Showing papers in "Qualitative Research in Psychology in 2008"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors reflect on the development of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as one particular qualitative approach to psychology and discuss issues around the types of topics for which IPA is suitable and the emerging pattern of work using the approach.
Abstract: This paper reflects on the development of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) as one particular qualitative approach to psychology. After a brief introduction to IPA, the paper outlines what can be described as its characteristic features: idiographic, inductive, interrogative, illustrating each feature with examples from studies which have been conducted with IPA. The paper then considers the different levels of interpretation, which are possible with IPA and discusses the notion of when an interpretation is ‘good enough’. It goes on to consider issues around the types of topics for which IPA is suitable and the emerging pattern of work using the approach. The next section considers how IPA studies can widen the type of participants included and also examines the suitability of different data collection methods. The paper finishes by bringing together some thoughts on the future development of IPA.
2,234 citations
TL;DR: The paper demonstrates the essential simplicity, paradoxical complexity, and methodological rigour that IPA can offer as a research tool in understanding healthcare and illness from the patient or service user perspective.
Abstract: This paper focuses on the teaching of the qualitative method, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), to healthcare professionals (HCPs). It introduces briefly the philosophical background of IPA and how it has been used within healthcare research, and then discusses the teaching of IPA to HCPs within received educational theory. Lastly, the paper describes how IPA has been taught to students/trainees in some specific healthcare professions (clinical psychology, medicine, nursing and related disciplines). In doing this, the paper demonstrates the essential simplicity, paradoxical complexity, and methodological rigour that IPA can offer as a research tool in understanding healthcare and illness from the patient or service user perspective.
738 citations
TL;DR: A taxonomy of mixed-methods designs has been proposed in this paper, but there is a lack of agreement regarding basic concepts and definitions, as is bemoaned by many experts in this field.
Abstract: Despite ongoing ‘paradigm wars’ between the methodological traditions of qualitative and quantitative research, ‘mixed methods’ represents nowadays a rapidly developing field of social science methodology. In such discussions it is often emphasized that the use of methods should be predominantly influenced by substantive research questions, and not only by methodological and epistemological considerations. As all methods have specific limitations as well as particular strengths, many discussants propose that qualitative and quantitative methods should be combined in order to compensate for their mutual and overlapping weaknesses. However, although a variety of proposals have been made for a taxonomy of mixed-methods designs, there is yet a lack of agreement regarding basic concepts and definitions, as is bemoaned by many experts in this field. This lack of common ground is due to the fact that crucial questions regarding the relations between research domains and methods have been not sufficiently discuss...
324 citations
TL;DR: The authors discuss the practical, technical and theoretical considerations and decisions that go into the process of producing good quality transcripts, and discuss the importance of quality transcripts as a central means of securing the validity and guaranteeing the publicly verifiable, transparent and cumulative nature of its claims and findings.
Abstract: Transcribing talk originating from various interactional contexts into a written form is an integral part qualitative research practice. Transcripts are produced for particular analytic purposes and therefore range in detail, from broad verbatim transcripts in more content-oriented analysis to extremely refined and detailed transcriptions on interaction-oriented analysis of naturally occurring data. Learning to master transcription skills, and solving the practical, technical and theoretical considerations and decisions that go into the process of producing good quality transcripts is something that both students, teachers of qualitative methods and researchers within the field equally struggle with. Discussion on transcription practice is all the more important given that qualitative research sees transcripts as a central means of securing the validity and guaranteeing the publicly verifiable, transparent and cumulative nature of its claims and findings (e.g., Hutchby & Wooffitt, 1998; Perakyla, 1997; Se...
181 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a qualitative survey of 678 women in the UK found that hairlessness and hairiness are predominantly constructed as positive and negative alternatives, respectively, and the options to depilate, or not, are unequally weighted.
Abstract: Women's body hair removal is highly normative across contemporary western cultures. Nevertheless, little is known about the production and maintenance of this norm. Drawing on qualitative survey data from 678 women in the UK, this study offers two explanations: First, hairlessness and hairiness are predominantly constructed as positive and negative alternatives, respectively. Consequently, the ‘options’ to depilate, or not, are unequally weighted. Second, should a woman fail to depilate, she is likely to be subject to interactional sanctions. These exact a social price for being hairy, and serve to ‘enforce’ the depilation norm. Depilation is, then, shown to be a matter not merely of personal preference, but of conforming to a social norm reflecting an imperative to ‘improve’ the body. Taking a feminist perspective, this study understands the depilation norm as an instance of the ‘policing’ of women's bodies within a narrow ideal of social acceptability.
126 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a large-scale participatory action research study was conducted in a women's maximum security prison and in a series of racially desegregated public high schools to explore the power, strategic moves and difficulties of PAR within public institutions.
Abstract: At a political moment when democracy, dissent and participation are under siege, especially in low-income communities of color, we write this article to reveal how participatory action research (PAR) can be joined with a larger democratic project to re-member institutions and communities exiled today in neoliberal society. This article draws on two large-scale PAR studies conducted in a women's maximum security prison and in a series of racially desegregated public high schools to explore the power, strategic moves and difficulties of PAR within public institutions. Arguing that PAR offers a theory of method for democratic research, we enter two participatory research collaboratives: a four year, qualitative and quantitative study of the impact of college in prison on the women students, the prison environment, prisoners' postrelease outcomes and civil society, and an ongoing qualitative and quantitative study of how race, ethnicity, class, and academic opportunities and outcomes are (inequitably) distrib...
124 citations
TL;DR: The role of the theoretical drive in maintaining validity in mixed-method research is focused on and the principles and assumptions of the overall theoretical drive have profound implications for sampling, analysis and the interpretation of data for the supplementary component.
Abstract: In this article we focus on the role of the theoretical drive in maintaining validity in mixed-method research. Methodological problems often occur when the incomplete supplementary component is from a contrasting paradigm to the core component–for instance, if the core component's theoretical drive is quantitative and the supplemental component is qualitative (ie, QUAN-qual designs) or, conversely, if the theoretical drive of the core component is qualitative and the supplemental component is quantitative (ie, QUAL-quan designs). The principles and assumptions of the overall theoretical drive have profound implications for sampling, analysis and the interpretation of data for the supplementary component. Attention to the mechanics of decision-making throughout a mixed-method research project is crucial for avoiding pitfalls posing a serious threat to validity, and a researcher's advanced knowledge of both qualitative and quantitative methods is essential.
92 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present an in-depth, idiographic study of the experience of chronic benign pain sufferers going through a simple hypnotic pain management relaxation exercise and find that participants' conceptions of their chronic pain did not change but their beliefs and feelings about themselves did.
Abstract: This paper presents an in-depth, idiographic study of the experience of chronic benign pain sufferers going through a simple hypnotic pain management relaxation exercise. The objective of this study was not to evaluate the efficacy of the intervention but to explore the participant's experience of any change that might occur. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with patients before and after the exercise and the resultant transcripts subjected to interpretative phenomenological analysis. Two themes emerged in the analysis and are discussed here: “The fearfulness of pain” and “The containment of fear through a social connection.” The participants' conceptions of their chronic pain did not change but their beliefs and feelings about themselves did. Through an alliance with the therapist, the participants described how they felt better able to contain the fear they felt toward their pain and were less disabled as a result. The importance or relevance of the relationship between patients and staff in ch...
79 citations
TL;DR: A science includes both a system of concepts for the classification of phenomena and a set of rules for constructing models of the unobservable process by which the phenomena are generated as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: A science includes both a system of concepts for the classification of phenomena and a set of rules for constructing models of unobservable process by which the phenomena are generated. The phenomena of the human sciences are meaningful and of the natural sciences, meaningless. Correspondingly, there are discursive modes of representation and complementary material representations. Eschewing quantitative representations excludes material phenomena from psychology. This does not mean that all mathematical forms of representation should be excluded: arithmetic is little use; algebra marginal but geometrical/structural mathematics is of value. However, grammar (in Wittgenstein's sense) is another disciplinary matrix for representing forms of order. A link with neuroscience can be made by using qualitative methods to identify tasks and neuroscience methods of understanding the brain as a tool.
66 citations
TL;DR: This article explored the ways in which exercise contributed a sense of meaning, purpose, and identity to the life of one individual named Ben, a runner diagnosed with schizophrenia, who returned to exercise several years later and reinstated some degree of narrative agency, continuity, and coherence.
Abstract: In recent years, researchers have investigated the psychological effects of exercise for people with mental health problems, often by focusing on how exercise may alleviate symptoms of mental illness. In this article I take a different tack to explore the ways in which exercise contributed a sense of meaning, purpose, and identity to the life of one individual named Ben, a runner diagnosed with schizophrenia. Drawing on life history data, I conducted an analysis of narrative to explore the narrative types that underlie Ben's stories of mental illness and exercise. For Ben, serious mental illness profoundly disrupted a pre-existing athletic identity removing agency, continuity, and coherence from his life story. By returning to exercise several years later, Ben reclaimed his athletic identity and reinstated some degree of narrative agency, continuity, and coherence. While the relationships between narrative, identity, and mental health are undoubtedly complex, Ben's story suggests that exercise can contrib...
60 citations
TL;DR: The authors show how such findings can be considered generalizable to the extent that they can show how a particular discursive strategy will often bring about the same interactional results, and discuss the extent to which generalizations are possible and the implications of making claims of generalizability for the discipline.
Abstract: This paper shows how the accepted notion that discourse analytic findings must compromise generalizability to gain a detailed understanding of the area being investigated need not be the case. Instead, I show how such findings can be considered generalizable to the extent that they can show how a particular discursive strategy will often bring about the same interactional results. This means that discourse analysts can, and arguably should, claim that a discursive strategy that they have identified will accomplish similar rhetorical effects in a variety of interactions. This paper discusses what is meant by generalizability and then uses existing conversation analytic and discursive findings and examples from my own data where existing prejudice is used to justify further prejudice to illustrate the generalizability of such findings. I conclude by discussing the extent to which generalizations are possible and the implications of being able to make claims of generalizability for the discipline.
TL;DR: The authors look at marginalization in two realms: chronic illness and qualitative research and examine stories about experiencing chronic illness through examining stories about people living with chronic illnesses, concluding that marginalization causes suffering but can transform stigmatized people and qualitative researchers.
Abstract: This paper looks at marginalization in two realms: chronic illness and qualitative research. It conceptualizes marginalization through examining stories about experiencing chronic illness. Marginalization means boundaries or barriers, distance or separation, and division or difference. Marginalization assumes a core of enacted rules and measures that frame the social lives and subjective realities of those who do not fit. Being marginalized causes suffering but can transform stigmatized people and qualitative researchers. Qualitative psychologists can embrace the freedom marginalization allows and construct a separate community that ultimately moves inquiry away from established margins. The paper ends with ideas for increasing the transformative power of qualitative research.
TL;DR: In qualitative research, marginality and reflexivity are often closely interwoven as discussed by the authors, and a range of ways of practicing epistemic reflexivity now help guard against the idea of any one researcher stance, method or form of inquiry guaranteeing knowledge via unmediated perception.
Abstract: In qualitative research, marginality and reflexivity are often closely interwoven. An emic research strategy has provided major stimuli to qualitative psychological investigations. In light of questions posed about conceptualizing marginality, discussion has progressed. A range of ways of practicing epistemic reflexivity now help guard against the idea of any one researcher stance, method or form of inquiry guaranteeing knowledge via unmediated perception. The article espouses the proliferation within qualitative psychology of a range of potentially useful practices. Engaging reflexively with the question of when to centre marginality can be a strategy for attending to emotive forms of data and taking analysis in unexpected directions.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe an experiment in carrying out, as a group, a phenomenological analysis of a qualitative interview on the topic of mistrust, where one in-depth interview was analyzed phenomenologically by each of the six members of the group.
Abstract: This paper describes an experiment in carrying out, as a group, a phenomenological analysis of a qualitative interview on the topic of mistrust. One in-depth interview was analyzed phenomenologically by each of the six members of our group. We then shared and discussed our individual analyses to generate a consensual analysis. Finally, additional or divergent perspectives were offered by individual group members to add further contextual and reflexive dimensions. We consider what we gained from this exercise and the difficulties encountered. We also reflect on the insights into the topic of mistrust produced by our analyses.
TL;DR: This paper explored how women manage body image through clothing practices and found that clothing practices are a mundane and agentic part of the adjustive and self-regulatory processes for managing distressing body image.
Abstract: This qualitative research extends current theorizing on behavioural strategies for managing body distress by exploring how women manage body image through clothing practices. Eighty two women reported their subjective understanding of how body evaluation and clothing practices are interconnected in response to open-ended questionnaires. Thematic analysis of responses revealed that clothing practices are a mundane and agentic part of the adjustive and self-regulatory processes for managing distressing body image (cf. Cash, 2002b). Clothing is used strategically to manage bodily appearance and anxiety by hiding ‘problem areas’, accentuating ‘assets,’ and flattering the figure. Body image is actively negotiated and managed through everyday behaviours which fluctuate on ‘fat’ days and ‘thin’ days. These data illustrate the processes which underpin the active negotiation of body image and capture the fluidity of body evaluations and strategies for managing the appearance of the body. These findings raise a number of challenges for theorizing and research including the need to adopt methods which capture the dynamic interplay of body image processes, and the need to address body appreciation as well as distress.
TL;DR: The authors consider what qualitative methods can offer psychological research on religion and spirituality, focusing on the challenges of exploring religious or spiritual concepts and experiences that may prove difficult to capture in language. But they do not consider qualitative methods in the context of psychotherapy.
Abstract: Historically, religious and spiritual issues have been marginalized within academic psychology. Even with the advent of the psychology of religion, some important research topics and questions have remained marginalized because of the domain's enthusiastic embrace of a positivist-empiricist framework. This article considers what qualitative methods can offer psychological research on religion and spirituality, focusing on the challenges of exploring religious or spiritual concepts and experiences that may prove difficult to capture in language.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors report the work of a network group focused on enhancing the teaching of qualitative methods at the undergraduate level, and indicate potential areas of resource support with linked references to examples produced by the network group.
Abstract: The teaching of qualitative methods is now a required element of degree courses in the UK which seek to gain professional accreditation. This paper reports the work of a network group focused on enhancing the teaching of qualitative methods at the undergraduate level. Following a brief summary of the results of a survey into current teaching practices we indicate potential areas of resource support with linked references to examples produced by the network group.
TL;DR: Theme-Analysis as discussed by the authors is an innovative research method that combines both a qualitative and quantitative dimension in the study of the psychotherapy change process by developing thematic categories from psychotherapy sessions and tracking change on these categories across sessions using a measure of change.
Abstract: Theme-Analysis is an innovative research method that combines both a qualitative and quantitative dimension in the study of the psychotherapy change process by developing thematic categories from psychotherapy sessions and tracking change on these categories across sessions using a measure of change. This article presents the factors that influenced the development of Theme-Analysis, the definition and types of themes, and the method used to measure change on the themes. It then summarizes the four operations of Theme-Analysis which include unitizing transcripts of psychotherapy sessions, developing themes, identifying targets of the themes, and measuring change on the themes across the sessions. This is followed by the procedures to develop a themehierarchy and to select themes for study and by the formats by which to present the data. The initial research findings demonstrate that Theme-Analysis has the potency to extract the deeper underlying variables in human conditions such as overcoming depression and striving to be one’s own person.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors use the concept of the zone as a discursive resource in accounting for successful performance and argue that the zone can be used as a way of managing agency for a performance for diluting or softening accounts of success.
Abstract: This paper provides a discursive perspective on a concept used within sport psychology, in both its academic and practical discourse, namely ‘the zone.’ This extraordinary state is one of exceptional peak performance whereby an athlete claims to perform effortlessly, automatically, and successfully. The focus of this paper is the use of the zone as a discursive resource in accounting for successful performance. Through the examination of two televised accounts of performance by elite athletes, I argue that the zone can be used as a way of managing agency for a performance for diluting or softening accounts of success, or as a way of claiming success was probable when failing due to injury. The paper proposes a number of rhetorical contrasts that are evident in the discursive deployment of the zone.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that there are at least six viable alternatives to mixed methods within the domain of qualitative research proper that qualitative researchers can use to collect, organize and analyse their findings.
Abstract: Mixed methods are becoming more common in qualitative research, to the extent that they may come to dominate the field. In this article, I argue that there are at least six viable alternatives to mixed methods within the domain of qualitative research proper that qualitative researchers can use to collect, organize and analyse their findings. These six alternatives are juxtaposing, appropriating, prospecting, data grading and the examination of ingredients and presence. These alternatives are introduced and illustrated using formal and informal research examples from my own work.
TL;DR: The relevance of inner speech for psychological life has been recognized in the literature, and several scales and questionnaires have provided evidence as discussed by the authors, however, evidence coming from direct observation of the phenomena is still rare.
Abstract: The relevance of inner speech for psychological life has been recognized in the literature, and several scales and questionnaires have provided evidence. However, evidence coming from direct observation of the phenomena is still rare. The aim of this study was to specify modes of verbalized inner speech as expression of self-consciousness (reflexivity or internal conversation). Eighteen adults (between 19 and 34 years old) were instructed to express aloud their thinking during a task with the Brazilian version of the Raven Progressive Matrices Test. Participants' thinking-aloud verbalizations were submitted to a qualitative analysis based on three reflexive steps of semiotic-phenomenology: description, reduction, and interpretation. Description revealed a structure of verbalized inner speech organized on the basis of three main typifications: visual description, logical reasoning, and dialogue. Reduction recognized dialogical relations as an essential feature underlying verbalized inner speech, characteri...
TL;DR: The authors argued that women's experience of distress or anger premenstrually is connected to self-policing practices of self-silencing, self-surveillance, overresponsibility, selfblame, and self-sacrifice, and that their positioning of this distress as PMS takes place through a process of subjectification.
Abstract: The positioning of the reproductive body as a site of madness or badness functions to marginalize women and to medicalize their distress. Taking Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) as a case example, this paper rejects this pathologization and argues that self-policing practices are associated with the experience and construction of premenstrual change as PMS. Drawing on interviews with 12 British women, it is argued that women's experience of distress or anger premenstrually is connected to self-policing practices of self-silencing, self-surveillance, overresponsibility, self-blame, and self-sacrifice, and that their positioning of this distress as PMS takes place through a process of subjectification. An outline is given of a woman-centred psychological intervention, which identified and challenged these self-policing practices. It aimed to allow women to develop more empowering strategies for reducing or preventing premenstrual distress, build an ethic of care for the self, and no longer blame the body for pre...
TL;DR: This paper conducted phenomenological interviews with three openly gay tennis players to examine body perceptions in that population, including descriptions of the natural male body, the body beautiful in the gay community, and the potential for gay men in sport.
Abstract: Research has shown gay men often express body image dissatisfaction, desiring both a thin, yet muscular body. However, the prior research record on gay men's bodies has considered gay men to be a homogenous group with no interacting social identities beyond homosexuality. Stemming from a social identity theory standpoint, the present study engaged in phenomenological interviews with three openly gay tennis players to examine body perceptions in that population. Themes expressed included descriptions of the natural male body, the body beautiful in the gay community, and the potential for gay men in sport. Themes are connected to social identity and hegemony theory, and implications for future research are discussed.
TL;DR: The authors describe the experiences of British trainee clinical psychologists as they learn to use one qualitative method, Discourse Analysis, for their major research project, based on these experiences, discuss key aspects of the research process (e.g. supervision) and delineate dilemmas, theoretical questions, suggestions and practical advice.
Abstract: Qualitative research methods have become more prominent in professional psychology training over recent years, yet there are relatively few published accounts of how students learn to use these methods. In this article we describe the experiences of British trainee clinical psychologists as they learn to use one qualitative method, Discourse Analysis, for their major research project. Based on these experiences, we discuss key aspects of the research process (e.g. supervision) and delineate dilemmas, theoretical questions, suggestions and practical advice. Extracts from a group discussion involving the supervisor and supervisees (after the trainees had completed their studies) are provided to illustrate some of these themes.
TL;DR: The use of language consolidates the strands of research activities and, therefore, the logic and hidden meanings behind scientific conclusions are revealed as discussed by the authors, in the sense that many formulations cannot be assigned unequivocally to one of the main methodological orientations.
Abstract: Whether they teach or apply quantitative (QUAN) or qualitative (QUAL) methodology, textbooks as well as research reports often use ambiguous language in the sense that many formulations cannot be assigned unequivocally to one of the main methodological orientations. An analysis of research reports on the linguistic level shows that QUAN and QUAL paradigms cannot be separated strictly on the level of language. The use of language consolidates the strands of research activities and, therefore, the logic and hidden meanings behind scientific conclusions are revealed. QUAL studies often quantify at least their findings, and QUAN approaches implicitly introduce concepts, ideas and strategies from the field of QUAN. Examples from empirical research and the teaching of statistics demonstrate this ambiguity. Supposing that both approaches actually do not represent isolated paradigms but rather more or less clearly identified steps in the research process, we compare the essential criteria of quality in the domain...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a dialogue between learner and teacher about their own experiences of qualitative methods in psychology at M-level, focusing on current methods of teaching at M level, and consider ways of moving forward.
Abstract: There are now more postgraduate programmes that include qualitative methods in psychology than ever before. This poses problems for teaching qualitative methods at M level because we still lack consistency in what qualitative methods are taught at the undergraduate level. Although the British Psychological Society requires accredited undergraduate programmes to include qualitative methods, we hear very different stories from colleagues across the UK about provision and quality. In this article, we present a dialogue between learner and teacher about our own experiences of qualitative methods in psychology at M level. We report our own learning experiences of qualitative methods at the undergraduate level, reflect on current methods of teaching at M level, and consider ways of moving forward. As well as focusing specifically on current practice at our institution, our discussions also branch out into wider issues around the fundamental characteristics of qualitative methods, pragmatically and philosophically, as well as our own accounts of what we enjoy most about using qualitative methods in psychology.
TL;DR: The status of qualitative research methods varies both within and between psychology and social science departments across the world as discussed by the authors, and in many universities, training in qualitative method is either mandatory or not required.
Abstract: The status of qualitative research methods varies both within and between psychology and social science departments across the world. Certainly, in many universities, training in qualitative method...
TL;DR: In this paper, Sartre's dialectical ontology of our being-for-others serves both as inspiration for the study and as an interpretive framework for its discussion, focusing instead on the power of other's regard to awaken one's sense of subjectivity through an investigation of the experience of feeling beautiful under the other's gaze.
Abstract: Traditional research on person perception focuses primarily on the object-qualities of the person perceived. This empirical-phenomenological study concentrates instead on the power of the other's regard to awaken one's sense of subjectivity through an investigation of the experience of feeling beautiful under the other's gaze. Sartre's dialectical ontology of our being-for-others serves both as inspiration for the study and as an interpretive framework for its discussion. Narrative protocols were obtained from four female participants who were asked to describe situations in which they experienced themselves being perceived as beautiful. These data were then reflected upon following research principles derived from the literature of phenomenological psychology, as well as Dilthey's hermeneutics. Idiographic findings were used as a point of departure for formulating the ‘essence’ of the experience in terms of four constituents that were observed to interconnect both meaningfully and temporally as a sequenc...
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors illustrate mixed-methods research by using an example from educational psychology, based on Hoffman's classification of parental discipline techniques, and three research questions were studied: 1) How do mothers expect themselves to react to their children's transgressions? 2)How do mothers really react to mothers's transgression? 3) Do mothers react according to their expectations?
Abstract: According to Johnson and Onwuegbuzie (2004), mixed-methods research is a research paradigm whose time has come. It is defined as the mixing or combining of elements of both the quantitative and qualitative approaches. Its goal is to draw upon the strengths and minimize the weaknesses of both. In this article we illustrate mixed-methods research by using an example from educational psychology. Based on Hoffman's classification of parental discipline techniques, three research questions were studied: 1) How do mothers expect themselves to react to their children's transgressions? 2) How do mothers really react to their children's transgression? 3) Do mothers react according to their expectations? Mothers' expectations were assessed through questionnaires, a quantitative technique; mothers' reactions through the collection of diaries, a qualitative method. The study revealed that mothers act differently from what they tell and that it is impossible to generalize from one mother to the other. From a methodolo...
TL;DR: Probability theory seen as logic goes much beyond the so-called frequentists' schools of probability theory, as it is based on more fundamental assumptions (desiderata) and is far more flexible in its applications, as explained in this paper.
Abstract: In this paper, probability theory is outlined as a link between qualitative thinking and quantitative calculations. Based on early work of Bernoulli, Bayes (Bayes' theorem) and Laplace, the physicist E.T. Jaynes formalized and incorporated other early works from the fields of mathematics, information theory and physics such that probability theory turned into a framework that allows consistent conclusions to be drawn in cases of incomplete information and to decide reasonably in uncertain situations. The approach makes use of the possibility to transform qualitative information directly into precise quantitative terms allowing further calculations. The principles of ‘probability theory as logic’ lead one to consider systematically and consistently all the information available in a particular process of decision-making. Furthermore, updating data by integrating new information into an existing framework goes along with much freedom to reflect on possible changes and multiple perspectives–from a qualitativ...