Overcoming psychology's methodology: finding synthesis beyond the American and German-Austrian division

Abstract

Reworking psychology's methodology is of utmost importance if the discipline is to progress. This paper explores methodological strategies which could help overcome the methodological crisis outlined by Toomela (Culture of Science: Strange History of the Methodological Thinking in Psychology. Integrative Psychological and Behavioral Science, 2007, doi:10.1007/s12124-007-9004-0). First, I describe a classic research program (i.e., Bartlett's experiments on remembering) that exemplifies the virtues of a "German-Austrian" approach to psychology. Second, I elaborate upon these insights to investigate other aspects of remembering. Finally, I conclude by outlining a methodological programmatic for future research in psychology that overcomes existing forms of experimentation in a new synthesis. The new methodology borrows from both traditions advancing via rich description of single cases and their qualitative transformation to complex theory capable of explaining all individual cases.