Conducting Qualitative Research With Psychedelic Psychopharmacologists: Challenges of Co-Production in an Era of Interdisciplinarity

Noorani, Tehseen

Abstract

From 2013 to 2015, I worked as a postdoctoral research fellow with a team of pharmacologists experimenting with psilocybin, an illegal psychoactive compound found in psychedelic mushrooms. The team had conducted an open-label clinical trial with long-term cigarette smokers, using psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy to help them quit. The smoking outcomes were very promising, occurring alongside many other profound positive life-changes. The team wanted to investigate further the mechanisms of change by which the study led to its effects. With my PhD training in qualitative research but little knowledge of psychopharmacology, I spearheaded a retrospective qualitative research project to identify participants’ perceptions of the mechanisms of change. This case study describes the challenges I experienced through my involvement with the pharmacology team and some of the solutions that emerged. The distance between collaborating physical scientists and social scientists ebbs and flows, and I begin by situating our interdisciplinary project in the context of the recent intellectual history of psychopharmacology. I then offer a twin analysis of working on the topic as a qualitative researcher and working in a team with pharmacologists. The case study ends with practical suggestions for getting the most out of interdisciplinary co-production.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jan 21, 2017
• Publication Date: 2017-01
• Deposit Date: Jun 15, 2018
• Journal: SAGE Research Methods Cases
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526404862
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1328604