STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES AND

RESEARCH METHODS IN MFT

Kirsten Lind Seal, PhD, LMFTAssistant Professor

Tonight’s Agenda Introductions Do we need this? Worldview and paradigms in research Definitions How they work together Syllabus/housekeeping

Introductions Name Where are you in the program? Former careers/life experience Family information that you would like to

share Experiences with research? What are you hoping to get out of this class? What are your hopes for your future career

as an MFT?

Me…currently Kirsten PhD from the University of Minnesota,

Twin Cities, Family Social Science Department, Couple and Family Therapy Specialization

Master’s in Counseling Psychology with a minor in Family Social Science from the University of Minnesota

Clinical workPrivate practice since 1.1.11Clinical work with refugees in Spanish and

French at WalkIn Counseling Center – 4 yearsCo-Parenting classes at Headway Emotional

Services in Spanish and EnglishWomen’s group at El Centro (in Spanish)Abbott Northwestern Movement Therapy Adult

Inpatient GroupsFairview Riverside Child and Adolescent

Inpatient Unit

Researcher Post Doc LGBTQ research – trans youth Marital First Responders training (dissertation research) Family Education Diabetes Series Father-daughter relationship (qualitative study) How the arts heal – arts work in trauma (Liberian group) Couples and the New Business Venture

Publications○ Dissertation published in Journal of Marital and Family Therapy○ 3 Chapters in textbook on Intimate Relationships○ Web modules on Attachment○ Qualitative Health Research on Diabetes and Native American

people○ Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy

Teaching

Currently ○ Teaching MFT 690 all sections○ Teaching MFT 620A Statistical Techniques and

Research Methods in MFTFormerly

○ Contemporary Family Therapy Theories at UW Stout○ MFT Ethics at St. Cloud State University

Training in pedagogy○ St. Mary’s University Teaching Fellow 2013-2014○ Preparing Future Faculty from University of Minnesota

What do we need research for? We are therapists, not scientists…

Why do we do research in MFT? Take a minute to think about this

Turn to your neighbor and discuss for 3 minutes

Bring it back to the class

Time for a break…10 minutes

The field of MFT Master’s level 80% work in clinical settings

However…we need research to help us understand what we know and what we do not yet know

Some important concepts Ontology – concerned with the nature of

realityMaterialist ontological position – no ghosts

Epistemology – what we can know about reality (social behavior in this case) and how we can know itHow do you discover/understand/test it?Is there only one way of knowing? Or are there

many ways?

A quick way to think about this… What shall I study? RQ

Whom shall I study? Sample

How shall I study? Research method

A paradigm or worldview How we see the world Consists of a particular theoretical bent It is the lens through which we explain

things – for example, attachment theory More complicated than quantitative and

qualitative – but we will start here…

What does it mean… To be a “Research-informed clinician?”

Research – What is it? Originates with a question/problem Clear articulation of a goal Divides principle problem into more manageable

steps (or sub-problems) Guided by specific problem/question/hypothesis Requires a specific plan/procedure Relies on critical assumptions Collection and interpretation of data to resolve

the problem/question Cyclical

Statistics – what are they? Thoughts?

Definition The science that deals with the

collection, classification, analysis and interpretation of numerical facts or data, and that, by use of mathematical theories of probability, imposes order or regularity on aggregates of more or less disparate elements

The numerical facts or data themselves

How do they work together? Statistics are one way of figuring out an

answer to a research question/problem

There are many other ways

You don’t need to be able to produce statistics in order to understand how they work

Research Methods and Statistics Research methods are guided by our

paradigm If that paradigm is more positivist and

quantitative, then we will likely be using statistics to answer our question

Three main ways of discovering Qualitative

More subjectiveUses words not numbers as data

QuantitativeUses numbersTests hypotheses

Mixed-methodsUses bothMore full and more difficult to do if you are actually

conducting research

One way to think about research…

Now let’s look at the syllabus

Goal of this class: Becoming a good and critical consumer

of research

Using it to inform your clinical practice

Maybe inspire you to go further later on if that turns out to be part of your journey

So what might you be interested in finding out? Research autobiography due next week

Answer these two questions:○ What is it you are interested in finding out?

What is the big question?○ Why are you interested in doing this? What is

so important about this topic?

See you next week!