best loved brands, including Heinz, Bisto, Mr Kipling and Twinings. She has held marketing and HR roles in large organisations, as well as working agency side in market research and as a freelance work psychologist and coach. She actively uses constructivist methods in both academic and practitioner contexts and has taught MSc and PhD students how to effectively develop, apply and analyse different tools in their own research. Her PhD was funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and used constructivist techniques to bring greater clarity and depth to an important, but contested, theoretical field by exploring managers implicit beliefs of authentic leadership. Kim is currently Director of Undergraduate Studies in Psychology at University of Surrey, where she teaches organisational psychology and qualitative research methods.  

Review :
This book is a welcome guide to an empirically grounded understanding of the constructivist approach. With its focus on research practice in a multitude of fields, it is of great value both for the budding researcher and the seasoned professional.  An excellent overview of the issues facing the constructivist researcher. Graduate students will value its helpful handling of the paradigm debate, while the newcomer to constructivist research will receive a solid grounding in constructivist methods that goes beyond the basic grid interview technique. This book illustrates a perfect connection, through the personal constructs theory, between an epistemological perspective, constructivism, and its possible methods. It is a useful and complete guide for researchers who are interested in exploring both how people construe their world and their personal perspectives as researchers themselves. Theoretically rich and provocative of deep reflection in the field to which it is primarily addressed, but equally in any field of enquiry and practice where one works with human beings to enhance their optimal functioning.  Yet, eminently practical and with ‘Activities’ that cannot but challenge habitual modes of meaning-making.