Constructivist Approaches and Research Methods

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.

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.

• Part I: Making decisions based on philosophy, theory and project purposeChapter 1: Introduction and orientation to constructivist researchChapter 2: Understanding the nature of constructivist approachesChapter 3: Linking philosophy and theory to research purposeChapter 4: Constructing personal realitiesPart II: Practicalities of Engaging in Constructivist ResearchChapter 5: Exploring personal realitiesChapter 6: Setting the climate for effective research encountersChapter 7: An evaluation of a range of potential research techniquesChapter 8: An evaluation of a range of potential research designsChapter 9: Realities and practicalities in managing fieldworkChapter 10: Data analysis, meaning interpretation and management/presentation issuesPart III: How others have used PCP – sample research casesChapter 11: Cases using different designsChapter 12: Constructive alternatives, psychic mirrors and narrative turns: reflections on a lifetime as a personal construct researcher