SEPTEMBER 2013 • MONITOR ON PSYCHOLOGY 79
NEW JOURNAL EDITOR
Freud did it. Maslow did it. Even Wilhelm Wundt did it.
All three seminal figures were passionate about
qualitative analysis, forming their groundbreaking
theories not through the vaunted randomized
controlled trial, but by gathering in-depth insights
and perspectives from people.
Now, a new APA journal is dedicated to this
type of analysis: Qualitative Psychology will
become the flagship journal of the Society for
Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology, a section of
APA’s Div. 5 (Evaluation, Measurement and Statistics). The
journal — which will be published twice in 2014 and quarterly
thereafter — debuts in January.
“The journal is something that [psychologists who conduct
qualitative research] have wanted for a long time,” says
incoming editor Ruthellen Josselson, PhD, a professor of clinical
psychology at Fielding Graduate University and author of the
2013 book “Interviewing for Qualitative Inquiry: A Relational
Approach.” “We’re thrilled it is now part of APA, and is therefore
officially on the menu of the kinds of research approaches that
constitute the work of psychology.”
Josselson has a broad vision for the journal. To her, any
content area of psychology is fair game, as long as it uses or
develops new qualitative modes of inquiry. In addition to
individual papers, each issue will have a special section featuring
several different types of analysis on a particular content area,
whether it’s memory, gay and lesbian identity, or
the immigration experience.
Josselson also is looking for work that
advances the understanding of qualitative
inquiry in concept and approach. She strongly
encourages papers and special section proposals
across a range of methods and approaches.
Some of these include narrative analysis,
discourse analysis, ethnographic approaches,
individual case studies and action research. (For
more journal criteria, visit www.apa.org/pubs/
journals/qua/.)
“We want submissions to be creative and original, so our
criteria are general rather than specific,” she says.
Josselson is excited to be at the helm of a journal that
promises to draw much-needed attention to the qualitative
approach.
“The social science climate is becoming not only more
receptive to qualitative inquiry, but is even starting to seek it
out because it is contextualized, it is complex, and it can reveal
things about people that are difficult if not impossible to get at
in other ways.” n
To submit a manuscript, visit the journal’s online submissions
portal at www.editorialmanager.com/qup/.
Tori DeAngelis is a writer in Syracuse, N. Y.
Qualitative Psychology
makes a comeback
Incoming editor Ruthellen Josselson seeks to bring this form of
inquiry back to the important position it deserves.
BY TORI DEANGELIS
Josselson