Introduction
The main point of the article is on the use of online therapy for counseling of parents and the family. The author explores the advantages of online counseling from the counselor’s and the clients’ perspectives. The demerits are also discussed. The article is intended to inform counselors on how to best use the internet to benefit their clients. Both the counselors and clients of counseling are the audience of the article. In support of the argument, the author argues that the internet is a present phenomenon that is used in all aspects of life; counseling should not be an exception. This is a good way of supporting the argument because the author expects the audience to know what the internet is and how it is used. This may be the reason that influenced the author not to take time explaining how the internet can be used for therapy. The author presents his evidence from literature sources that contain research findings on the subject. For instance, based on research findings, internet research is expected to be the leading mode of counseling in the future. This statement is not accurately supported based on the way it is presented in the article. The abstract provided is also too narrow and does not summarize the article.
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"Internet Counseling And Its Feasibility For Marriage And Family Counseling".
General Issues
The argument presented by the author is logical, clear and well-organized. However, some sections are not clear and may call for more research. For instance, the argument that the internet will be the leading mode of counseling in the future is bias. It fails to consider the fact that not everyone prefers the use of the internet. Some counselors prefer face to face interactions as a means of communicating to their clients. Nevertheless, it is clear that the internet is used by almost everyone on a daily basis. People will tend to rely on the internet more than other modes of getting information in the future.
Although most of the information provided is well organized and easy to read, some facts have not been supported with sufficient evidence. The author majorly talks from his own opinion and fails to recognize previous studies on the subject. This makes the results not as reliable as they would be when the findings of different studies are considered. The text is appropriate for the intended audience because it specifically touches on internet counseling by exploring all its positive and negative dimensions. However, I feel that the author tends to be more bias on the use of the internet. He seems to forget that most of the internet users are young people while majority of the counselors are people in middle and late adulthood. The article makes me think about the difference of internet use among different ages in the society.
Participant selection
Sampling procedure has not been well defined in the article. The author goes directly into the subject of discussion without considering the participants to be used in the study. The article only reports the sample characteristics; this includes those who rely on the internet for services. The article also includes a statement of ethics. This is a good measure to ensure that the study results are genuine and reliable. Based on the ethical dimension, the participants would give accurate information without fear. If some participants withdrew from the study, the author would still rely on literature sources to understand what other researchers have found out and compare the results.
Procedure section
The procedure chosen is appropriate for the research question. In order to convince the audience that internet counseling is effective, the use of participants of internet counseling is the only efficient way. However, the procedure is not provided in sufficient detail. The author only emphasizes on the theoretical part of the study and fails to consider the procedure section in details. The administration order was also not counterbalanced because the use of face to face counseling is overlooked.
Measures Section
The measures selected are not based on an explicit rationale but assumptions and the expectations based on the present trend. However, the method selection is logical based on the hypothesis because it involves the internet users and focuses on the subject in details. However, reliability and validity measurements are not reported. The author seems to assume that the audience will believe everything in the study since the internet is used in all activities of the modern lifestyle. There are no possible effects of instrumentation decay and testing that have been addressed or rules out in the article. This makes the arguments not sufficient enough to convince the audience.
Statistical Analysis and Results
The article does not have a specific section for statistical analysis and results. The assumptions of parametric tests are also not addressed satisfactorily. This makes the article lack a proper organization and, therefore, unreliable. The article does not have tests of statistical significance to support the arguments and draw a statistical conclusion. There are also no measures of confidence interval reported, a factor that makes the findings appear like mere assumptions.
Discussion and interpretation
The results are fully discussed from a theoretical perspective and not a practical perspective. The discussion is based on findings of a study that bases its hypothesis on the use of internet in counseling. The authors also seem to generalize the results of the study. Some assumptions have not been properly cited and may not be reliable without referring to other studies on the same subject. The author gives direction for future research in order to help enrich the contents of the article.
- Pollock, S. L. (2006). Internet counseling and its feasibility for marriage and family counseling. The Family Journal, 14(1), 65-70.
