Dr Claire Hewson

Professional biography

I commenced a degree in psychology at the University of Hertfordshire (then Hatfield Polytechnic) in 1987, with interests in social psychology, gender, feminist and social constructionist perspectives. Subsequently, I developed interests in cognitive psychology, philosophy of science and philosophy of mind, and upon finishing my degree I went on to study at the Centre for Cognitive Science (now 'Informatics') at Edinburgh University where I completed an MSc in Cognitive Science and Natural Language in 1991. I stayed on there to complete a PhD in 1996; my thesis focused on the nature of 'folk psychology' and its role in developed scientific psychological theories. After then working for a brief period as a Research Associate at the Human Communication Research Centre, Edinburgh University, I took up a full time Lectureship at the University of Bolton in 1997. I have been working at The Open University since September 2007.

Research interests

My research interests are fairly broad and interdisciplinary. One strand of activity involves researching the use of the internet for collecting primary research data. I have published widely in this area and been active in engaging with educators and policy makers. My early work focused on exploring the scope and validity of various emerging new approaches for remote data collection; for example I have carried out work to explore the validity of established psychometric test instruments when administered online. I have co-authored a well-cited book on internet research methods (Sage, 1st edition 2003, 2nd edition 2016), and lead-authored a set of ethics guidelines for internet-mediated research for the British Psychological Society (2013). Another longstanding interest of mine is the nature, role and (scientific) status of 'folk psychology' (also known, broadly, as 'theory of mind'). I have explored how empirical data collected using traditional methods in psychology can inform issues and debates within this area. My early work started well before the 'Experimental Philosophy' movement took off, but essentially adopts the same basic approach: foregrounding empirical evidence in interrogating philosophical debates and issues where it is clearly of relevance. For example, my early work has tested whether philosophers' intuitions about ordinary people's folk psychological judgements were borne out by actual empirical evidence gathered form participants. I also have interests in the nature of lay beliefs and undertsandings in other domains, e.g. religion and science. 

A selection of my research publications can be viewed at The Open University's Open Research Online.

Selected publications:

Hewson, Claire (2020). Qualitative approaches in internet-mediated research: opportunities, issues, possibilities. In: Leavy, Patricia ed. The Oxford Handbook of Qualitative Research (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 633–673.

Hewson, C., & Charlton, J.P. (2019). An investigation of the validity of course-based online assessment methods: The role of computer-related attitudes and assessment mode preferences. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 35(1), 51-60.

Hewson, C. (2017). Research design and tools for internet research. In N. Fielding, R. Lee, & G. Blank (Eds.). The Sage Handbook of Online Research Methods (2nd edition). Sage: London, pp.57-75.

Hewson, C., & Buchanan, T. (Eds.) (2017). Ethics guidelines for internet-mediated research. British Psychological Society, INF206/04.2017. Available: https://www.bps.org.uk/news-and-policy/ethics-guidelines-internet-mediated-research-2017.

Hewson, C., Vogel, C. & Laurent, D. (2016). Internet Research Methods (2^nd edition). Sage: London.

Hewson, C. (2015). Ethics Issues in Digital Methods Research. In H. Snee, C. Hine, Y. Morey, S. Roberts & H. Watson (Eds.) Digital Methods for Social Science: An interdisciplinary guide to research innovation, pp 206-221. Palgrave Macmillan.

Hewson, C. (2015). Research Methods on the Internet. In L. Cantoni & J.A. Danowski (Eds.) Communication and Technology. Handbooks of Communication Science Series (5). Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.

Hewson, C. (2014). Conducting Research on the Internet – A New Era. The Psychologist, 27, 946-951.

Hewson, C. (2012). Can online course-based assessment methods be fair and equitable? Relationships between students' preferences and performance within online and offline assessments. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 28(5), 488-498

Selected conference presentations:

Saldanha, G & Hewson, C. (2023). The concept of mind across times and genres – Implications for the study of mental health, or “When the mind got ill and lost its mind”. Presented at the 2023 Conference of The European Association for the History of Medicine and Health (EAHMH). Oslo, Norway, September, 2023.

Hewson, C. (2021). Gathering research data online: practical and ethical considerations. Invited keynote presented at The Eighth Annual Conference of the UK Research Integrity Office. Online conference, May 2021.

Hewson, C & Saldanha, G. (2018). An Exploration of corpus analysis methods for investigating the explanatory framework of folk psychology. Presented at The 26^th Annual meeting of the European Society for Philosophy and Psychology (ESPP). Rijeka, Croatia, September, 2018. 

Hewson, C. (2013). What Can Measuring Folk Intuitions Really Tell Us? Presented at The 4^th Conference of the Experimental Philosophy Group. Bristol, UK, September, 2013.

A repository of research publications and other research outputs can be viewed at The Open University's Open Research Online.

Teaching interests

Current Modules (2025):

Chair: DD803, MSc Psychology module.

Module team member: DD210, DE300 (ethics lead).

I am a committee member and expert advisor for the Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC).

External collaborations

2025:

Chartered Member of the British Psychological Society.

Member of reviewer panels for the British Journal of Technology (BJET), Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (JCAL), and Computers in Human Behavior (CiHB).

Consultant/reviewer for Sage publishers online methods series.