Essentials of Constructivist Critical Incident Technique

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WHAT IS ESSENTIALS OF CONSTRUCTIVIST CRITICAL INCIDENT TECHNIQUE?

Essentials of Constructivist Critical Incident Technique provides a thorough introduction to Constructivist Critical Incident Technique (CIT), a qualitative research method. Written by experts Harriet Schwartz, PhD, and Elizabeth Holloway, PhD, the book offers practical guidance for both new and experienced researchers seeking to explore significant life events from participants’ perspectives. CIT is particularly valuable in the social sciences, healthcare, business, and service industries, where exploring incidents can deepen understanding and inform practice.

What is the Constructivist Critical Incident Technique?

Constructivist Critical Incident Technique (CIT) is a qualitative research method focused on exploring critical incidents or meaningful moments. Researchers using Constructivist CIT are interested in understanding how participants make meaning of these key experiences.

How do researchers using Constructivist CIT gather data?

Interviewing is the most common approach to data collection in CIT. Additionally, researchers may use other innovative approaches such as inviting participants to journal or reflect on a meaningful object.

Is CIT relevant for practitioners as well as scholarly researchers?

CIT studies position researchers to develop implications for practice that are useful for training and development, and publishable in practice-focused publications, and journals. CIT is also a credible method for scholars looking to publish in academic spaces. Finally, variations on CIT (covered in the book) can be useful for employee self-evaluation, and gathering student feedback.

Is CIT specific to one specific sector or discipline?

CIT is used widely across the social sciences, as well as in management, service industries, library science, and nursing and other health sectors.

What level of research expertise does someone need to learn and use Constructivist CIT?

Constructivist CIT is an intuitive and flexible method that offers more structure than many qualitative approaches. As such, both novice and experienced researchers find Constructivist CIT accessible and substantive. As a structured and intuitive method, CIT is a good fit for advanced undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral level research courses and may be scaled for everything from a practice project to help students understand qualitative approaches to a featured method for doctoral students.

Can CIT be used with other research methods?

Yes. For example, CIT has been used with case study, phenomenology, narrative, participatory action research, and arts-based approaches.

How can I acquire a review copy to consider course adoption or review the book for another publication?

Visit https://www.apa.org/pubs/books/essentials-constructivist-critical-incident-technique

Course Adoption

GET YOUR COURSE CONNECTED

Essentials of Constructivist Critical Incident Technique is an essential resource for courses in qualitative research and interpretative methods. It is particularly well-suited for classes focusing on qualitative approaches to research, critical incident technique, and graduate courses in social sciences, healthcare, and business. Professors and instructors using this text will equip students with practical, hands-on techniques for exploring critical incidents and significant life experiences, while helping students develop a deeper understanding of qualitative research methods.

Have a Question about Author Visits, Faculty Development Workshops, or Course Adoption?

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BUZZ & REVIEWS

“This book is a ‘must-have’ text for any researcher who is engaging with the Critical Incident Technique. It is skillfully crafted to be useful to novice and experienced researchers alike. I wish the authors had written it years ago when I first discovered the delights (and the complexities) of this most interesting research approach.”

Caroline Bradbury-Jones, PhDBangor University, Wales, UK; Professor at School of Nursing & Midwifery, Medical School, University of Birmingham, England

Learn to deconstruct complex experiences and understand the turning points that shaped them. This accessibly written book is your guide to applying Critical Incident Technique, providing a clear step-by-step framework and practical examples to support researchers, students, and academic supervisors uncover valuable research findings.

Dr. Stephanie FinanAssistant Professor Psychotherapy, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland

Flanagan offered researchers relatively few rules for the use of his critical incident technique. Schwartz and Holloway’s presentation of the constructivist critical incident technique (a slight variant of Flanagan’s approach), provides researchers with the guidance they have needed while still preserving the flexibility that has been a hallmark of the approach. This practical and engaging book is one I wish I had had years ago!

Rodney Goodyear, PhDEmeritus Professor, both University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, CA, and University of Redlands, Redlands, CA