In the world today mental health disorders are becoming one of the leading causes of disability

worldwide. Therefore, etiology is the study of finding out why people suffer from a disorder.
This essay will be focusing on major depressive disorder (MDD), which is a disorder that is
diagnosed through the DSM-V classifications. It occurs when individual felling low self-worth or
changes in weight over two weeks. There are two research methods commonly used to study
the etiology of MDD, questionnaires and case studies. In this essay, the use of questionnaires
and case studies will be evaluated by discussing their strengths and limitations.

Questionnaire is a self-report method where participants are presented with a pre-set number
of questions to answer. Questionnaire can be either hold online, over the phone, in person, or
with a group of participants simultaneously. By using questionnaire, it will be able to obtain
qualitative information and analysis looks at trends in the data but not statistical significance.

In the study of Alloy et all can see the use of questionnaire. The study aims to investigate
whether one’s thinking patterns could be used to predict the onset depression. This is a
longitudinal study that followed for 6 years and participants were randomly selected Americans.
Their thinking style was tested at the beginning of the study through answering cognitive style
questionnaire and there were placed in either positive cognitive group or negative cognitive
group. After 6 years, the results show that only 1% of students in positive cognitive group
developed depression, compared to 17% of students in negative thinking group.

The result did support beck’s cognitive theory of depression that people with negative thinking
patterns are more likely to develop depression. Moreover, with the use of questionnaire it
allows researcher to clearly establish the relationship between negative cognitive thinking styles
and the development of MDD. Furthermore, the questionnaire is completed privately and
anonymously, they can provide honest data which improves reliability and follow ethical
consideration of confidentiality.

However, social desirability bias may be present, which is the tendency of people trying to
create a positive image of themselves. Since the participants are aware that they are being
studied for their thinking styles, therefore it may not provide accurate data or a representation
of their situation. Moreover, the research is only based on American participants, with small
sampling size can be difficult to generalize findings among the whole population. Furthermore,
questionnaire only provided support for a correlation but not a cause-and-effect relationship
between negative cognitive styles and the development of MDD, as it does not consider any
other factors, such as genetics.

Another research method is case study, an in-depth study/detailed investigation of one person
or a group of people. It is a qualitative research method; however quantitative data can be
collected. The case is studied in detail, using a combination of different methods such as
interviews and observation. Case studies are often used when looking at people who have gone
through an unusual experience.
This can then be seen in the study of Brown and Harris that looked at how environmental risk
factors play a role in depression, aimed to investigate the role of social factors and stressful life
experiences on depression in women. The sample was made up of 458 women around ages 18-
65 in London. The participants then asked to fill out questionnaires about stressful life events,
and biographical information, conducted through semi-structured interviews. The result has
show that 8% of the women had been diagnosed as depressed. Where 90% of those women
had experienced adverse life experiences in the past year. This was compared to only 30% of
women who were not depressed.  Results also show that working-class women with children
were four times more likely to develop depression. The researchers argued that risk factors –
such as having more than three children at home, and unemployment – were all risk factors for
depression that make a person more vulnerable to the disorder.  Protective factors – such as
being a member of a community or having family support – were seen as protection against
depression.

The study did provide support for the vulnerability model, demonstrating how stressful life
events and family structure influence the risk of depression. With the use of case study, it was
able to collect rich data identifying specific social vulnerability factors, allowing them to
establish a correlation between these vulnerability factors and the onset of depression.

However, as case study is a detailed investigation of one person which cannot be replicated
easily so it lacks scientific exactness. Moreover, the case study only investigates a specific group
of people, in this case women from London which the result will not be able to generalizable to
men, decreasing reliability. Furthermore, a case study also tends to lead to researcher bias,
where researcher unintentionally influences participants' behavior or the results of the study.
This would influence how the data was interpreted or how the interview questions were asked,
in turn decreasing internal validity.

By using a combination of different research methods allows researchers to gain a better

understanding on the explanation of MDD.