Alternative Paradigms of Research

Psychologists disagree about which broad approach best suits the study of human behaviour, and the chapter contrasts two such approaches. The first, and historically dominant, approach borrows its method from sciences like physics, chemistry and biology. It assumes that human behaviour is caused by identifiable internal and external forces, and that it is therefore predictable, and can be observed, measured and controlled - for much of the twentieth century, this assumption led psychology to restrict itself mainly to studying overt behaviour, i.e., behaviour that can actually be seen and measured, while largely setting aside personal feelings, meanings and subjective experience. The second, more recently developed approach is the interpretive tradition. It values understanding over prediction and explanation, and argues that because human experience is so complex and variable, it cannot be investigated the same way the physical world is. This tradition is especially suited to unique, deeply personal situations, such as how people make sense of suffering caused by a natural disaster like a tsunami, earthquake or cyclone, or by a prolonged illness, where objective measurement is neither realistic nor appropriate, and where the researcher's task, much like an explorer mapping unfamiliar territory with no fixed expectations, is simply to record what is found as fully and openly as possible. Importantly, both these traditions focus on studying the behaviour and experience of OTHER pe …