Possibilities of Qualitative Diagnostic Methods in the Study of Group Subjectivity of the Family

Abstract

The article reveals the problem of applying qualitative methods as diagnostic tools for studying the group subjectivity of the family, as well as covers the qualitative methods in the theory and practice of psychological science that are used in the study of the family as a group subject (interviews, focus groups, included observation, conceptual mapping, document analysis, and the projective method). The main methods of analysis of qualitative data obtained in the study of family group subjectivity, viz., narrative analysis, discourse analysis, thematic analysis, phenomenological analysis, biographical analysis, and case study) were considered. A comparative analysis of qualitative and quantitative methods used to diagnose the characteristics of a group subject was carried out. The basic methodology of the research is the subjective approach to the group. In the author’s study, aimed at revealing the diagnostic potential of qualitative methods in the study of the group subjectivity of the family, two methods were used as a unit: qualitative — the projective technique (Y. A. Pashkova and K. M. Gaidar “Diagnostics of the ability of a family to be the subject») and quantitative — test-questionnaires worked out by K. M. Gaidar (“Types of group subjectivity” and “Development levels of the group subject”). The empirical research has identified differences in the potential and ability of the family to be the subject, and in the types of its subjectivity at different stages of development.