In the fourth installment of the Society for Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology (SQIP) Distinguished Researcher Interview Series, Logan Barsigian speaks with Heidi Levitt about two major aspects of her recent work: methodological integrity in qualitative research (Levitt, Motulsky, Wertz, Morrow, & Ponterotto, 2017) and her functionalist theory of gender (Levitt, 2019).
The interview begins with a discussion of the motivation behind the development of methodological integrity and a detailed description of its key areas. Dr. Levitt then discusses the process of developing a theory of gender based on a body of qualitative research, followed by a description of the theory’s main components. Finally, Dr. Levitt reflects on how aspects of methodological integrity played out in the development of this theory over the course of multiple qualitative studies.
For viewers interested in particular portions of the interview, it is divided into three main sections:
Part I – A description of the SQIP Task Force’s concept of methodological integrity (Levitt, Motulsky, Wertz, Morrow, & Ponterotto, 2017) (1:36 – 28:30)
Part II – A description of Levitt’s (2019) Functionalist Theory of Gender (28:33 – 45:45)
Part III – A consideration of the methodological integrity underlying the theory of gender (45:46 – 50:18)
Heidi Levitt is a Professor in the Clinical Psychology program within the Department of Psychology at The University of Massachusetts Boston. She is a past-president of the Society for Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology (SQIP), a section of the American Psychological Association’s Division 5 (Quantitative and Qualitative Methods). She chaired the development of the SQIP recommendations for reviewing and designing qualitative research. Also, she chaired the development of the inaugural set of APA journal article reporting standards for qualitative, mixed, and qualitative meta-analytic methods, as well as overseeing their recent integration into the 7th edition of the Publication Manual of the APA (APA, 2019).
The interviewer, Logan Barsigian, is a doctoral student in social psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz and a student member of SQIP.