Clinical Psychology

1674 Words4 Pages

Clinical psychology aims to reduce psychological distress and to enhance and promote psychological well-being by the systematic application of knowledge derived from psychological theory and data’ (British Psychological Society Division of Clinical Psychology, 2001). To this end clinical psychology has distinguished itself from other helping professions by an enduring reliance on its foundation of scientific research. Within scientific research there is always a strong debate between those that prefer quantitative methods and those who prefer qualitative ones. proponents of quantitative methods have built the standards in experimental research and in researches performed on a large number of subjects and which use sampling criteria and statistical analysis techniques. On the other side, the qualitative method uses procedures of qualitative nature both at the level of collecting the data as well as the level of analyzing them (Tagliapietra, Trifan, Raineri & Lis, 2009). The gathering data procedures include: interviews, group discussions, observations, journals; while the analysis procedures include coding, categorizations and systematic confrontation between the categories and their dimensions. Such research is often defined as an explorative one, opposite to “classical” scientific research aiming to confirm / disconfirm initial hypothesis. Among the qualitative methods used in the scientific research we can list: Focus Group, Speech Analysis, Conversation Analysis, Grounded Theory and Phenomenological Interpretative Analysis (Tagliapietra, Trifan, Raineri & Lis, 2009). This tension between an emphasis on a positivist science base and an emphasis on therapy and professional issues runs through many debates in clinical psy... ... middle of paper ... ...s to use, qualitative methods in drug evaluation can increase the likelihood of discovering new kinds of information about the experiences of patients and those who care for them. In summary, quantitative research method as a research tool has an several contribution in the field of clinical psychology. Opportunities are unlimited in rehabilitation to describe and interpret phenomena via qualitative study. The qualitative research method is needed in addition to or concurrently with the quantitative perspective in improving the practices of clinical psychology. Using qualitative methods in clinical practices has several advantages compared to the quantitative methods. Moreover qualitative method as a research tool has been proven by different researchers that it contributes in development of new theories and new treatment approaches in clinical psychology.

Clinical Psychology
2604 Words | 6 Pages
Clinical psychology aims to understand, treat and prevent psychological distress and dysfunction thus to encourage good health, good adaptive thinking and a healthy lifestyle. People working in this field research into mental dysfunction suffered by the patients, assess their cognitive state of mind and perform psychotherapy to decrease the psychological symptoms and/ or the underlying causes.
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Kindness and Lasting Happiness
568 Words | 2 Pages
Psychology’s history is a relatively rough one and has only recently been considered a science. According to Martin Seligman (2000), negative psychology is psychology that deals with recovery and healing, using the disease model. This type of psychology has been popular in America since the end of World War II because of grants given to the industry during that time (Seligman, 2000). That time period left positive psychology, the psychology of developing ones skill and wellbeing and perfecting what is already there, overlooked and forgotten. But what psychologist have recently recognized is that positive psychology can be just as useful as negative psychology but it is a vastly under developed area. Thus many scientists have embraced the new frontier of positive psychology. I did a study on the subject of positive psychology. I took two life experiences, one that I found personal pleasure in, and another that wasn’t as fun at the time but benefited others and compared and contrasted the resulting feelings of happiness.
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Counseling Psychology
348 Words | 1 Pages
When I began my studies at the University of Northern Iowa, I had an interest in the field of psychology, but I was not yet sure that I wanted to pursue a career in that area. The classes that I consequently took and the professors that taught them solidified my desire to receive a degree in psychology.
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Clinical Psychology
970 Words | 2 Pages
Psychology as a discipline has continued to grow and make significant contributions to the study and understanding of human behaviour. One aspect of psychology that has made momentous contributions to the discipline is clinical psychology. According to the American Psychological Association website, the field of clinical psychology is “a general practice and health service provider specialty in professional psychology.” Therefore, it is the job of the clinical psychologist to ‘assess, diagnose, predict, prevent and treat psychopathology, mental disorders and other individual or group problems to improve behaviour adjustment, adaptation, personal effectiveness and satisfaction.’ With a definition like this, it is no wonder the honours that the field is given as it speaks mainly to abnormal behaviours and mental illnesses, something that psychology in general is notorious for.
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Theories Of Elder Abuse
1421 Words | 3 Pages
Therefore, in a quantitative study the theoretical framework is often discussed are the literate review (Coughlan, Cronin, & Ryan, 2007). In addition, the theory can be used as a conceptual model that is used as guide for the research study (Coughlan et al., 2007). Therefore, a quantitative research study contributes to theory by building on the theory through empirical observation. On the other hand, qualitative research contributes to theory by developing new theories (Ryan, Coughlan, & Cronin, 2007). As a result, majority of qualitative research does not test a theory compared to the quantitative research studies. Therefore, qualitative research is often known as grounded theory (Ryan et al., 2007). However, some qualitative research can use theories as a frame for the study. Finally, research contributes to theory by improving the efficiency and reducing errors (Wacker, 1998). Therefore, theory is improved and it enhances the knowledge in the topic area of interest. Overall, research is conducted built on a theory that provides an explanation of the phenomena (Stam, 2009). In the end, theory and research are closely linked together and without the use of a theoretical framework to build the research from it will be difficult to provide an understanding of the research results regarding the
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Qualitative Research Advantages And Disadvantages
736 Words | 2 Pages
One of the major foundation of research is qualitative methodologies. Qualitative research collect the information in the non-numerical structure; it is created to reveal target persons behavior and viewpoint that drive it with reference to particular topics and problems. It usually used in-depth studies of small group of people or each individual, participant observation, group discussions and diary exercises to guide and help the development of theories (Flick, 2009). Example of this
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Quantitative and Qualitative Research Approaches in Social Sciences
978 Words | 2 Pages
Ultimately, the area of qualitative research focus on "describing a specific group in detail and to explain the pattern that exist and certainly not to discover general laws of human behavior" (Schofield, 1993: quoted from Henn et al., 2006: 178). The substantial aspect of qualitative research is that all types of research are valuable; be it quantitative or qualitative. However, the usage of the two research paradigm is subject to the value system, the researcher and the theory being used in the research (Creswell, 2007: 247). Qualitative research according to Ehigie and Ehigie (2005: 621), requires the full participation of the researcher with astute concentration in order to have deep understanding of the phenomenon at
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Clinical Psychology and Psychiatrist
1017 Words | 3 Pages
Many people confuse clinical psychology with psychiatrist thinking that it is the same thing when, in reality, it is not. Clinical Psychology is the study of the emotional, biological, psychological, social influences, and intellectual abilities (“Society of Clinical Psychology”). They are trained to diagnose, treat, and study people who are mentally ill. A clinical psychologist usually does four to five years of graduate work, and one year internship under the supervision of a practicing psychologist (Wade, and Tavris pg.10). Research is a major part of their work and they teach as well as supervise, work alone or in a group while conducting such research (“Society of Clinical Psychology”).
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Clinical Psychology Research Paper
651 Words | 2 Pages
Helping these children can be quite difficult, especially if their parents do not know or want to help. As a clinical psychologist perinatal involvement is something that will skyrocket those developmental milestones. Perinatal clinical psychologists study the intra-psychic, interpersonal, and trans-generational mental processes which affect our children over lifetimes. Having this as a way to help better understand how clinical psychology can help both the parents and children walk away from these uncertainties and misguidances.
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Examples Of Quantitative Methodology
1033 Words | 3 Pages
Typically, quantitative methodologies uses already tested and validated theories about how and why an event occurs. The most important reason to use a quantitative method is that it has more credibility. It has more credibility to be implemented in natural settings or non-clinical settings by organizational leaders, administrators, public servants, and individuals or institutes who fund programs. It provides precise and numerical data. In
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Mixed Methods Research: A Comprehensive Approach
1130 Words | 3 Pages
To collect valid and reliable data for the investigation, the researcher combined qualitative and quantitative methods to conduct “mix methods research” (Creswell, Plano, Gutmann & Hanson, 2003, p.42) because Dörnyei (2007) claimed that qualitative and quantitative methods had equal contribution in theorising as they can support each other. Furthermore, the two methods were adopted to attain an entire understanding of a target phenomenon or to justify one series of results against the other (Sandelowski, 2003). As regards quantitative and qualitative methods, according to Conrad & Serlin (2011), qualitative research methods paid attention to exploring the experiences, perspectives, and mindsets of the participants. In other words, the qualitative
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Positive Psychology Essay
1348 Words | 3 Pages
Mental disorders which falls under the umbrella of Abnormal psychology can be attributed to the ability to treat and diagnose mental disorders. Based on advances such as the development of the scientific method psychologists are now able to fully and efficiently attribute the causes of mental disorders to physical and unphysical traits. The process i...
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Quantitative Research Method Is Quantitative And Qualitative
1076 Words | 3 Pages
(Burns & Grove 2005:23) Qualitative Research is a primarily exploratory research used to obtain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. Quantitative research method are more systematic because research problem is stated specifically, variables are specified, original set of research goals, arriving at more objective conclusions, testing hypothesis, determining the issues of causality are followed firmly, achieving high levels of reliability of gathered data, eliminating subjectivity of judgment and allowing for longitudinal measures of subsequent performance of research subjects. However, Qualitative research method is unsystematic because changing nature of the context, arriving to different conclusions, difficult to investigate causality, there will be obstacles while explaining the difference in the quality and quantity of information obtained from different respondents and arriving at different, non-consistent conclusions, researchers are required to have a high level of experience, and lacking consistency and
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Disadvantages Of Qualitative Research Studies
1553 Words | 4 Pages
Qualitative research is often utilised by studying a few cases as this type of research is not de-pended on former empirical findings - and is also considered useful when the researcher is trying to make sense of complex situations (Dörnyei & Ushioda, 2011, p. 204)
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Qualitative Research Advantages And Disadvantages
1207 Words | 3 Pages
Qualitative research utilizes different theoretical assumptions, such as approaches of inquiry, techniques of data collection, and analysis and understanding (Kakulu, 2014). A qualitative approach gives emphasis to the qualities of entities, processes and meanings that are not experimentally examined or measured in terms of quantity, amount, intensity or frequency (Denzin 2010). Therefore, (Denzin, 2010) described qualitative research the definitions, characteristics, meanings, concepts, metaphors, symbols, and description of things. The research questions often stress how social experience is created and given meaning. This type of inquiry stresses the relationship between the researcher and the participants,
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Clinical Psychology