Qualitative Research

Introduction

The purpose of this paper is to critique a study. The critique considers some aspects of the study:e the methodology of the study, the study results, the ethical issues pertinent to the study, the strengths, the weaknesses, and the limitations of the study. The article evaluated in this paper is the study by Farmer, J.R., MacKinnon, S.P., & Cowie, M. (2017) titled 'Perfectionism and Life Narratives: A Qualitative Study.'

The research questions put forward in the study are, a) how do maladaptive perfectionists view perfectionism? b) what themes are recurring in the autobiographical narratives of persons with high levels of perfectionism? The literature review of the study listed a brief number of literature. The authors highlighted a paucity of qualitative research on perfectionism even though quantitative research on the topic exists (MacKinnon, Sherry & Pratt, 2013). The study's literature review considered 5-6 studies related to motivation, cognition, and other perfectionism-related themes. There was no personal bias in the use of the studies in the review. The studies were relevant to the research questions and provided the information needed on the target subject.

Summary of Methods

The interview method was the preferred method of use in the study. Through the interview method, open and closed-ended questions could be asked of the participants. The interview method is ideal for extracting personal experiences and forming a large portion of this study. The qualitative method was appropriate for the type of study and was conducted using thematic analysis. The qualitative researcher conducts a limited number of interviews due to the time constraint for analysis and infers from the interviews. Each interview will be studied in-depth to isolate recurring themes in a majority of all of the interviews. The themes identified are regarded as the basis for all the interviews (Newman, 2016). Twenty students from Dalhousie University were recruited via flyers and online advertisements to study as participants. Six were adaptive perfectionists, and the other fourteen were maladaptive perfectionists. Each participant was subjected to a qualitative interview, and data relevant to the study were collected from the sessions. The interviews were audio-recorded, and a paper was supplied to the participants, which contained questions asked during the participant's recounting of important life events as a reference. The interview protocols were verbally provided to the participants, and the participants were allowed to ask questions before starting both sections of the interview.

The authors employed reflexivity and bracketing while analyzing the collected data to prevent personal bias from tainting the data. All data collected from the interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. Informed consent was obtained from each participant to fulfill all ethical and legal requirements for researches involving human participants. Informed consent is the voluntary willingness of an individual to participate in a clinical trial or other research to advance medical knowledge or social welfare after receiving an education on all the trial aspects. The participant can decide after obtaining all the information on what will be required of the participant during the trial (Nijhawan et al., 2013). All the participants in the study granted consent on the use of anonymous quotations. All participants were provided with a debriefing form and received a form of compensation for the study's role. The compensation received by each participant was from a selection of three options (a) a monetary compensation of $40 (CAD) (b) two bonus qualifying points for psychology courses through the online undergraduate pool in the Department of Neuroscience and Psychology at Dalhousie University or (c) a monetary compensation of $20 (CAD) and one bonus qualifying point for psychology courses through the online undergraduate pool in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Dalhousie University.

Summary of Findings

Five themes each were identified from the Perfectionism and Life Narratives interviews. Each theme identified from the interview was detailed by quoting the participants verbatim. A comparison was drawn between the recurring themes in maladaptive perfectionists and adaptive perfectionists. The discussions provided by the authors on the findings from the study provided a correlation between the results of previous studies and the findings from the new study conducted. The study reported that adaptive perfectionists describe relationship success as a central life theme. Few maladaptive perfectionists were recorded to do the same. The adaptive perfectionists reported happiness in relationships, along with love and support. However, both types of perfectionists gave similar definitions to the concept of perfectionism and also recounted similar ideas about the worst and best parts of being a perfectionist. A majority of participants stated the best thing about being a perfectionist is setting high personal standards and goals—the worst part is a desire for greater excellence in every performance.

Ethical Aspects

The authors stated that the study was ethically approved by the Health Sciences Research Ethics Board at Dalhousie University (Health Sciences Research Ethics Board, 2015-3540). All participants were protected by anonymity as anonymous quotations were used. None of the practices detailed in the study is ethically questionable.

Evaluation of Study

The researchers used the most appropriate methods for each aspect of the study. The interview method had been used to obtain information from the study participants by asking open and closed-ended questions. A subject can be studied in detail and obtained from direct quotes and observations (Newman, 2016).

The limitation of the study listed by the authors was the small sample size used. The participants in the study were young university students, and this portion does not generalize the population. The limitation of qualitative analysis in the study is the difficulty in establishing a cause and effect relationship.

Conclusion

The study conducted by the researchers was well planned and executed in a precise manner using thematic analysis. By making inferences from the participant's life narratives in the study, the basis of a perfectionist can be drawn. The authors employed interviews to ask the participants to open and close-ended questions to identify each individual's recurring themes. A comparison between adaptive and maladaptive perfectionists was also attempted based on the information collected. The study revealed an underlying focus on interpersonal relationships and academic achievement for both groups of perfectionists. The themes of perfectionism were identifiable from each participant's life narratives in each group, and the results of the study might prove useful to clinicians examining autobiographical narratives for perfectionism. The study also identified an agentic contamination theme, which caused negative emotions due to the successive events that tarnished an agentic achievement. The feelings of negativity and regret towards the self-identified during the study had been reported in prior research on perfectionism.