Critique of Research Design and Participant Recruitment

The assignment content discusses a study that aims to investigate the impact of personal therapy on play therapists' experiences, perspectives, and approaches in their professional work. The study employed a mixed-method approach, involving both quantitative (close-ended questionnaire) and qualitative (open-ended semi-structured interviews) data collection methods. A sample of 6 play therapists was recruited, divided into three categories based on their past or intended experience with personal therapy. The study aims to provide insights into the therapeutic experiences and perspectives of play therapists, and how these are influenced by their own personal therapy experiences.

Chapter 3: Methodology
3.1 Inquire paradigm
Purpose of this study is to offer a holistic view and to gain insight of the
impact that a therapists’ experience of personal therapy may have upon the
therapist-client relationship. This is with respect to play therapy where
participants are allowed to truly reflect their deep and rich experiences of the
subject (Creswell, 1998). However, the data has been analysed statistically with
providing quantitative outcomes. But the single case study was mainly
qualitative that focused on the “set of basic beliefs that guided the participants’
actions” (Guba, 1990, p.17). The administration of this approach allowed the
researcher to investigate and describe the participants’ deeper meaning about
the influence that contributes to the TR with their clients in the play therapy
setting (Denzin and Lincoln, 2000).
The study was guided around three main paradigms of research (Creswell,
2014). These include:
 Ontology (Crotty, 1998): Ontology paradigm is likely to allow clients to
develop a quality therapeutic relationship which can affect the outcomes
of therapy. This is likely to aid the researcher in analyzing the theoretical
perspective of ontology (Shi, 2007).Epistemology (Crotty, 1998): The
aim of this study was to validate this knowledge by establishing and
critically analysing the ontological perspective (Crotty, 1998). This
case study has underpinned the post-positivists view which is a
deterministic philosophy in which “causes probably determine the
effects or outcomes. There is further a need to identify and assess
the causes that influence outcomes” (Creswell, 2014, p.7). This is
likely to allow the researcher to investigate into whether the quality
of therapist-client relationship can have an effect on the outcome of
play therapy session due to influence of therapist’s experience of
personal therapy. This study has been supported by reductionist
pragmatic aspect whereby the theory has been reduced to small
discrete set of ideas. It is likely to aid in testing the hypothesis and
answer the research questions along with the collated research
data (Creswell, 2014).
 The Methodology (Neuman, 2009):

According to Creswell (2014), the pragmatic philosophy is “not just
committed to any one system but is applicable on both mixed methods of
research and draws generously from quantitative and qualitative
assumptions” (p.10). The researcher utilised mixed method approach to
enhance the overall strength of study (Creswell and Plano Clark, 2007, p.
77). Focus was further given on developing two questionnaires in guiding
with respect to the topic. Two research questions acted as central to the
design of these questionnaires. The methods were triangulated with
“multiple observes- theory and data sources to determine the degree of
convergence across components” (Curry and Nunez-Smith, 2014, p.14).
This aided in accumulating more accurate set of results by validating the
data sets of survey and the interviews of participants.
The closed and open ended questionnaires (see appendix) were
used to collate the statistical and descriptive data. This is as only one of
these methods would not have been sufficient enough to collect the data.
The open ended interview allowed an in-depth exploration of participant’s
experiences and perceptions on the subject (Creswell, 2003; Glaser and
Strauss, 1967; Patton, 2002). Close ended questionnaire on the other hand
helped to gather non-biased, clear and simple information so as to permit
towards an easy data analysis for the researcher (Cargan, 2007).
Whilst the above mixed-method approach helped the researcher to
cross validate the findings by measuring the system in much deeper
manner.
3.2 Research sample
3.2.1 Study Design
The target population of this study was a cohort of 6 adults (n=6)
who are qualified enough to play the role of therapists. The study had a
timeframe of 20 weeks with taking into consideration the participants’
work and other commitments. This allowed towards the generation of
reasonable time for them to answer and return questionnaires and to
carry out interviews.
3.2.2 Participants recruitment
In the very first step,
researcher compiled a
 The respondent is in personal
therapy, has

recruitment sample with
qualifying the criteria in order
to identify the participants for
study. The criteria are as
follows: Respondent was a
member of Professional body of
Play therapy.
previously had it, or is
intending having it in the
future.
 The respondent currently in
practice as a PT.
 Interest in taking part in the
research study.
 200+ hours of work
experience as a PT.
In the next step, an email was send to respondents which had a
brief description of the researcher and study. The mail basically seeked interest
from target population so as to establish a list of viable participants. An
information pack was sent to selected participants. In a crux, the email included
following areas:
My rational for doing the study  The benefits and risks of study
What the participation will involve  After the study
 Complaint Procedure  Contact Details
 Consent form
Once the completed information of participant was obtained along
with the consent from researcher, then 6 participants were selected on the
basis of three categories.
CATEGORIES PARTICIPANT
Category 1 a) Participants who have had

personal therapy
Category 2 b) Participants who have not had
personal therapy
Category 3 c) Participants who are intending
to have personal therapy
The next step was selecting two participants from each category. This
aided the researcher to gain a balanced insight on the topic. This was necessary
as if population was selected from just one category then it would have produced
a biased outcome towards one hypothesis. There would have been further a lack
of representation with respect to different views and experiences of the general
therapist’s population (Azzara, 2010). By choosing an equal number of
participants from each category, researcher was further allowed to
provide an equal base to all the participants from different categories.
This assisted the respondents to express their individual perspectives and
subjective opinions on the topic while holding an ethical, congruent and
non-judgmental working model during the process in order to test the
hypothesis. The researcher thus benefited in terms of gathering a holistic
set of data from all different aspects of the topic.
The 6 play therapists were then mailed the close ended participant
questionnaire to be completed and then they were invited for an open
ended semi structured interview process.