“Tensions That I’m Having to Navigate”: Reflections on Qualitative Approaches From Behavior Analyst Researchers
Qualitative self-reflection can help BCBAs examine assumptions about objectivity and expand what counts as valid knowledge.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Burney et al. (2025) asked behavior analysts to talk about using qualitative methods. They recorded how researchers felt when they stepped outside the usual numbers-only box.
The team turned those talks into a story about the push-and-pull between stories and statistics inside ABA.
What they found
Workers said they felt tension. They liked rich stories, yet feared colleagues would see them as “not real science.”
Sharing feelings helped them see that objectivity itself is a habit, not a rule carved in stone.
How this fits with other research
Burney et al. (2025) extends the same authors’ earlier paper that now calls for a whole “qualitative branch” of behavior analysis. Personal tension grew into a field-level reform plan.
Jackson-Perry et al. (2025) overlap here. Both 2025 papers urge deep self-reflection, but Jackson-Perry focus on critical disability studies while Burney zooms in on method choice.
Levy et al. (2022) and Sylvain et al. (2022) echo the mirror theme. Levy ask white analysts to audit racism; Sylvain records Black analysts’ lived pain. Burney adds a new angle: epistemology discomfort, not racial discomfort, yet all three spotlight voices usually sidelined in ABA culture.
Why it matters
If you supervise RBTs or train students, carve out ten minutes for team story-sharing. Ask: “What assumptions did I bring today?” One story can loosen rigid “data-only” talk and open room for cultural, racial, and methodological humility. Over time these small shares can build a lab culture that values numbers and narratives side-by-side.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Abstract Researching qualitatively can act as a catalyst to critically evaluate assumptions of objectivity and reflexivity. This article provides reflections of researchers, trained (and practicing) in behavior analysis, who are navigating diverse qualitative research in quantitative spaces. Influenced by critical collaborative autoethnography, this article provides our individual reflections processed collectively during group conversations. Through these discussions we reflect on the tensions we have experienced as behavior analysts engaging in qualitative research. We explore and unpack what qualitative approaches have prompted us to question: what is science, where is truth located, who has knowledge, and how is it accessed? This article may look different to the research behavior analysts typically read; we hope this stimulates an imagination for all that qualitative research can offer, while simultaneously avoiding an uncritical idealization of these approaches. We aim to model discomfort within the article, as a powerful tool to think reflexively about how these tensions align with our own values as researchers, and those of the field at large.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2025 · doi:10.1007/s40617-025-01097-2