Title Details

Linda Finlay teaches Psychology with the Open University, UK, and is an Academic Consultant offering training and mentorship on qualitative research in health care. She is currently working towards registration as an Integrative psychotherapist. She has published widely on topics relating to psychosocial occupational therapy, group work and qualitative research.

Ken Evans is a registered Gestalt and Integrative psychotherapist. He is co-director of the European Institute for Psychotherapeutic Studies, an institute that provides a range of continued professional development workshops for graduate therapists as well as training programmes in clinical supervision, psychotherapy research, and organisational consultancy.

About the Editors vii

Contributing Authors ix

Preface xi

Part I Engaging Qualitative Research and the Relational-centred Approach 1

Introduction 1

1 Qualitative Relational-centred Research: A 'Voyage of Discovery' 3

2 Competing Qualitative Research Traditions 13

3 Embodied Co-creation: Theory and Values for Relational Research 29

4 Challenging 'Evidence-based Practice' 45

5 Quality in Qualitative Relational-centred Research 59

Part II Relational-centred Research: Being and Doing 69

Introduction 69

6 Setting Up Research 71

7 The Research Encounter: Co-creating your Data 87

8 Embracing Relational Research: Learning from Therapy 107

9 Engaging 'Process' 127

10 Analysis of Data Linda Finlay Anna Madill 145

11 Relational Ethics 159

12 Becoming a Relational Researcher 175

Part III Relational-centred Research in Action 183

Introduction 183

13 'My Heart was Killing Me': A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study of the Lived Experience of Anger Virginia Eatough 185

14 A Therapist's Portrait of a Clinical Encounter with a Somatizer Maria Luca 197

15 Relating through Difference: A Critical Narrative Analysis Darren Langdridge 213

16 A Journey into Survival and Coping by Women Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse Susan L Morrow 227

References 241

Index 259

"This is a useful and informative introductory book. It sparked my interest in pursuing some of the suggested methods and topics of research within my own setting." (Gestalt Journal of Australia and New Zealand, June 2010)

‘This book is highly readable, and humanistic in the best and deepest sense of the word. Finlay and Evans have done much to demonstrate what psychotherapy and qualitative research have in common without overlooking their boundaries. They provide a vision and a map that is likely to inspire and give guidance to psychotherapists and researchers who take seriously the exploration of human experience.’--Steen Halling, Professor of Psychology, Seattle University, USA

‘This book is essential reading for seasoned and novice researchers alike; Finlay and Evans put relational-centred research on the map and offer a much-needed bridge across the gulf between academic theory/research and clinical practice.’--Professor Simon du Plock, Metanoia Institute and Middlesex University, UK

‘I believe that psychotherapists will resonate strongly with this approach to research. It just makes so much sense. The human dimensions of research are emphasised --both in its process and in its topic areas. This is a book that can awaken enthusiasm for what is most alive in human-centred enquiry.’--Professor Les Todres, author of Embodied Enquiry: Phenomenological Touchstones for Research, Psychotherapy and Spirituality