Research Topic Focus: Mental Health in Jamaica and Its Treatment among Jamaicans
Description of Various Ways to Study the Topic
The Mental health field in recent years has become an important subject of study because of the statistical evidence indicating an upsurge across different age groups. In the last decade, medical practitioners and scholars have come up with multiple ideas of the possible approaches to conduct scholarly studies of the field with some proposing the use of qualitative methodological approaches while others strongly suggest the application of quantitative research (Durisko et al., 2016). Each of the two groups offers strong arguments to support their perspective. However, this divergence of opinions, albeit healthy in the academia, has split the mental health researchers into two with each group opposed to the approach proposed by the other. To this end, I intend to identify the best approach to use in this study that will adequately address the research topic and the questions therein. In more explicit terms, assess both approaches and subsequently identify the method that yields the most conclusive and relevant results to the focus area of the study.
Mental health, as aforementioned, may be studied through either the use of qualitative or quantitative approaches. Each of the methods follows a unique path that results in very different data.
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Qualitative Research Approach
Primarily, the approach provides data that explicitly help to advance the researcher's understanding of the phenomenon by eliciting perceptual views of the target population affected by the problem. In the process, it reveals new dimensions of the research topic and thus develop theoretical frameworks of the problem or validate/nullify the hypothesis. In principle, while adopts a similar scientific rigor with the quantitative approach, it follows a distinct study design, methodological approach of gathering, and analyzing data (Hissa & Timulak, 2020). Sampling is purposive, targeting participants or sources of diverse perspectives depending on the topic under study. It mainly relies on open-ended questionnaires, review of the literature and other documents and observation of the study population. Analysis of collected data is usually inductive, applying the principles of the Grounded Theory.
Using this approach to study the topic will provide information on how the affected families regard the treatment plans in place in the context of how effectiveness, access, and affordability. In essence, it will provide the voice of the target population through a rich information pool on different elements of mental health, such as treatment options, outcomes, and socio-cultural perception.
Quantitative Research Approach
Unlike the Qualitative approach, this method focuses on using quantifiable data collected from a sample population to establish a link between the variables outlined in the research design. Mainly, it focuses on the numerical data available about the study population that relates to the variables, and by computing, the data analysis the outcome to reveal the relationship between them. The research instrument, Questionnaires, is structured objectively to capture a numerical-based data pool that may be analyzed to generate a hypothesis of the relationship between the variable (Cooper & Cefai, 2017). For this research, it may be used to explore the relationship of particular aspects of mental health in Jamaica, such as social class or level of education, and that that, in turn, affects the recovery rate of treatment. The outcome of the research approach only captures information related to the outlined variables.
The discussions above outline the various ways that each of the two methods may be used to investigate the research problem. While the qualitative approach offers a descriptive data outcome, the quantitative provides objective results that precisely centers the variables identified in the research design.
The Difference between the Research Approaches
Qualitative and quantitative research follows very distinct methodological approaches that could result in very different directions of the research. Consequentially, the results of the research would also capture varying elements of the phenomenon. The focus of the study is to capture the societal perspectives of the Jamaican society about mental health as revealed by the nature of their social interactions with their loved ones and the experiences of the treatment plans available to them. The qualitative process would thus formulate interview questions that capture individual perspectives that may include factors such as the cultural factors and the role that they play to inform the narratives of Jamaica. As such, there is no limit to the extent of queries that the researcher may pursue, including those that impact the stories they share with mental health patients not captured in the research instruments. Therefore, the study of mental health may include socio-cultural factors to establish the impact on the research problem of mental health in Jamaica and the resulting treatment outcome.
On the other hand, the use of quantitative methods would mainly focus on quantifiable variables of mental health such as prevalence, trends in the kind of stories, and how these relate to the treatment elements such as access. Through the use of this methodology, the construct of the research questions thus must primarily focus on these variable to ensure that the data collected provide answers to them. In more finite terms, the questions must be objective to capture quantifiable aspects of mental health and treatment experiences. The direction of using this approach may thus emphasize the prevalence of statistical data and the frequency of the success of the treatment plans as impacted by the narratives that each family adopts towards those affected in their life. In summation, while the qualitative approach would be flexible to cover a broader paradigm of the research topic and integrate the perspectives of the families and patients regarding how these narratives emerge, the quantitative approach would explore how the variables therein impact mental health treatment as the Independent variable.
Data Results of Each Research Approach
Qualitative research yields very diverse data that contains a lot of information on the research problem, mental health in the voice of the participants. As such, patterns of opinions indifference or similarity between certain segments groups may lead to an advanced understanding of the phenomenon. One of the possible information that would feature in the responses includes the impact of religion on the prevalence of mental health issues in Jamaica. More so, descriptive information regarding both mental health trends and the treatment outcomes may emerge as part of the information collected from the participants. Precisely, the extent of the information collected and results may offer a broader perspective of the patterns of the condition in addition to establishing the existing connection of the narratives of individual families and the treatment outcomes. Different theories of mental health allude to the role of the environment towards patients of mental treatment and recovery.
On the other hand, the quantitative research approach could reveal connections between me3ntal health between population segments and subsequently show how these relate to the treatment result of these groups. The statistical data also may help to reveal the extent or rather the prevalence of the certain ideological beliefs between certain groups regarding mental health issues, including stigma. In the context of treatment outcome, quantitative data may also help to reveal the peculiar trends of certain families with similar characteristics and the periods of time that these beliefs have persisted. In brief, the approach would provide extensive quantifiable data that would reveal crucial facts about mental health, such as prevalence and behavioral trends within segments of the population.
Conclusions for Each Type of Research Approach
Qualitative Research
A possible conclusion from the qualitative research is how the socio-cultural dimensions adversely affect the successful treatment of mental health patients in Jamaican by impeding the process because of the stigma associated with mental health as a result of mythical social constructs. Thus, from this hypothesis, it may recommend awareness programs to improve the treatment spectrum
Quantitative Research Approach
Under this method, the outcome of the research may hypothesize a higher prevalence of mental health issues among specific segments of society such as peasant laborers compared to the educated peo0ple as a result of a better understanding of mental health issues. Thus recommend intense educational programs that advance their understanding of the condition and the effectiveness of the treatment.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Qualitative and Quantitative Approach
Quantitative Approach
Advantages
Provides a wide pool of data the explains behavior, attitudes and individual factors that contribute to a certain phenomenon
Capture the unique perspectives of the sampled population thus providing depth and adequate details about a phenomenon
It allows for flexibility of the researcher thus allowing collection of extensive details about a phenomenon
Disadvantages
It lacks statistical representation of data
Duplication of data to other regions outside the sampled population is hard due to accuracy issues
Quantitative Approach
Advantages
Data is easy to analyze and reveal patterns
There is consistency of information thus making it more reliable to understand the correlation between variable
Use of Randomized sampling methods allows for duplication of results across populations
Disadvantages
Data collected may not adequately address the complex phenomenon
The Most Suitable Research Approach for the Study
Based on the above discussions, the qualitative approach is best suited to conduct this research because it provides a more diverse understanding of mental health issues compared to the quantitative approach. There is a very limited study on the topic in Jamaica, and considering the wide pool of information that the qualitative approach provides, it an adequate approach of the two. It will help to offer adequate information on the social problem as it is not limited to quantifiable data, which is the case with quantitative data. Thus, at this point, I recommend the use of this approach because it goes beyond numerical data by incorporating individual perspectives of the affected population, which will go a long way towards finding practical solutions to the problem.
References
Cooper, P., & Cefai, C. (2017). Small scale qualitative studies and large scale quantitative studies. Mental Health Promotion in Schools , 237-241. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6351-053-0_15
Durisko, Z., Mulsant, B. H., McKenzie, K., & Andrews, P. W. (2016). undefined. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry , 61 (3), 159-165. https://doi.org/10.1177/0706743716632517
Hissa, J., & Timulak, L. (2020). Theoretically informed qualitative psychotherapy research: A primer. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research . https://doi.org/10.1002/capr.12301
