P
CLINICAL EDITOR’S COMMENTS:
lay therapists are ethically bound and accountable to their clients to provide interventions backed by sound evidence and for which
they are adequately trained. Additionally, as play therapists, we hold a shared responsibility for elevating the credibility of play therapy in play therapy has grown in quantity and quality over the past three decades, with databases such as the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare and the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse recognizing play therapy modalities as research- supported. However, clinicians often struggle with how to use the for play therapy’s effectiveness with stakeholders, funders, and administrators who often make decisions about the inclusion of play provide play therapy practitioners with guidelines for understanding quantitative research designs found in the International Journal of
Understanding and Analyzing the Play
Therapy Research Although play therapy research is found in play therapy literature across many well-respected journals, IJPT serves as the primary outlet for empirical studies that provide evidence for play therapy’s readers to conceptualize the strength and hierarchy of the research evidence in play therapy across the range of research designs. Within Collectively, these studies provide strong empirical support for play therapy as an effective mental health treatment for children.
Research articles across qualitative and quantitative studies in components that are organized within a meaningful and systematic and targeted reading strategies, thereby enhancing their ability to
The introduction and literature review sections typically establish the need for the study and the phenomenon being examined including
A guide on how play therapists can critically interpret both qualitative and quantitative research designs in the International Journal of Play Therapy®
in their clinical practice.
statement and research questions specify the rationale for the the limitations and recommendations sections address constraints
The information the reader is seeking dictates which sections of a research article warrant closer attention. For example, readers interested in the theoretical foundations and empirical rationale self-esteem should focus primarily on the introduction and literature review sections. In contrast, readers who wish to understand the effects of Adlerian play therapy on children’s externalizing behavioral concerns should attend more closely to the results and discussion sections, where intervention outcomes and their clinical implications are presented.
Quantitative Versus Qualitative Research and qualitative is that quantitative research relies on measurable numerical data and statistics while qualitative research utilizes data that cannot easily be calculated such as words, meanings, following sections provide an overview of the key characteristics of quantitative and qualitative research studies and recommendations
Quantitative Research Studies Quantitative research is a systematic approach to examining or exploring characteristics of relationships among variables positioning on the top of the research pyramid and considered the strongest evidence, is a systematic method of synthesizing research small sample size found in most individual play therapy studies and
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