Innovation in qualitative psychological research: Tackling methodological and societal challenges

This chapter provides an introduction to and overview of the Handbook while also delineating its scope and aims. Contemporary world-wide challenges, like pandemic health threats, economic crisis and cross-border migration and the digitalization of social life, set the scene for a landscape of fluidity and diversity in respect of qualitative psychological research. Featuring selected contributions from the 1st Conference of the Association of European Qualitative Researchers in Psychology (EQuiP), which illustrate promising trends across a variety of European countries, the Handbook aims to set the stage for cutting edge debates on the conceptualization of innovative qualitative psychological research but also on its potential for tackling contemporary challenges. The chapter includes a brief outline of the Handbook’s context, background and aims, a sketch of current debates regarding innovation in qualitative psychological research, as well as a reflexive overview of the Handbook’s structure and contents. Innovation is depicted with regard to methodological insight but also with regard to proposals tackling contemporary societal challenges, like participant-centered mental health and health projects, community-focused projects and projects addressing societal issues, such as inequality