Premium
THE USE OF THEORY IN FAMILY THERAPY RESEARCH: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF FAMILY THERAPY JOURNALS
Author(s) -
Hawley Dale R.,
Geske Steve
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of marital and family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.868
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1752-0606
pISSN - 0194-472X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-0606.2000.tb00272.x
Subject(s) - family therapy , psychotherapist , content analysis , family systems theory , marital therapy , psychology , qualitative research , content (measure theory) , social psychology , sociology , social science , mathematics , mathematical analysis
Ninety‐five studies from Family Process and Journal of Marital and Family Therapy were evaluated with regard to their use of theory. While a majority of the articles were judged to use theory in either an explicit or an implicit manner, 42% did not appear to draw on theory in either the introductory or discussion sections. Studies that used qualitative methods appeared to use theory more frequently and explicitly than those using quantitative methods alone. Systems theory was found to be the most common conceptual framework, followed by feminism. We conclude that the link between theory and reasearch in family therapy needs strengthening and suggest that the role of theory in family therapy be reexamined.