Tell us a bit about your background: What is your area of research? What are the most relevant experiences you are bringing to the role of editor? I feel fortunate to be a qualitative and mixed methods researcher at a time when the field has been flourishing and excitement about these methods has been expanding so rapidly. From 2017-18, I was president of Society of Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology (SQIP), section of Division 5 of the American Psychological Association (APA; Quantitative and Qualitative Methods). I chaired the task forces that developed the SQIP recommendations for reviewing and designing qualitative research, working with Sue Motulsky, Fred Wertz, Susan Morrow and Joe Ponterotto (Levitt et al., 2017). In addition, I chaired the inaugural APA journal article reporting standards (JARS) task force for qualitative, qualitative meta-analytic, and mixed methods, working with Michael Bamberg, John Creswell, David Frost, Ruthellen Josselson, and Carola Suárez-Orozco (Levitt et al., 2018). To disseminate this work, I developed an APA video on reviewing qualitative methodsopens in new window. These initiatives informed the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the APA which, for the first time, includes guidance on reporting qualitative and mixed methods (APA, 2020). In the year it was published, our 2018 JARS article was the most downloaded article across all 89 APA journals—indicative of the strong interest in qualitative research in psychology at present and the pressing need for our journal. These experiences all have strengthened my belief that methods should be tailored to researchers’ aims, their topics and participants, and their philosophical perspectives—a belief that informs my editorship. My own programs of research have focused on psychotherapy research and research on sexual and gender minoritized populations and has been driven by a social justice mission that considers how to empower clients (e.g., Levitt et al., 2016), to conceptualize the functions of LGBTQ+ genders (e.g., Levitt, 2019), and to create accessible interventions (e.g., Levitt et al., 2021). In addition, I engage in methodological writing on qualitative and critical methods (e.g., Levitt, 2020). These programs of research all engage qualitative and mixed methods and have led me to deeply value methodological pluralism in psychological science.
Briefly, what are your main priorities? For example, what type of scholarship would you like to see in the journal, and what kind of content are you hoping to attract? Qualitative Psychology is known for the constructive and collegial tone of its reviews, its inclusion of social justice and critical qualitative research, its support for emerging qualitative researchers, and for publishing high-quality research. I appreciate the contributions of the current and past editorial boards of Qualitative Psychology, and of its founding editor, Ruthellen Josselson. I am thrilled to be working with a strong team of associate editors, Roberto Abreu, Leeat Granek, Suzanne Kirschner, and Jenny Pak, to develop articles that reflect current and pioneering practices in the field. Our journal has a history of publishing research from critical (e.g., feminist, multicultural, anti-racist, critical disability, decolonizing, queer, stigma-focused) perspectives and forms of research from diverse epistemological approaches and participatory methods. These forms of research center the voices and experiences of under-represented and minoritized communities and individuals and further a socially just psychology. We welcome submissions to our journal from these approaches, especially as they address methodological issues related to this work. In addition, we will continue to host special issues and sections that provide exemplars of current topics studied via qualitative research and examine methodological issues related to the formulation and execution of qualitative research.
Why is this journal important for the field? What is its relevance to society/public health? Qualitative methods are being embraced in psychology like never before. Researchers are recognizing that their use adds depth of understanding to programs of research and leads to guidance, interventions, and findings that are tailored to the specific characteristics, dynamics, and contexts of a set of people or issue. These methodologies have long been associated with exploring subjectivity, communication, meaning-making, and social practices. They have been key in feminist, multicultural, anti-racist, stigma-focused and decolonizing approaches to research. At the same time, they have arisen in a context in which their logic is often misunderstood and their value may not be fully recognized. Qualitative Psychology is an outlet that generates advocacy for qualitative methods, methodological guidance, and models of strong qualitative research in use. By broadening the types of investigation that occur in our discipline, we can ask new questions, solve problems, improve public health, and facilitate societal justice in the world.
Do you have plans for a special issue or changes to the editorial process? Have you introduced or are you planning to introduce any changes? There are some new changes in the works. In coordination with SQIP (with thanks to Nisha Gupta), we have been developing channels to promote the articles, special sections and special issues in Qualitative Psychology via both APA and SQIP social media. SQIP salons have fostered online conversations that have drawn much interest in our society and abroad (see the SQIP websiteopens in new window for more information). We are planning to continue the use of salons to draw attention to our authors’ work long after it has been published. For qualitative methods news, you can sign on at Instagram: @sqip_apa, on Facebook: @qualpsy, or on Twitter: @QualPsy. To keep on top of the latest research in qualitative psychology, you can sign upopens in new window to receive Qualitative Psychology alert emails three times per year that share article information from newly released journal issues.
As a new initiative, we will be developing a recurring feature to QP that will be called Methodological Retrospectives. In this series of articles, advanced methodologists will reflect upon the development and evolution of their methodologies and in relation to personal, professional, research, and social changes. These papers will be reflexive introductions to a methodology, will document the historical evolution of methods across time, will examine methods as culturally responsive, and will provide expert advice on how contemporary researchers can best adapt an approach for varied projects, participants, contexts, and aims. They will provide orientations to methodological approaches, useful as course material in qualitative methods courses, and will be listed on our Qualitative Psychology website.
References
American Psychological Association. (2020). The Publication Manual of the American Psychology Association (APA Manual), 7th Ed. APA.
Levitt, H. M. (2019). A psychosocial genealogy of LGBTQ+ gender: An empirically based theory of gender and gender identity cultures. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 43(3), 275-297. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684319834641opens in new window.
Levitt, H. M. (2021). Essentials of critical-constructivist grounded theory research. In book series, Introduction to Qualitative Methods (Series Eds., C. E. Hill & S. Knox). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/essentials-critical-constructivist-grounded-theory-researchopens in new window
Levitt, H. M., Bamberg, M., Creswell, J. W., Frost, D., Josselson, R., & Suárez-Orozco, C. (2018). Journal article reporting standards for qualitative research in psychology: The APA Publications and Communications Board Task Force report. American Psychologist, 73(1), 26-46. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/amp0000151opens in new window
Levitt, H. M., Collins, K. M., Maroney, M. R. & Roberts, T. S. (2021). Healing from heterosexist experiences: A mixed methods intervention study using expressive writing. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity 16(1) 2-23. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000478opens in new window
Levitt, H. M., Motulsky, S. L., Wertz, F. J., & Morrow, S. L., Ponterotto, J. G. (2017). Recommendations for designing and reviewing qualitative research in psychology: Promoting methodological integrity. Qualitative Psychology, 4(1), 1-22. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/qua-qup0000082.pdfopens in new window
Levitt, H. M., Pomerville, A. & Surace, F. I. (2016). A qualitative meta-analysis examining clients’ experiences of psychotherapy: A new agenda. Psychological Bulletin, 142(8), 801-830. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/bul0000057opens in new window