Gonzalo Palomo-Vélez

Postdoctoral Researcher in Environmental Psychology

Methodological Challenges in Environmental Psychology: From Binarism to Reflexivity


Book chapter


Laís Pinto de Carvalho, Gonzalo Palomo-Vélez, José Sandoval-Díaz, Rodolfo E. Mardones Barrera
José Sandoval-Díaz & Rodolfo E. Mardones Barrera, Community Environmental Psychology and Community Resilience , Springer, 2025


Cite

Cite

APA   Click to copy
de Carvalho, L. P., Palomo-Vélez, G., Sandoval-Díaz, J., & Barrera, R. E. M. (2025). Methodological Challenges in Environmental Psychology: From Binarism to Reflexivity. In J. S.-D. & Rodolfo E. Mardones Barrera (Ed.), Community Environmental Psychology and Community Resilience . Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-02678-1_4


Chicago/Turabian   Click to copy
Carvalho, Laís Pinto de, Gonzalo Palomo-Vélez, José Sandoval-Díaz, and Rodolfo E. Mardones Barrera. “Methodological Challenges in Environmental Psychology: From Binarism to Reflexivity.” In Community Environmental Psychology and Community Resilience , edited by José Sandoval-Díaz & Rodolfo E. Mardones Barrera. Springer, 2025.


MLA   Click to copy
de Carvalho, Laís Pinto, et al. “Methodological Challenges in Environmental Psychology: From Binarism to Reflexivity.” Community Environmental Psychology and Community Resilience , edited by José Sandoval-Díaz & Rodolfo E. Mardones Barrera, Springer, 2025, doi:10.1007/978-3-032-02678-1_4.


BibTeX   Click to copy

@inbook{la2025a,
  title = {Methodological Challenges in Environmental Psychology: From Binarism to Reflexivity},
  year = {2025},
  publisher = {Springer},
  doi = {10.1007/978-3-032-02678-1_4},
  author = {de Carvalho, Laís Pinto and Palomo-Vélez, Gonzalo and Sandoval-Díaz, José and Barrera, Rodolfo E. Mardones},
  editor = {Barrera, José Sandoval-Díaz & Rodolfo E. Mardones},
  booktitle = {Community Environmental Psychology and Community Resilience }
}

This chapter reviews environmental psychology’s use of methodologies and the challenges associated with an interdisciplinary field. Research has traditionally preferred quantitative methods, especially in the Global North, using surveys, psychometric developments, and experiments to study the relationship between people and their environments. However, the growing importance of qualitative methods has been recognized, especially in community environmental psychology in Latin America, for the study of underrepresented communities and complex experiences. These approaches, which are less inclined to reflect hegemonic visions, explore the complexity of experiences and meanings through in-depth interviews, observation, text analysis, and spatial methodologies, such as walking interviews and collective mapping. After reviewing some of the most common methods in the field, the final discussion addresses the persistent quantitative–qualitative binarism and the need to overcome a merely technical coexistence and achieve critical reflexivity on the onto-epistemic, ethical, and political implications of each approach. The importance of considering scientific investigative rigor based on epistemic relevance and ethical responsibility is underscored, in addition to the usefulness of methodological triangulation and caution with irreflexive integration of mixed methods. Last, a “methodological imagination” for environmental psychology is proposed, which connects the individual experience with broad social dynamics, inquiring into silenced knowledge and strengthening transdisciplinary approaches and the understanding of concepts like territory and community.