When I began to study psychology a half century ago, it was defined as "the study of behavior and experience." By the time I completed my doctorate, shortly after the end of World War II, the last two words were fading rapidly. In one of my first graduate classes, a course in statistics, the professor announced on the first day, "Whatever exists, exists in some number." We dutifully wrote that into our notes and did not pause to recognize that thereby all that makes life meaningful was being consigned to oblivion. This bland restructuring-perhaps more accurately, destruction-of the world was typical of its time, 1940. The influence of a narrow scientistic attitude was already spreading throughout the learned disciplines. In the next two decades it would invade and tyrannize the "social sciences," education, and even philosophy. To be sure, quantification is a powerful tool, selectively employed, but too often it has been made into an executioner's axe to deny actuality to all that does not yield to its procrustean demands.

This fine new book, the third in a series, brings psychologists up to date on the advances of phenomenological research methods in illuminating the nature of human awareness and ex periences. In the more congenial and welcoming intellectual climate of the 1990s, phe nomenological methods have moved to the forefront of discourse on research methods that support and advocate an expanding view of science. In Valle and King (1978), phenome nological methods were presented as alternatives to behavioral methods. In Valle and Halling (1989), phenomenological methods were advanced to perspectives in psychology. This new volume is even less cautious, indeed bolder, in relation to conventional methods and epistemologies. By now, people knowledgeable about psychology, and most psycholo gists, have digested the criticisms directed against methods that operationalize, quantify, and often minimize human behavior. In bringing us up to date on the growing power of phe nomenological methods, this volume brings welcome coherence and integrity to an in creasingly harried science attempting to reenchant itself with meaning and depth, an endeavor artfully exemplified by phenomenological inquiries of the last several decades.

With the move towards evidence-based practice and emphasis placed on multidisciplinary research teams, there is a growing use of qualitative research methods. Qualitative research looks at processes as well as outcomes and enables data to be gathered on a range of human experience, taking a person-centred and holistic approach. Basic Concepts for Qualitative Research is a highly accessible text which provides researchers with quick access to descriptions and explanations of the concepts and methods used in qualitative research. The book's entries are ordered alphabetically for quick and easy access to the information. Links are included in each entry so that the reader can follow a particular line of enquiry. Suggested further reading is included to encourage deeper exploration of a particular approach or method. It will provide a comprehensive range of the most commonly used terms and methods within qualitative research.

“Clear, accurate, and interesting. There is no better short introduction to the existential approach to psychology.” —Dallas Morning News The brilliant psychologist Rollo May was a major force in existential psychology. Here, he brings together the ideas of Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, and other great thinkers to offer insights into its ideas and techniques. He pays particular attention to the causes of loneliness and isolation and to our search to find new and firm moorings in order to move toward a future where responsibility, creativity, and love can play a role.

Increasing numbers of professional teams and athletes look for assistance with the psychological factors of their performance, and there exists a growing body of professional sport psychologists ready to provide support. Despite this, it seems at times there remains a significant gap between the real needs of sport performers and what is delivered by traditional sport psychology. The existential approach described by Mark Nesti offers a radical alternative to the cognitive and cognitive-behavioural approaches that have dominated sport psychology, and represents the first systematic attempt to apply existential psychological theory and phenomenological method to sport psychology. This much-needed alternative framework for the discipline of applied sport psychology connects to many of the real and most significant challenges faced by sports performers during their careers and beyond. Existential Psychology and Sport outlines an approach that can be used to add something of depth, substance and academic rigour to sport psychology in applied settings beyond the confines of MST and good listening skills.