Psychological Therapies Research: Quantitative or Qualitative
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment may be approached from both a psychotherapy and pharmacology standpoint. Psychological treatments of PTSD for adults have been highly recommended in the scholarly literature and the Veterans Health Administration and Department of Defense (VA/DoD) guidelines (Watkins et al., 2018). The nature of these recommendations is based on both qualitative and quantitative research. Watkins et al. (2018) conducted a meta-review of clinical, veteran, and military sample studies to demonstrate that patients prefer psychotherapy over medication alone. Interestingly, Watkins et al. (2018) note that the guidelines and research addressing specific medication for PTSD as a sole symptom treatment tend to approach the issue quantitatively. In contrast, many of the studies on therapy effects have used qualitative methods to study its effects (Watkins et al., 2018). Overall, qualitative research on the topic of using psychotherapy over medication alone prevailed over quantitative research.
Qualitative Research Advantages
The fundamental distinction between quantitative and qualitative research lies in the type of information one can obtain. Quantitative research in nursing is used to test a hypothesis or precisely measure a phenomenon, whereas qualitative research aids in understanding the thoughts or lived experiences of the target patient group (Rutberg & Bouikidis, 2018). Qualitative studies focus on exploring preferences, feelings, and perceptions, which will be more beneficial given the PICOT question that focuses on the feedback from PTSD patients about their treatment. Moreover, Rutberg & Bouikidis (2018) recommend selecting qualitative research if there is a desire to explore a presently understudied research topic. Qualitative research may provide a wealth of rich narratives from the surveyed patients, thereby allowing to uncover and address any hidden problems comprehensively. Therefore, the advantage of qualitative research, in this case, relates to the ability to investigate patients’ PTSD treatment experiences and uncover their meanings.
References
Rutberg, S., & Bouikidis, C. D. (2018). Focusing on the fundamentals: A simplistic differentiation between qualitative and quantitative research. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 45(2), 209–212.
Watkins, L. E., Sprang, K. R., & Rothbaum, B. O. (2018). Treating PTSD: A review of evidence-based psychotherapy interventions. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 12, 258.