Article Review
Read the following article, located in the Topic 4 Resources:
Virtual Reality Group Therapy for the Treatment of Depression: A Qualitative Study on Stakeholder Perspectives
Write a 500-750-word analysis of the article. Include the following in your analysis:
What are the key differences between qualitative and quantitative research?
What are the strengths and weaknesses of qualitative research designs?
What are the essential components that should be considered when applying qualitative methods to counseling outcomes?
When should you use qualitative methods when conducting counseling research?
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center.
Article Review
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The article, “Virtual Reality Group Therapy for the Treatment of Depression” by Dilgul et al. (2021) focuses on exploring the perspectives that stakeholders have about the use of virtual reality group therapy as depression treatment. Ten therapists and ten patients diagnosed with depression were included as the participants and the data was collected using semi-structured interviews. The findings illustrated that patients and therapists like the idea of using virtual reality for group therapy patients.
Dilgul et al. (2021) used a qualitative research design since the study explored the participants’ opinions about virtual reality group therapy. As per Choy (2014), the main difference between qualitative and quantitative studies is that qualitative research focuses on understanding people’s feelings and thoughts while quantitative research generates numerical data and uses mathematical techniques and logic to establish facts. Quantitative research is, therefore, objective while qualitative research is subjective. Quantitative studies require many participants while qualitative research often involves fewer participants since the data collection methods are difficult to implement over a large number of people. Qualitative research mostly relies on non-structured data collection methods such as focus groups and in-depth interviews while quantitative methods rely on structured methods such as questionnaires and surveys.
The main strengths of qualitative research designs is that they make it possible to collect rich data efficiently unlike quantitative research which respondents are limited to specific pre-defined questions. Qualitative research also makes it possible to explore concepts and generate new theories based on the findings obtained during the data collection process (Choy, 2014). In the study by Dilgul et al. (2021), using a qualitative design enabled the researchers to determine the perspectives that patients and therapists had about virtual reality group therapy. The researchers also used a small number of participants which means that the data collection process was not expensive.
According to Palinkas (2014), the main limitation of qualitative research designs is that the use of a small number of participants makes it difficult to generalize the research findings to the larger population. In the study by Dilgul et al. (2021), the findings cannot be generalized to all therapists and patients with mental illnesses since the sample is not a good representative of the entire population. Another limitation is that the research process can sometimes be labor and time-intensive since it involves data collection, transcription, and a lengthy data analysis process. Conducting focus groups and multiple interviews can be difficult to organize for and researchers must fully concentrate and immerse themselves in the data collection process. The findings cannot be used to establish cause and effect between variables. For example, in the study by Dilgul et al. (2021), the findings cannot be interpreted to mean that virtual reality group therapy is effective among patients with depression.
The main components that must be considered when using qualitative methods to influence counseling outcomes are credibility, transparency, and usefulness of the collected information. Credibility involves the trustworthiness of the data which is influenced by transparency in reporting the research process and the findings. The data must also be useful in that it is relevant and applicable to the counseling field. In counseling research, qualitative designs should be used when attempting to understand values, feelings, and perceptions that people have about specific things and when seeking more information about new concepts. Counselors can also use qualitative research to define a specific problem or develop an approach to solving a problem (Palinkas, 2014).
References
Choy, L. (2014). The Strengths and Weaknesses of Research Methodology: Comparison and Complimentary between Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 19(4), 99-104. https://doi.org/10.9790/0837-194399104
Dilgul, M., Hickling, L., Antonie, D., Priebe, S., & Bird, V. (2021). Virtual Reality Group Therapy for the Treatment of Depression: A Qualitative Study on Stakeholder Perspectives. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 1. https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2020.609545
Palinkas, L. (2014). Qualitative and Mixed Methods in Mental Health Services and Implementation Research. Journal of Clinical Child &Amp; Adolescent Psychology, 43(6), 851-861. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2014.910791