Common misconceptions and good practices in qualitative research in school psychology.

After a long journey in relative obscurity, qualitative research is being accepted in the field of school psychology. As more school psychology researchers and graduate students adopt it as part of their scholarly endeavors, we reflect on the qualitative research published in school psychology since 2006 in terms of what has been done so far and what can be improved going forward. This act of academic retrospection can strengthen qualitative research in school psychology by helping to identify areas of strength and weakness. We read all qualitative studies published in seven school psychology journals between 2006 and 2021 to understand their methodological character. In Section I, we discuss the methodological trends (e.g., approach to inquiry, data collection methods, data analysis strategies) we found. In Section II, we reflect upon this corpus and identify some common misconceptions about qualitative methodologies that stood out to us. We clarify these misconceptions and highlight some examples of 'good' practices in these articles that could be adopted by other researchers. Finally in Section III, we provide some general recommendations about developing school psychologists' understanding of and the ability to conduct qualitative research.

Women of color and the hidden curriculum of school psychology doctoral programs.

Doctoral training programs educate future practitioners, scholars, and researchers. They therefore are an important site of inquiry for critical school psychologists interested in interrogating and confronting the inequities that exist within the field. We conducted four focus groups with 15 Black, Indigenous, and Women of Color (BIWOC) students in various APA-accredited school psychology Ph.D. programs to understand how they experienced their programs. We argue that the programs delivered a hidden curriculum to the participants through various socializing, vicarious, and disciplinary events, in addition to the official curriculum delivered to all students. Data analysis indicated that the hidden curriculum was delivered in four settings and consisted of six lessons, including (a) you do not belong here, (b) you cannot be trusted, (c) you are on your own, (d) you are not safe here, (e) you are a token, and (f) you will only get performative allyship from us. We discuss each of these lessons and contemplate on ways in which programs and faculty can combat their deleterious impact on the students.

Publication and characteristics of qualitative research in School Psychology journals between 2006 and 2021.

To understand the evolution and current status of qualitative research in School Psychology, we reviewed 4,346 articles published across seven school psychology journals between 2006 and 2021. The bibliometric analysis indicates that publication of qualitative research has increased over the years, but remains small (3%) when seen against the total volume of journal publications. Less than 5% of articles in all but one journal were qualitative. The most commonly explored topic was diversity, equity, and social justice accounting for 23% of the qualitative articles. In total, 55% of the studies were conducted in the United States. Although many studies did not specify participants' race and gender, the most commonly reported research participants were K-12 students, female, White, and from the United States. We discuss these findings and provide recommendations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The invisible work of persisting: BIWOC students in school psychology doctoral programs.

There are growing calls to diversify the ranks of school psychology practitioners, graduate educators, and researchers by recruiting more students of color in school psychology doctoral programs. Past research on retention across many fields in higher education indicates that Black, Indigenous, and women of color (BIWOC) students entering doctoral programs encounter isolation, lack of support, and microaggressions. Although this literature has illuminated how doctoral programs can push out BIWOC students, it has been critiqued for overlooking the creative and strategic means they use to stay in their programs. We analyzed 12 focus group interviews conducted with 15 BIWOC students in school psychology doctoral programs across the United States. Using the analytical construct of agency, we coded the transcripts to identify agentic actions of BIWOC that went beyond standard graduate school demands. We identified six types of actions that BIWOC carried out to combat the systemic barriers they encountered: teaching, protecting others, self-advocating, organizing, searching for community, and self-editing. Given that these actions were in addition to the basic program requirements, we argue that they are instances of the invisible work that BIWOC students did to persist in their doctoral programs. We discuss the implications of this invisible work and provide various recommendations for school psychology doctoral programs to reduce the burden of invisible work on BIWOC students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).