It has never been clear on what comes to people’s mind on mentioning of depression. Depression is a mental illness that negatively affects how an individual feels. Depression doubles up as one of the most under-recognized and under-treated illnesses associated with mental health in primary care worldwide. Parekh (2017) outlines depression as one of the most common and expensive mental health problem around the world estimated at affecting two out of ten individuals. There is a variation in the rate of depression among diagnosed individuals, ranging from adolescents to young and older adults. Depression causes one to feel sad or even lose interests in activities previously enjoyed ( Taylor et al., 2016) . It often results in emotional and physical problems and severe cases decrease people’s abilities to function at home and at work. It is due this why the research was conducted to determine the possible factors or even incidences that may cause depression in people (Harrington , 2001) .
Method of research study
The qualitative method of research was employed in the study, and by analyzing the views and accounts given by the participants, several factors were found to be the possible causes of depression. This method is mostly represented in the ethnographies of populations with mental health problems including those institutions that serve these mentally challenged individuals. Consequently, as in other areas of scientific research, using the qualitative method to research the possible causes of depression has long been regarded as being "unscientific" due to the lack of understanding and experience in using the technique. However, times have gradually changed and so have people’s views on using qualitative method to conduct research on mental health issues such as depression (Palinkas, 2014) . Indeed, this method has been found to offer more regarding an understanding of the need for the delivery of health services to those with depression, and can either be employed as a primary or exclusive method of data collection and analysis when researching depression. In addition to this, the uniqueness of qualitative method in doing scientific inquiries and understanding depression has become more evident.
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Problem Statement
Depression is an extensive area of study and the use of the qualitative method in researching the probable causes of depression may be inadequate. Drawing from the examples of its use in other extensive mental health services literatures that have been done before such as the study of the causes of depression in women of the South Asian origin, it is instrumental for this cause as a sole research method. Accordingly, qualitative method offer guidelines on ways of using this method to maximize on depression research and thus ensure vigor in its application to address the various causes of depression?
The Qualitative Method in Researching the Causes of Depression
The qualitative method often represents an approach to a better understanding in which enumeration cannot lend itself or even be required. The method has been used in researches on depression as well as in other fields of inquiry to provide deep descriptions of the underlying phenomena by providing proper understanding of the problems. In addition to this, the qualitative method is ideal for eliciting the perspectives of the participants being studied. This method offers people the opportunity to voice out their views and opinions rather than conforming to those imposed on them by other individuals (Palinkas, 2014) .
Using the qualitative method to elicit the perspectives of the participants involved allowed for larger enhancement of the validity of the data that was collected as it left room for the researcher to compare and contrast their own views of reality to those of the participants. For instance, the qualitative study conducted on the possible causes of depression among women of South Asian origin in Toronto, Canada provided in-depth reasons as to why they were diagnosed with depression. Some of the reasons given were in contrary to what the researcher initially thought could be the possible causes of depression among those women as it was found that none of the women gave spiritual or religious reasons as the cause of their depression (Ekanayake , Ahmad, & McKenzie, 2018) . In addition to this, a study conducted on the causes of depression on children with CFS/ME disorder showed that depression can manifest after being diagnosed with CFS/ME which was in contrary to the belief that it preceded CFS/ME disorder (Taylor et al., 2016).
The qualitative method is useful during the first stages of researching the causes of depression as it allows researchers to acquire some understating of the issue at hand so as to obtain prior data when there is inadequate data on earlier studies to allow for a hypothesis to be tested. Such an example of this application was in the exploration of the experiences of providers who had dealt with patients affected by depression on a daily basis when doing a study on the nature of clinical depression (Kanter & A, 2008) . It also helps in reflecting on the areas where difficulties arise and how these challenges are managed when dealing with patients with depression.
Qualitative method was found to be useful when used as part of a pilot projecting effort in tailoring existing engagement intervention for use in implementing researches on depression in young people living with CFS/ME. This helped in identifying the population-specific areas of adaptation to engage intervention. These explorations were used to develop new conceptual frameworks and theories, and to expand upon the existing ones to generate a new hypothesis that was tested to come up with valid and reliable information by identifying the contents and types of questions to be asked and the target population through interviews and observations. Consequently, this is seen when Conford, Hill, and Reilly (2007), use the qualitative method in developing a hypothesis to be tested that was derived from previous studies. Using the qualitative method to investigate the probable causes of depression in different populations turned out to be reliable as it proved the different hypothesis that were stated by the investigators. It helped in providing emphasis on the causes of depression gotten from other studies that ranged from biochemical causes, hereditary influences, personality traits, multiple demands and social problems.
Qualitative method is more adept at evaluating the process of research on causes of depression in various individuals or age groups as it explains how the program or intervention operates (Khalaf , Patela, & Aizenstein, 2016) . T he qualitative method is useful in understanding why early intervention is needed in patients with depressions as it explores the personal experiences of a small sample of the participants. In addition to this, the method is effective in conducting evaluation processes that need complex interventions for shared care in dealing with those affected by depression. An example is using the qualitative method to examine the causes of depression in women of South Asian origin using the Illness Explanatory Model (IEM) (Ekanayake , Ahmad, & McKenzie, 2018) . This method gives us the reason as to why some programs are not effective as they ought to be, and also on those benefits or outcomes that may not be anticipated.
Strengths of the Qualitative Method
Patela, Khalaf, & Aizenstein (2016), assert that the qualitative method is more flexible compared to other methods of research when investigating the causes of depression as it allows for a greater spontaneity and adaptation of the interaction between the investigator and the participants under study. Consequently, it is because, during the interviews or discussions the method allows the researcher to ask open-minded questions that are not so worded. Each participant is, therefore, free to respond to their own views and opinions, which is often deeper than a simple "yes" or "no". In addition to this, qualitative research method allows for the researcher and the participant to have a less formal relationship. Accordingly, this enables the participants under study to give their responses more elaborately and in detail. Investigators, on the other hand, are provided with the opportunity to respond almost at the same time to participant’s feedback by tailoring subsequent questions to the information that are provided by the participants. The flexible nature of qualitative method shows a greater understanding of the causes of depression that were being investigated.
Weaknesses of the Qualitative Method in Researching the Causes of Depression
It is often difficult to replicate previous studies done using the qualitative method in researching causes of depression in different individuals. This is because the same questions, processes, hypothesis, and objectives that may be used to get the desired outcomes or to prove that the previous findings were in fact correct. This may result in a situation where the same results are gotten which will not help to prove whether findings in previous studies were valid or not. In addition to this, the qualitative method employs the use of human subjects directly (Khalaf , Patela, & Aizenstein, 2016) . The use of people often increases chances of ethical dilemmas that further undermines the overall validity of the study. Furthermore, it is always hard to differentiate the quantity and quality of information obtained from the various respondents used in the study and therefore arriving at different, non-consistent conclusions.
Patela, Khalaf, & Aizenstein (2016), state that researchers using the qualitative method to investigate the causes of depression are required to have high experience in all areas of the study, and at most times the method is time-consuming and expensive. As in the case of researching the causes of depression in women of the South Asian origin, it was a mandate for the investigator to be a South Asian woman to allow for easier disclosure by the participants. Nevertheless, the study only incorporated the use of those women who could speak English as they had no funds for translators (Ekanayake , Ahmad, & McKenzie, 2018) . The lack of enough funds, therefore, limited the scope and outcomes of the study as other potential participants were left out the research.
Conclusion
Using qualitative method in investigating the causes of depression was found to be more reliable and convenient due to several of its advantages. Accordingly, it includes the option of allowing participants to voice out their views and thus allowing for concrete results to be achieved. This method allows investigators to come up with different causes of depression that include; abuse, certain types of medication, conflicts, genetics, events in one’s life, personal problems and serious illnesses that might have occurred in a person’s life. Coupled with the advantages it offers to both the researcher and participant, qualitative method when used in researching the causes of depression allows for in-depth proof of the formulated hypothesis.
References
Ekanayake , S., Ahmad, F., & McKenzie, K. (2018). Qualitative cross-sectional study of the perceived causes of depression in South Asian origin women in Toronto . Retrieved from BMJ: http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000641
Family health international. (n.d.). Qualitative research method: A Data Collector's Field Guide. Retrieved from CCS: https://course.ccs.neu.edu/is4800sp12/resources/qualmethods.pdf
Harrington , R. (2001). Depression, suicide and deliberate self-harm in adolescents. British Medical Bulletin , 46-70.
Kanter, W. J., & A, M. (2008). The Nature of Clinical Depression: Symptoms, Syndromes and Behaviour Analysis. Behaviour Analysis , 1-21.
Patel, M., Khalaf, A., & Aizenstein, H. (2016). Studying depression using imaging and machine learning methods. Neuroimage: Clinical , 10, 115-123. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2015.11.003
Parekh, R. (2017, January). What is Depression ? American Psychiatric Association : Retrieved from https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/depression/what-is-depression
Reilley, J., Hill, A., & Conford, S. C. (2007). How patients with depressive symptoms view their condition: a qualitative study . Family Practice , 358-363. Retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/fampra/article/24/4/358/519592
Taylor, K. A., Loades, M., Bridgen , L. A., Collin, M. S., & Crawley, E. (2016). 'it's personal to me'; A Qualitative study of young people with CFS/ME. journal of clinical child psychol psychiatry , 326-340. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5405821/
