All subjects · Psychology · WPS04 Clinical Psychology and Psychological Skills

Methodological issues, thematic analysis and published research

Edexcel IAL Psychology · WPS04 Clinical Psychology and Psychological Skills

Spec 9.1.13 to 9.1.15: methodological issues (validity: internal, predictive and ecological; reliability; generalisability; objectivity; subjectivity; credibility), thematic analysis of qualitative data, and the conventions of published research including peer review.

Practise this in the app: instant marking and a fix for every mistake. Free, no email needed to start.

Practise this lesson

Validity and reliability

Term	Meaning	Course example
Internal validity	The IV really caused the change in the DV (no confounds)	RCTs such as DeRubeis et al. (2005)
Ecological validity	Findings apply to real-life settings	Rosenhan (1973) in real hospitals
Predictive validity	A measure predicts future outcomes	Whether a diagnosis predicts response to treatment
Reliability	Consistency: the same result again (test-retest) or between researchers (inter-rater)	Hiller recoding 20% of studies in Hans and Hiller
Generalisability	Findings apply to the target population	Ma, Quan and Liu: university students only
Objectivity / subjectivity	Free from researcher bias / depends on interpretation	Reichel's startle EMG vs Freud's interpretations
Credibility	Believable and trusted, supported by other evidence	Peer-reviewed, replicated findings

Thematic analysis (9.1.14)

Thematic analysis finds patterns (themes) in qualitative data such as interview transcripts.

1. Become familiar with the data (read and re-read).

2. Generate initial codes for interesting features.

3. Search for themes by grouping codes.

4. Review themes against the data.

5. Define and name themes, using quotes as evidence.

Example: Becker et al. (2002) analysed 30 interviews and found themes such as imitating TV characters and linking thinness to career success.

Evaluation: rich, valid insight into experience; but subjective, time-consuming and hard to replicate. Inter-rater checks and researcher reflexivity improve credibility.

Published research (9.1.15)

Studies are written up as abstract, introduction, aims and hypotheses, method, results and discussion, and checked by peer review before publication. You can structure your revision notes on every classic and contemporary study in this format (component guide). See the Topic H lesson on conventions for the purpose of each section and an evaluation of peer review.

Worked example

Evaluate the validity of Rosenhan (1973).

Ecological validity is high: real hospitals, real staff who did not know they were being studied.
Internal validity is weaker: there was no control over which staff saw which pseudo-patient, and study 2 had no way to check which judgements were correct.
Judgement: strong real-world validity, but conclusions about why staff misjudged are less certain.

Answer: Separate ecological from internal validity, then judge.

Key idea: Validity: internal, ecological, predictive. Reliability: test-retest, inter-rater. Also generalisability, objectivity/subjectivity, credibility. Thematic analysis: familiarise, code, search, review, define themes. Reports: abstract to discussion; peer review.

Check yourself

Which type of validity is about whether the IV really caused the change in the DV?
- Ecological validity
- Predictive validity
- Face validity
- Internal validity
Show answer
Internal validity. Internal validity is about cause within the study.
A diagnosis that accurately forecasts how a patient will respond to treatment shows
- ecological validity
- predictive validity
- inter-rater reliability
- objectivity
Show answer
predictive validity. Predicts the future.
What is the first stage of thematic analysis?
- Calculating a mean
- Naming the final themes
- Running a chi-squared test
- Becoming familiar with the data by reading it repeatedly
Show answer
Becoming familiar with the data by reading it repeatedly. Familiarisation comes first.
Two researchers code the same transcripts and compare results. This checks
- inter-rater reliability
- ecological validity
- test-retest reliability
- generalisability
Show answer
inter-rater reliability. Agreement between raters.
Hans and Hiller had 34 studies; Hiller recoded 20%. What fraction of the studies is 20%? Give your answer as a decimal.
Show answer
0.2. 20% = 0.2.
Explain one weakness of thematic analysis.
Show answer
Identifying themes depends on the researcher's interpretation, so it is subjective and another researcher might find different themes, reducing reliability.. Subjectivity and time.

Practise with instant feedback

Sources

Last updated 8 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.