Sharon Hartles December 2017
The critical evaluation of research methods can take place through myriad of topics including Medicalising and experiencing anxiety. This topic will be aptly examined, more specifically through Eckersley's (2005) paper and the American Psychiatric Association's, (2013) manual (DSM-5). This will pave the way for the development of an argument that will reveal how research methods relate to a worldview/paradigm and logic of inquiry. In addition it will illustrate the strengths, limitations and usefulness of the research method. Furthermore it will demonstrate what the research has contributed to social and psychological understandings of the topic.
Eckersley's (2005) research paper was supported by fifty pieces of research, four of which were his own. It is also clear from Eckersley's references that qualitative and quantitative research helped to form his work. What this exemplifies is that not all research is primary. The methodology evidenced here is a secondary approach methodology. In contrast to primary research, (or primary research that uses raw secondary data sources), desk research, involves the summary, collation and/or synthesis of existing research. Furthermore within a secondary approach the principle methods of synthesis include meta-analysis (statistical techniques), realist review (explanatory and allows for casual inferences rather than judgement) and meta-narrative review (illustrates heterogeneous approach through contrast and complementary ways) (City, 2017) and (Wong et al., 2013a). The strengths of a secondary approach mean that
Eckersley is able to draw upon an unlimited range, of other researcher's data, which can be primary and/or secondary. The data can be valid, practical (context-dependent) from bottom up studies, and reliable, theoretical (context-independent) from top down studies (Flyvbjerg, 2006). Paradoxically, the main weaknesses of a secondary approach is that it can distort, inevitably simplify and provide an unbalanced view of material which it has drawn upon.
Eckersley's (2005) paper identifies inequality, individualism and materialism as phenomena of modern Western culture that are potential causes of anxiety and can promote higher levels of anxiety. Throughout Eckersley's work he answers how? why? for whom? questions. This information supports one's assertion that this is indicative of a realist review method (Wong et al., 2009b), which can be contrasted to the work of Wilkinson (2011) which is indicative of a meta-analysis method.
It is important at this stage to trenchantly aver that research is not carried out in a vacuum, and by vacuum one means within the framework of merely methodologies and methods. Researchology being a term one commandeered to encompass the complete breadth of research bringing to attention the intertwining relationships between worldviews, design logic, methodology, methods and active discourse. Blaikie and Priest (2017) state that in order to answer research questions a choice has to be made about where to start and what steps to follow. Logics of inquiry, also known as scientific reasoning will be applied to Eckersley's (2005) paper. It is disputable that this secondary research can be framed within an inductive logic of inquiry because no experiments to test hypotheses took place. Furthermore Eckersley's paper cannot be framed within a deductive logic of inquiry because no primary empirical research took place in the form of direct or indirect observation or experience. In contrast Eckersley's paper can be framed within an abductive logic of inquiry because Eckersley illustrates how modern culture is a health hazard and how and why this affects the phenomenon of anxiety. Thus linking back in to one's preceding critical analysis which revealed that this work is indicative of a realist review method based on the questions asked.
Eckersley's (2005) research is influenced by inescapable worldviews, each of which entails a different combination of ontology (the nature of reality) and epistemology (how knowledge of that reality is created) which are also known as philosophical assumptions. The role that worldview/paradigms play within researchology is fairly accepted; equally they are ambiguous and contested. It is impossible for one to know for certain if Eckersley implicitly/unconsciously or explicitly/consciously positioned his work within a paradigm. With this in mind one will critique Eckersley's work explicitly and consciously from a constructivist viewpoint. Eckersley's (2005) paper touches on the irrelevance of class inequality when it comes to individuals being medicalised with anxiety. However, it does provide coverage of cultural inequality and cultural relevance with regards to experiencing anxiety. However, this is not enough to persuade one to situate it within a transformative (sometimes known as emancipatory) paradigm/viewpoint. This is because Eckersley's research has not convinced one that it is power and justice oriented around the marginalised. In contrast, Eckersley's work does expand on the notion of transference of behaviours, through the concept of socialization. He uses this to explain how medicalisation of anxiety and how anxiety is experienced, becomes normalised through Bourdieu's concept of habitus. This construction within social worlds can be clearly extrapolated from Eckersley's work. For this reason one acknowledges Eckersley's (2005) paper to best fit within a constructivist worldview/paradigm.
The proceeding analysis will explore the APA's, DSM-5. According to Crocq (2017) anxiety as a diagnostic category appeared in the DSM-III in 1980. At which stage anxiety neurosis was split into two distinct categories these being: generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and panic disorder. In 2013, the DSM-5 was published and in contrast to the 1980's publication, the revised version now listed and categorised a total of twelve anxiety disorders. This provides rationale to why Twenge, (2000) asserts that the early twenty-first century can be understood to be an era of anxiety.
It is important to explain that following a worldwide cooperative agreement between the National Institute of Mental Health, the DSM-5 now provides a worldwide standard language about mental disorders (Regier et al., 2017a). This is relevant because it illustrates the medicalisation of anxiety through constructed, consequential categorisation, which takes place via shared language between professionals and lay people within Westernised cultures. This point links back with the causal relationship which Eckersley framed using Bourdieu's concept of habitus. Regier et al., (2017b) elaborates that prior to the publication of DSM-5, multi-site field trials were tested in the real world, thus meaning that the proposed diagnosis, the being the newly created categories of anxiety, were trials by clinicians. This is a clear example of a primary research study.
Audet and d'Amboise (2001) claim to have designed the multi-site study method for the purpose of gaining an in-depth knowledge of organisational phenomenon that has barely been researched. Furthermore they advise that multi-site study involves the observation and analysis of several sites using techniques such as cross-case comparisons. This method chosen by the APA seems fitting, based on the fact that they were trialling and introducing newly developed categories of anxiety within real world context. In addition it was applied within eleven academic centres in the United States and Canada (Regier et al., 2017c). This is important because empirical knowledge was gained in the form of direct and indirect observation throughout the trials, therefore validating why this can be framed within a deductive logic of inquiry. In contrast, a web-based research method collected data from patients and clinicians via an electronic data capture system which provided a form of centralised data management across the sites. This is prevalent because it demonstrates how a quantitative approach, or an inductive logic of inquiry, was enacted within a qualitative approach. Therefore it could be argued that the approach used by the APA was a triangulation approach (mixed methods). Therefore Blaikie and Priest's (2017) retroductive logic of inquiry can be applied because this analysis has revealed that the research combines deductive and inductive reasoning.
The strengths of the APA's primary approach meant knowledge was gained about how successfully, the newly created categories of anxiety, which took place initially through eleven academic centres, had been accepted and disseminated into the real world. This also links back to Bourdieu's concept of habitus and that of active discourse. Paradoxically, this primary approach can also be claimed to be a weakness because the APA may have only been able to draw upon limited research into this field of study. The APA introduced the categorisation of twelve new definitions and understanding of anxiety through multi-site real world trials, thus illustrating practical (context-dependent), bottom up, valid data. In addition theoretical (context-independent), top down, reliable data was also collated via the web-based research method. Audet and d'Amboise (2001) insist that a multi-site study method can be orientated into either positivist or an interpretivist paradigm. This is plausible because it can fit within a positivist paradigm based on observation and measurements or it can fit within a constructivist paradigm based on the newly created categories of anxiety. According to the APA it is a scientific and professional organisation that represents psychologists in the United States and for its unerring focus on serving the public interests, it receives favourable tax treatment (APA, 2017). What this illustrates is the links between research, politics and power. For this reason a researcher's explicit/conscious precedent may be to conduct research which is going to get funding over conducting research which is driven by their inescapable worldviews.
To summarise, all research is purposeful and contributes, in some way or another, to our social and psychological understandings of a given topic of research. Eckersley's (2005) paper revealed a causal/correlation (depending on one's stance) relationship between modern Western cultures potentially being a health hazard and exacerbating the construction of anxiety. Whereas the APA's DSM-5 categorised twelve anxieties disorders, this being ten more than those constructed in 1980. Eckersley's paper and the APA's manual are useful because they can be deemed to either create/broaden new social and psychological understandings and/or support/challenge pre-existing knowledge. The evaluation and assessment of researchology demonstrated the strengths and simultaneously the weaknesses of the methods utilised by Eckersley (2005) and the APA's DSM-5 respectively.
List of references
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http://www.apa.org/about/governance/index.aspx (Accessed 8 December 2017)
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Blaikie, N. and Priest, J. (2017) 'Social Research: Paradigms in Action', Cambridge, Polity Press.
CITY University of London EST 1894 (2017) 'Types of Research / Study Design', [Online]. Available at http://libguides.city.ac.uk/SHS-Litsearchguide/typesofresearch (Accessed 4 December 2017).
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The history of generalized anxiety disorder as a diagnostic categoryThe history of generalized anxiety disorder as a diagnostic categoryThe history of generalized anxiety disorder as a diagnostic category
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