It has now been 50 years since Flanagan (1954) published his classic article on the
critical incident technique (CIT) - a qualitative research method that is still
widely used today. This article reviews the origin and evolution of the CIT during
the past 50 years, discusses CIT’s place within the qualitative research
tradition, examines the robustness of the method, and offers some recommendations
for using the CIT as we look forward to its next 50 years of use. The focus of this
article is primarily on the use of the CIT in counselling psychology, although other
disciplines are touched upon.
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