Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Qualitative Methods for the Exploration of Complexity in Human Social Systems: Applications in Family Psychology

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Proceedings of ECCS 2014

Part of the book series: Springer Proceedings in Complexity ((SPCOM))

  • 650 Accesses

Abstract

The study of Complex Systems has expression in the many fields dedicated to human social systems. However, Family Psychology has been slow in integrating contributions from complexity science, although the interaction could open new research avenues towards a deeper understanding of the processes underlying family emergence, development, change and adaptation. The mathematics of complex systems are appealing and many authors have applied them in psychological studies. However, there are many aspects of the family, as a human social systems, which are not amenable to quantitative analyses, at least without significant loss of the same features of complexity that need to be understood. In this paper, we discuss the use of qualitative methods in complexity research and present an integrative view of a Complexity-Informed, Qualitative, Case-Based Discovery-Oriented Family Psychology, oriented by a General Complexity Thinking approach where Abduction, along with induction and deduction, drives the enlargement of our understanding of complexity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Cox, M.J., Paley, B.: Families as systems. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 48, 243–267 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Hollenstein, T.: Twenty years of dynamic systems approaches to development: significant contributions, challenges, and future directions. Child Dev. Perspect. 5(4), 256–259 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Melo, A.T., Alarcão, M.: Beyond the family life cycle: understanding family development in the twenty-first century through complexity theories. Fam. Sci. 5(1), 52–59 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Van Geert, P.: Dynamic systems. In: Laursen, B., Little, T.D., Card, N.A. (eds.) Handbook of Developmental Research Methods, pp. 725–741. The Guilford Press, New York (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Guastello, S.J., Koopmans, M., Pincus, D. (eds.): Chaos and complexity in psychology. The theory of nonlinear dynamical systems. Cambridge University Press, New York (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Valsiner, J., Molenaar, P.C.M., Lyra, M.C.D.P., Chaudhary N.: Preface. In: Valsiner, J., Molenaar, P.C.M., Lyra, M.C.D.P., Chaudhary, N. (eds.), Dynamic process methodology in the social and developmental sciences, pp. v–xi. Springer, Dordrecht (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Toomela, A.: How methodology became a toolbox-and how it escapes from that box. In: Valsiner, J., Molenaar, P.C.M., Lyra, M.C.D.P., Chaudhary, N. (eds.) Dynamic Process Methodology in the Social and Developmental Sciences, pp. 45–66. Springer, Dordrecht (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  8. Cox, M.J., Paley, B.: Understanding families as systems. Curr. Dir. Psychol. 12(5), 193–196 (2003)

    Google Scholar 

  9. Gottman, J.M., Murray, J.D., Swanson, C.C., Tyson, R., Swanson, K.R.: The Mathematics of Marriage: Dynamic Nonlinear Models. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA (2002)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  10. Morin, E.: Restricted complexity, general complexity. In C., Gershenson, D. Aerts, and B. Edmonds (eds.), Worldviews, Science, and Us: Philosophy and Complexity, pp. 5–29. Singapore, World Scientific (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  11. Byrne, D.: Complexity, configurations and cases. Theory Cult. Soc. 22(5), 96–111 (2005)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. Morin, E.: Introduction à la pensée complexe (Introduction to complex thinking). Éditions Points, Paris (2002) (originally published in 1990)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Byrne, D.: Complexity theory and social research. Soc. Res. Upd. 18, Autumn. (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Castellani, B., Hafferty, F.: Assemblage: Aa method for doing qualitative and historical complexity science. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/2890671/Assemblage_A_Method_for_Doing_Qualitative_and_Historical_Complexity_Science_Brian_Castellani_and_Fred_Hafferty. (n.d.)

  15. Juarrero, A.: Dynamics in Action: Intentional Behavior as a Complex System. MIT Press Cambridge, MA (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Fogel, A.: Interindividual communication: the transformation of meaning-making. J. Dev. Proc. 1(1), 7–30 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Byrne, D., Gallaghan, G.: Complexity Theory and the Social Sciences. The State of the Art. Routledge, New York (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  18. http://www.apa.org/ed/graduate/specialize/family.aspx

  19. Liddle, H.A., Santisteban, D.A., Levant, R.F., Bray, J.H. (eds.): Family Psychology. Science-Based Interventions. American Psychological Association, Wahsington, DC (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Walsh, F.: Normal Family Processes: Growing Diversity and Complexity. The Guildford Press, New York (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Byrne, D., Uprichard, E.: Useful complex causality. In: Kinkard, H. (ed.) Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Social Science, pp. 109–129. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Hollenstein, T.: Twenty-years of dynamic systems approaches to development: significant contributions, challenges and future directions. Child Dev. Perspect 5(4), 256–259 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Érdi, P.: Complexity Explained. Springer, Berlin (2008)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  24. Overton, W. F.: Developmental psychology: philosophy, concepts, methodology. In: Damon, W., Lerner, R.M. (eds.): Handbook of Child Psychology, vol. 1, Theoretical models of human development, pp. 18–88. Wiley, New Jersey (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  25. Rozenboom, W.W.: Good science is abductive, not hypothetico-deductive. In: Harlow, L.L, Mulaik, S.A., Steiger, J.H. (eds.), What If There Were No Significance Tests?, pp. 366–391. Erlbaum, New Jersey (1997)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Reichertz, J.: Induction, deduction, abduction. In: Flick, U. (ed.) The Sage handbook of qualitative data analysis, pp. 121–135. Sage, London (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  27. Thornberg, R.: Informed grounded theory. Scand. J. Educ. Res. 56(3), 243–259 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Gubrium, J.F., Holstein, J.A.: Analytic inspiration in ethnographic fieldwork. In: Flick, U. (ed.) The Sage handbook of qualitative data analysis, pp. 35–48. Sage, London (2014)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  29. Byrne, D., Ragin, C.C. (eds.): The Sage Handbook of Case-Based Methods. Thousand Oaks, Los Angeles (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Ragin, C.C.: Fuzzy-Set Social Science. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Given, L. M.: The Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research Methods, vols. 1, 2. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Castellani, B.: Qualitative/Narrative Complexity Science. Blog post. http://sacswebsite.blogspot.pt/2009/03/qualitativenarrative-complexity-science.html (2009)

  33. Castellani, B., Hafferty, F.: Assemblage: A method for doing qualitative and historical complexity science. https://www.academia.edu/2890671/Assemblage_A_Method_for_Doing_Qualitative_and_Historical_Complexity_Science_Brian_Castellani_and_Fred_Hafferty (n.d.)

  34. Maxwell, J.A., Chmiel, M.: Notes toward a theory of qualitative data analysis. In: Flick, U. (ed.) The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis, pp. 21–34. Sage, London (2014)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  35. Vedeler, D., Garvey, A.P.: Dynamic methodology in infancy research. In: Valsiner, J., Molenaar, P.C.M., Lyra, M.C.D.P., Chaudhary, N. (eds.) Dynamic Process Methodology in the Social and Developmental Science, pp. 431–453. Springer, Dordrecht (2009)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  36. Glaser, B.G., Strauss, A.L.: The discovery of grounded theory: strategies for qualitative research. Aldine Transactions, New Brunswick (2008) (Originally published in 1967)

    Google Scholar 

  37. Charmaz, K.: Constructing Grounded Theory. A Practical Guide Through Qualitative Analysis. Sage, London (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  38. Palmberger, M., Gingrich, A: Qualitative comparative strategies. In: Flick, U. (ed.) The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Data Analysis, pp. 94–108. Sage. London (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  39. Miles, M.B., Huberman, A.M.: Qualitative Data Analysis. An Expanded Sourcebook, 2nd edn. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA (1994)

    Google Scholar 

  40. Rennie, D.L.: Qualitative research as methodical hermeneutics. Psychol. Methods 17(3), 385–398 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a post-doctoral research fellowship (SFRH/BPD/77781/2011) attributed to the first author by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    Ana Teixeira de Melo & Madalena Alarcão

Authors
  1. Ana Teixeira de Melo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Madalena Alarcão
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ana Teixeira de Melo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. RAF, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Stefano Battiston

  2. CREATE-NET, Trento, Italy

    Francesco De Pellegrini

  3. IMT Lucca, Lucca, Italy

    Guido Caldarelli

  4. School of Science and Technology, University of Camerino, Camerino, Italy

    Emanuela Merelli

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Teixeira de Melo, A., Alarcão, M. (2016). Qualitative Methods for the Exploration of Complexity in Human Social Systems: Applications in Family Psychology. In: Battiston, S., De Pellegrini, F., Caldarelli, G., Merelli, E. (eds) Proceedings of ECCS 2014. Springer Proceedings in Complexity. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29228-1_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation