Qualitative story completion for counseling psychology research: A creative method to interrogate dominant discourses.

Abstract

Qualitative story completion (SC) research involves the novel qualitative application of a technique previously used in quantitative research and clinical assessment, in which participants write stories in response to a story "stem" designed by the researcher. The resulting stories are analysed to identify patterns of meaning using conventional qualitative analytic approaches such as thematic analysis. In place of the more typical self-report methods used in qualitative research, such as interviews or focus groups, the method provides a categorically different way to explore a topic, one which can offer new understandings to counseling psychology researchers. In particular, SC's capacity to illuminate social discourses makes it particularly useful for understanding the potential ways in which socially marginalized populations are understood in therapeutic spaces as well as for understanding how clients of all kinds may make sense of therapeutic interactions. This paper provides an introduction to qualitative SC, explaining the method and its origins, and offering practical guidance about how to use it. The method is illustrated with examples from the existing SC literature and a hypothetical study focussed on understandings of mental health difficulties in the workplace.

‘This bloody rona!’: using the digital story completion method and thematic analysis to explore the mental health impacts of COVID-19 in Australia

“…It asks participants to imagine themselves in a situation but does not demand that stories only reflect their lived realities. 5 In our research, this methodological strength has resulted in a limitation regarding how much we can infer about data collected. Researchers must be cautious about making sweeping assumptions regarding the relationship between story content and respondents’ realities.…”

“…In the following overview of these meta-themes, we explore their prevalence across stories. Moller et al 5 note Open access that reporting on 'frequency counts or percentages' when using story completion 'may be seen as controversial (eg, antithetical to qualitative values)'. However, given our interest in archiving a specific moment in Australia relating to a public health crisis, we felt that a top-down focus, which captured commonalities and differences in experiences, was imperative.…”

“…It is adaptable to various epistemological frameworks but is most frequently used within a social constructionist framework 1 2. The story completion method has burgeoned in recent years 4 5. This relatively new research approach has been detailed in the introduction to a special journal issue on story completion 2.…”

‘Mad, bad, or possessed’? Perceptions of Self-Harm and Mental Illness in Evangelical Christian Communities

“…Story completion has an extensive history, first emerging in psychoanalytic or clinical settings (Rabin & Zlotogorski, 1981), where it was used as part of an intentional projective technique (an ambiguous stimulus is used in order to access unconscious 'truths' or meanings). Until recently, however, SC had been disregarded in qualitative research (for an extensive historical review of this method, see Moller et al, 2021). Story completion diverges from more traditional self-report techniques such as interviews or focus groups, which dominate the field of qualitative research (Moller et al, 2021) and have several strengths if used sensitively.…”

“…Until recently, however, SC had been disregarded in qualitative research (for an extensive historical review of this method, see Moller et al, 2021). Story completion diverges from more traditional self-report techniques such as interviews or focus groups, which dominate the field of qualitative research (Moller et al, 2021) and have several strengths if used sensitively. Clarke et al (2017) argue that SC may be particularly useful in exploring stigmatised or marginalised groups as it may give access to less socially desirable responses.…”