Using Declarative Mapping Sentences in Psychological Research: Applying Facet Theory in Multi-componential Critical Analyses of Female Representation in Science Fiction Film and TV

Using facet theory and Hackett’s pioneering development of the declarative mapping sentence (DMS) as a qualitative methodology, this volume explains the process of formulating and applying the DMS to critically assess female representation in science fiction.

Using a comparative approach to the development of female roles in Western science fiction films and television, the authors illustrate how the DMS is formulated and used to analyse the psychological and behavioral profiles of female characters. By maintaining the common structure of the DMS across films while adapting its content for each female role, the text demonstrates the flexibility of the DMS in providing a structure for varied research domains, enabling results to be uniformly compared, contrasted and classified.

This insightful and thought-provoking volume will appeal to researchers, academics and educators interested in psychological methods and statistics, qualitative research in gender identity, and research methods more generally. Those especially interested in behavioural psychology, gender and cinema, and science fiction will also benefit from this volume.

Paul M. W. Hackett is Professor of Ethnography and Research Methods at Emerson College, USA, Visiting Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria, Visiting Professor of Health Research Methods at Univertsity of Suffolk, UK, and Visiting Scholar at Royal Anthropological Institute, UK. He is the author of Facet Theory and the Mapping Sentence, second edition (2021),and Declarative Mapping Sentence in Qualitative Research (2021), and a co-author of An Introduction to Using Mapping Sentences (2021).

Chenwei Li completed her master's degree in Strategic Communication for Marketing in the School of Communication, Emerson College, USA, and her bachelor's degree in Film and Media Studies in the School of Humanity, University of California Irvine, USA.