Qualitative research and the future of environmental psychology

Although environmental psychologists have made significant contributions to the understanding of human-environment interactions, contemporary critics argue that the field is not achieving its full potential. This article presents the results of a narrative review demonstrating that qualitative research methods can be a useful tool in addressing these concerns. The review focused on four articles that provide high-quality examples of popular qualitative methodologies: positivist mixed-methods research, grounded theory, phenomenology, and participatory action research. Together, these articles illustrate how qualitative methods can empower environmental psychologists to conduct inductive, context-sensitive research, to bring diverse voices and values into the discourse, and to more completely explain nuanced, complex human phenomena. The article concludes by describing how environmental psychologists can incorporate qualitative methods into their research, and opening a discussion about quality criteria in the field.