Surveying Qualitative Research Teaching on British Clinical Psychology Training Programmes 1992–2006: A Changing Relationship?

Abstract

There have been indications that qualitative research has become more popular in British clinical psychology, particularly amongst trainee clinical psychologists. In a 1992 survey conducted by the author, 81% of UK clinical psychology training programmes that responded reported that they taught qualitative methods for an average 4.85 hours and that only a small number of students submitted qualitative dissertations. This article reports the results of a similar survey conducted in 2005–2006. Twenty-six programmes responded (a response rate of 83.9%). In contrast to the 1992 survey, 100% of the responding programmes reported that they taught qualitative methods for an average of 12.6 hours (approximately 31.1% of total research methods teaching). The most popular methods were Grounded Theory, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis and Discourse Analysis. All of the programmes reported that they would accept theses solely using qualitative methods, with an average of 42.8% of dissertations falling into this category in the previous four years. The results are discussed in the context of the development of British clinical psychology and training.