Two pioneers of the qualitative psychology, social and developmental psychologists, from different generations and genders, discussed the history of their research and future perspectives in qualitative psychology. The main topics were the close relationship between fieldwork and qualitative research; the need to create a journal for publishing both qualitative studies and theoretical and methodological discussion of qualitative studies; the importance of the research theme, not only for researchers but also for participants; the need for psychological studies from an emic perspective; questions about the anonymous treatment of participants; and strategies for generalization from case studies.

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Three panelists in the Preparatory Symposium of the Foundation of the Japanese Association of Qualitative Psychology (JAQP) presented their views on future perspectives of qualitative research as well as on the new association JAQP. Otani's lecture from the perspective of educational technology was entitled, "What contributions do qualitative approaches make to new research?" After giving a brief lecture on qualitative methodology, he emphasized that qualitative methods lead to new research paradigms that have not been previously explored, leading to the extension and development of research. Muto gave a lecture entitled, "Qualitative research has changed research in the field and will reform the academic world.", about his own research career and future perspectives for qualitative psychology. His view is that research based on qualitative methods will promote positive relationships between researchers and practitioners in psychology and other research disciplines. In the lecture, "The association's name includes the word "psychology" which doesn't imply the exclusion of non-psychological research or researchers". Sato spoke about the implications of the foundation of this new association on qualitative methods from the perspective of the history of psychology as well as the sociology of science. The new association hopes to provide an arena for all researchers who wish to carryout research in all disciplines, thereby creating a fusion of disciplines, or in other words to conduct transdisciplinary studies.

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Qualitative psychology builds its understanding of psychological phenomena on the basis of phenomenologically oriented approaches in psychology (Brentano, Meinong, Ehrensfeld, Külpe, Piaget, Vygotski). Its ontological starting point is unambiguous: the world consists of different flexible structural forms, and their corresponding specifiable sets of conditions under which these forms become other forms. This perspective is shared between chemistry, biology, and other natural sciences in which the structural nature of the object of investigation is an axiomatic given. Qualitative investigation is primary in all basic sciences, where quantification is used selectively as a technical tool, rather than a symbolic means for public demonstrations of being "scientific." Qualitative psychology branches off from the common ground it shares with its quantitative counterpart— the basic notion of the nominal scale— different trajectory of systemic analyses of single cases. Qualitative psychology can be productive if it reverses the tradition of methods-dominated psychology in favor of an epistemological inquiry where all parts of methodology are mutually related.

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In conducting qualitative research, especially in the field professional practitioners work, researchers encounter at least three kinds of dilemmas; dilemma of ignorance, description, and collaboration with practitioners. In the present study, we focus upon the third dilemma. In qualitative filed research, since collaborative relationships between practitioners and researchers underlie the core of research process, dilemma in collaboration must be settled. We propose a new research methodology, 'Re-description method,' to address it. In the re-description method, researchers examine central concepts on which practitioners base for their practice. In examining a concept, we record practitioners' descriptive language but with paraphrasing the exact words that practitioners use to describe the central concept. This procedure enables researchers to identify what constitutes the central concept, which leads to revision of a theoretical framework.

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Visual data are not readily amenable to verbalization, which makes it difficult to analyze such data qualitatively. This study examined the usefulness of the add-on software "mirvux" for Microsoft Excel for qualitative analysis of visual behavior, such as bending one's fingers. Many people bend their fingers, especially when counting, by bending the thumb first and then the rest of the fingers one by one. We analyzed twenty kinds of bending behavior obtained from 15 of 54 subjects, and identified patterns such as finger-bending in response to being shown a single object or in response to something abstract rather than concrete. These observations suggest that finger bending is not necessarily linked to counting. Our experience indicates that mirvux can be useful for identifying patterns in visual data.

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This study was designed to investigate how nursing home residents escalate their dissatisfaction and uneasiness in the nursing home life. The data on 26 residents were analyzed according to Modified Grounded Theory Approach by a clinical psychologist of the nursing home. The analysis revealed the following: The residents can live stable lives with 'Individual life-routine' while forming relations with the home; changes in 'Individual life-routine' and relations with the home due to various causes lead the residents to reconstruct them with the help of the staff; and care interaction occasionally results in a vicious circle of staff-oriented care, residents' hesitation in requesting care, and narrow care relations. In this circle reconstruction of the 'Individual life-routine' is increasingly difficult, resulting in escalation of the residents' dissatisfaction and uneasiness in the nursing home life. The staff should be sensitive to changes in residents, 'Individual life-routine' and adapt care interaction to their needs.

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This study analyzed the psychological narratives of family life stories on headstones. First, the family life stories on19th century family graves were examined in three old towns: Haworth, York, and Oxford. Then, the family life stories of contemporary children's graves in York cemetery were analyzed. Life stories can be studied not only from the events of individuals' lives or from the perspective of life-span development but also from the stories narrated after their deaths. The death stories on headstones have at least three psychological functions: they are simple summaries of individual lives narrated in reverse from the age at death; they contain the chained, repeated expression of family relationships, told using the loving bonds between parents, children, and intimate generations; and they are communications from the living to the dead and from past to future generations with a long time perspective.

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Starting from our personal experience, and proceeding through the systematic sampling and structuralization of numerous cases of "solipsistic experience", we tried to establish a theme for psychological study based on these neglected experiences. All cases were treated as "texts", that is, data for qualitative analysis. In section 1, several spontaneous cases, some corresponding to the two types of solipsism, were presented and considered in order to motivate and facilitate a more systematic study. In section 2, three sampling fields, which were collections of "Iexperience" from college students, were presented and considered, since many cases similar to solipsistic experience were found in the three sampling fields. The method of assessing these cases was characterized as an "idiomodific" method, and a special kind of questionnaire method to collect these cases was called the "recollection inducing questionnaire method". In section 3, 60 cases in total from the three sampling fields were selected by three "judges". These cases were newly categorized as "solipsistic experiences and fantasies". They were arranged according to three classification axes: "doubt about others/ doubt about the world", "looking down/ looking up", and "philosophical/ fantastic". In section 4, the significance of the three-dimensional model constructed above was considered. Several methodological reflections were added.

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This research sought a better understanding of perceptual constancy in dynamic touch. It is argued that both traditional and ecological approaches are inadequate and that some qualitative experimental phenomenology analyses should be applied in addition to quantitative psychophysics methods. In an experiment, participants were asked to report the perceived length of rods by dynamic touch. Thereafter, self-reported changes in their impressions owing to different ways of wielding the rods were qualitatively analyzed. Qualitative analyses clarified differences in length perception that have not been investigated by quantitative approaches. To explore constancy in dynamic touch, it is preferable to integrate qualitative and quantitative approaches without eliminating the effects of different ways of wielding the material.

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This study used visual ethnography to examine the image that Japanese early childhood educators have of a "good preschool teacher." Data were obtained from 143 preschool teachers. To stimulate discourse, the teachers were asked to view four video clips of preschool activities: role-playing in the kitchen, sand box, trampolines, and handicraft. Then, they wrote comments on a worksheet. The teachers' comments on these video clips were analyzed qualitatively using a modified grounded theory approach. The image of a "good preschool teacher" was closely connected with "child centeredness." Other categories extracted from the analysis included "understands children," "facilitates children's activities," "organizes children's social network," and "constructs an optimal environment." The main findings were that there were no differences in the comments made by novice and experienced teachers, that "teacher centeredness" tended to be recognized as "an image of an undesirable preschool teacher," and that the video clips tended to draw impressions only about the witnessed objective information. Nevertheless, the video clips would probably affect participants' speculation and their interpretation of information that was not included in the visual material. Further research is needed to develop more information on the image of a good teacher, and to evaluate the possibility of using video clips for training teachers in early childhood education.

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The narratives of junior high school teachers who had been engaged in student guidance over a long period were examined. Ten guidance teachers participated in semi-structured interviews. It was found that teachers described their students using two sets of contradictory perspectives: "student as a member of a group" vs. "student as a person", and "student as immature" vs. "student as equal partner". Most teachers' perspectives were situated somewhere between these two sets of contradictory images. Most teachers pointed out that treating each student as an equal partner is very important to the process of developing a good relationship with that student. In the context of these relationships, it is suggested that students often feel that a guidance teacher is a person in whom they can trust.

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The purpose of this paper is to propose a writing skill in qualitative research that could be used to solve the problem of arbitrariness by methodological extension of structure-construction qualitative psychology. First, we briefly review the arbitrary problem. Second, we propose a concept to solve problem. Third, we apply the concept to writing skills and formulate it as a research model in qualitative research. Finally, we examine the significance of this skill by contrasting it with the modified grounded theory approach.

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Couples suffering from infertility put their hopes in medical technology, and are willing to put up with the pain of infertility treatments and being infertile. I interviewed nine couples that were still unable to have children after infertility treatments and were considering adoption, to evaluate their experiences with infertility. Then, I used the descriptive 'Trajectory Equifinality Model'. First, I classified four selection branch paths related to choices related to infertility treatment and adoption, and identified cases according to three types. Second, I divided the narrative related to selection into five dimensions, and indicated the trajectories of the three over time. Third, I described meanings for people considering their choices at the bifurcation points. Finally, I discuss the significance of this model.

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