PSY 655 Week 7 DQ 2: Evolutions of CIT
Pick the evolution that fixes a limitation you can name in the original. The consulting application follows once you have said what the method could not previously do.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 16, 2026
One evolution, and the application is to leadership consulting
This post has a three-part shape and works best if you build it backwards from the original method's limitations. The technique began as a way of collecting observed incidents of effective and ineffective behaviour in order to derive job requirements, and its early form carried real constraints: reliance on retrospective self-report, vulnerability to memory and social desirability, a focus on the behaviour of individuals rather than on the context around them, and analysis that produced categories without much account of how they were arrived at. Choose an evolution that addresses one of those, then say which. The enhanced form that adds credibility checks — a second coder, participant cross-checking, an audit trail, reporting participation rates — answers the trustworthiness limitation directly and is the easiest to defend. Say which limitation you consider most damaging in applied work, since the ranking is what makes the rest of the post an argument rather than a description.
Then make the leadership consulting application specific, since that is what the prompt asks about and it is the part usually left as a general claim. A consultant using the technique is typically asking why leadership works in one part of an organisation and not another, and the answer has to survive being presented to the people it describes. That is a higher bar than a research finding, because a leader who disagrees with a category can dismiss the whole engagement. Credibility procedures matter more here than in academic use for exactly that reason. Evolutions that widen the unit of analysis from individual behaviour to the conditions surrounding it are equally defensible for consulting, since a report saying that leaders behaved badly is less useful than one saying which situations produced the behaviour. Say which limitation your chosen evolution fixes, and what a consultant can now do that they could not before.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Identify limitations of the original critical incident technique.
- 02Match a methodological development to the limitation it addresses.
- 03Explain why consulting applications require higher credibility standards.
- 04Distinguish individual behaviour from contextual units of analysis.
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Uses valid, relevant, and reliable outside sources to contribute to the threaded discussion Provides relevant evidence of scholarly inquiry but does not clearly state how the evidence informed or changed professional or academic decisions. Evaluates information from source(s) to develop a coherent analysis or synthesis. Uses some valid, relevant, reliable outside sources to contribute to the threaded discussion. Discusses using scholarly inquiry but does not state how scholarly inquiry informed or changed professional or academic decisions. Information is taken from source(s) with some interpretation/evaluation, but not enough to develop a coherent analysis or synthesis. Little valid, relevant, or reliable outside sources are used to contribute to the threaded discussion. Demonstrates little or no understanding of the topic. Discusses using scholarly inquiry but does not state how scholarly inquiry informed or changed professional or academic decisions. Information is taken from source(s) without any interpretation/evaluation. The posting uses information that is not valid, relevant, or reliable No evidence of the use of scholarly inquiry to inform or change professional or academic decisions. Information is not valid, relevant, or reliable Performance Category 10 9 8 4 0 Application of Course Knowledge – Demonstrate the ability to analyze, synthesize, and/or apply principles and concepts learned in the course lesson and outside readings and relate them to real-life professional situations Posts make direct reference to concepts discussed in the lesson or drawn from relevant outside sources; Applies concepts to personal experience in the professional setting and or relevant application to real life. Posts make direct reference to concepts discussed in the lesson or drawn from relevant outside sources. Applies concepts to personal experience in their professional setting and or relevant application to real life Interactions with classmates are relevant to the discussion topic but do not make direct reference to lesson content Posts are generally on topic but do not build knowledge by incorporating concepts and principles from the lesson. Does not attempt to apply lesson concepts to personal experience in their professional setting and or relevant application to real life Does not demonstrate a solid understanding of the principles and concepts presented in the lesson Posts do not adequately address the question posed either by the discussion prompt or the instructor’s launch post. Posts are superficial and do not reflect an understanding of the lesson content Does not attempt to apply lesson concepts to personal experience in their professional setting and or relevant application to real life Posts are not related to the topics provided by the discussion prompt or by the instructor; attempts by the instructor to redirect the student are ignored No discussion of lesson concepts to personal experience in the professional setting and or relevant application to real life Performance Category 5 4 3 2 0 Interactive Dialogue Replies to each graded thread topic posted by the course instructor, by Wednesday, 11:59 p.m. MT, of each week, and posts a minimum of two times in each graded thread, on separate days. (5 points possible per graded thread) Exceeds minimum post requirements Replies to each graded thread topic posted by the course instructor, by Wednesday, 11:59 p.m. MT, of each week, and posts three or more times in each graded thread, over three separate days. Replies to a post posed by faculty and to a peer Summarizes what was learned from the lesson, readings, and other student posts for the week. Replies to each graded thread topic posted by the course instructor, by Wednesday, 11:59 p.m. MT, of each week, and posts a minimum of two times in each graded thread, on separate days Replies to a question posed by a peer Summarizes what was learned from the lesson, readings, and other student posts for the week. Meets expectations of 2 posts on 2 different days. The main post is not made by the Wednesday deadline Does not reply to a question posed by a peer or faculty Has only one post for the week Discussion posts contain few, if any, new ideas or applications; often are a rehashing or summary of other students’ comments Does not post to the thread No connections are made to the topic Minus 1 Point Minus 2 Point Minus 3 Point Minus 4 Point Minus 5 Point Grammar, Syntax, APA Note: if there are only a few errors in these criteria, please note this for the student in as an area for improvement. If the student does not make the needed corrections in upcoming weeks, then points should be deducted. Points deducted for improper grammar, syntax and APA style of writing. The source of information is the APA Manual 6th Edition 2-3 errors in APA format. Written responses have 2-3 grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors. Writing style is generally clear, focused, and facilitates communication. 4-5 errors in APA format. 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Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01The original method and at least two of its limitations.
- 02One named evolution.
- 03The limitation it addresses, stated explicitly.
- 04A consulting scenario where the improvement matters.
- 05A statement of what a consultant can now do differently.
The original limit, the evolution, then the consulting gain
The method as originally formulated
Describe the technique and its original purpose.
Its limitations
Name recall bias, unit of analysis and analytic opacity.
The evolution you chose
Describe the development and what it changes.
Why it matters in consulting
Explain the higher credibility bar of applied work.
What the consultant gains
State the new capability concretely.
Method development, not method description
Recommended databases
- PsycINFO
- PubMed Central
- Business Source Complete
- Your assigned readings
Search sequence
- 1.Read the original formulation before any account of its evolutions.
- 2.Search for methodological critiques that name specific weaknesses.
- 3.Find an applied study using an enhanced version of the technique.
- 4.Check what credibility procedures the applied studies actually report.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
Finding a path in a methodological jungle: a qualitative research of resilience
International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being · 2023
Credibility and trustworthiness procedures set out explicitly — the evolution most defensible for consulting use.
- 02
A qualitative evaluation of the crucial attributes of contextual information necessary in EHR design to support patient-centered medical home care
BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making · 2015
An applied study whose findings had to survive presentation to the people they described.
- 03
Commitment of Cultural Minorities in Organizations: Effects of Leadership and Pressure to Conform
Journal of Business and Psychology · 2010
Leadership effects measured within culturally mixed workgroups, which is the generalisation question the assigned article raises.
- 04
Strategies to reduce diagnostic errors: a systematic review
BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making · 2019
Strategies to reduce error in expert judgement — the closest thing to an evidence base on debiasing a decision.
- 05
Client Perspectives of Family Therapy: A Qualitative Systematic Review
Journal of Marital and Family Therapy · 2025
A qualitative systematic review reporting its own screening and appraisal procedures, useful as a model.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Describing an evolution without naming the limitation it fixes.
- Claiming general improvement with no consulting application.
- Treating academic and consulting uses as equivalent.
- Choosing an evolution because it is recent rather than because it solves something.
Submission checklist
- Have you named limitations of the original method?
- Is the evolution matched to a specific limitation?
- Is there a consulting scenario, not just a claim?
- Have you said what a consultant can do that they could not before?
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