Comparison of Family Environmental Scale, Essay Example

Critique of Quantitative Research Article

The article I selected to review for this assignment is entitled “Comparison of Family Environmental (FES) Subscales between Malaysian Setting with the Original Dimension of FES”. This article intended to extent the applications of the family environmental subscales to apply to diverse cultures, as different subscales may be relevant to different populations. To do so, a cross-sectional study was conducted and 295 adolescent participants from four different secondary schools were enrolled and interviewed. A major goal of this was to determine whether the translated version of the FES would be applicable to use in the therapy setting and whether changes should be made to ensure that the survey would become more universal.

Exploratory factor analysis was conducted across two distinct groups of students. Each group received a different translation of the FES. Ultimately, doing so was ideal because it allowed one group to serve as a control and standard for comparison. However, the way that this experiment was set up did not allow for more than two alternatives. In actuality, it would have been beneficial for the researchers to determine the efficacy of each translation, which would allow them to determine whether further revisions of the FES should be made. To ensure complete efficacy, a group of students that understood English from the schools should have been compared to students with the translated version. If the performance of the students was approximately equal, one would be able to assume that the translation was adequate.

This experiment was advantageous in that a large sample size of participants was accrued. However, it is important to understand that since this is only a cross-sectional study, it does not provide us with any information concerning trends over time. Therefore, it would be useful to repeat this type of experiment in the form of a longitudinal study, so that we can be sure of the direction of the trend. If the results of this study are found to be conclusive, we will have confirmation that we can compare FES results of tests that were issued in different languages, which would allow family therapists to have studies that can access a broader range of participants.

References

Adam B,Ramli M, Jamaiyah H, Noor AM, Khairani O. (2010). Comparison Of Family Environmental Scale (Fes) Subscales Between Malaysian Setting With The Original Dimension Of Fes. MJP Online Early. Retrieved from http://mjpsychiatry.org/index.php/mjp/article/viewFile/77/71