Teaching Qualitative Research in Psychology: A Look at the Portuguese Reality

Ana Pereira Antunes () and Silvana Martins
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Ana Pereira Antunes: Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, University of Madeira, Campus Universitário da Penteada, 9020-105 Funchal, Portugal
Silvana Martins: ProChild CoLab Against Poverty and Social Exclusion Association, Campus de Couros, Rua de Vila Flor, 4810-225 Guimaraes, Portugal

Social Sciences, 2023, vol. 12, issue 8, 1-16

Abstract: Qualitative research has been increasingly used in the field of psychology. Consequently, concerns about the development of students’ skills in qualitative research have arisen. The main goal of this paper is to characterize the current state of art of the qualitative research teaching in Portuguese bachelor’s degrees in psychology. A documentary analysis was performed, and the data collection was conducted through an online search: first on the website of the General Directorate of Higher Education, and afterwards on the online sites of each of the Portuguese universities where the first cycle of psychology is taught. A content analysis was made by two coders and a discussion about categories was made until a consensus was reached. The data revealed the existence of 31 undergraduate courses in psychology at 31 Portuguese teaching institutions. There were 12 undergraduate courses at 12 public universities, and 19 undergraduate courses at 19 private universities. Despite the diversity in the study plans in the degree of psychology, most of them included qualitative research methodology teaching. However, the data analysis revealed different designations of the curricular units (CUs) related to qualitative research, as well as a different number of credits (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System—ECTS). In addition, there were variations in the academic year in which the qualitative research CUs were taught and registered in their syllabi. This study indicates that undergraduate Portuguese psychology students generally have some training in qualitative research but the way it is carried out and the training contents are not uniform for all the existing degrees. It is important to reflect on the importance of qualitative research in psychology and further studies on qualitative methods teaching practices are still needed.

Keywords: qualitative research; teaching and learning; educational psychology; psychology training; psychology research; qualitative researchers; psychological qualitative studies; research qualitative skills; qualitative methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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