Text analysis within quantitative and qualitative psychotherapy process research: Introduction to special issue

The present paper introduces the special issue on Text Analysis in Quantitative and Qualitative Psychotherapy Process Research. The motivation for this special issue grew out of recognition of the following: (1) both quantitative and qualitative psychotherapy process research (PPR) make extensive use of text analysis (TA); (2) TA presents different characteristics that serve different aims in quantitative and qualitative PPR; and (3) researchers are not always fully aware of these differences in explicit and systematic ways. The present paper, together with the special issue it introduces, aims at stimulating a more explicit and systematic methodological reflection on the different ways in which TA may be used in quantitative and qualitative PPR. We first outline the general differences between TA in quantitative and qualitative PPR; then, we describe the extent to which the papers in this special issue illustrate these differences. Finally, we conclude by stressing that PPR may significantly benefit from researchers becoming more fully aware of the differences. © 2012 Italian Area Group of the Society for Psychotherapy Research