Bruno Falissard

In recent decades, there has been widespread debate in the human and social sciences regarding the compatibility and the relative merits of quantitative and qualitative approaches in research. In psychiatry, depending on disciplines and traditions, objects of study can be represented either in words or using two types of mathematization. In the latter case, the use of mathematics in psychiatry is most often only local, as opposed to global as in the case of classical mechanics. Relationships between these objects of study can in turn be explored in three different ways: 1/ by a hermeneutic process, 2/ using statistics, the most frequent method in psychiatric research today, 3/ using equations, i.e. using mathematical relationships that are formal and deterministic. The 3 ways of representing entities (with language, locally with mathematics or globally with mathematics) and the 3 ways of expressing the relationships between entities (using hermeneutics, statistics or equations) can be combined in a cross-tabulation, and nearly all nine combinations can be described using examples. A typology of this nature may be useful in assessing which epistemological perspectives are currently dominant in a constantly evolving field such as psychiatry, and which other perspectives still need to be developed. It also contributes to undermining the overly simplistic and counterproductive beliefs that accompany the assumption of a Manichean “quantitative/qualitative” dichotomy. Systematic examination of this set of typologies could be useful in indicating new directions for future research beyond the quantitative/qualitative divide

Visuo-spatial tests are often thought to be less subject to cultural bias than verbal tests. It has, however, been demonstrated that scores obtained, particularly using the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure, vary according to the cultural context. In a previous study, we noted that the socio-cultural environment had an impact on structural figure perception. We compared the techniques used to draw the figures by school-children in France from different cultural backgrounds, with the hypothesis that the culture handed down by the parents has an impact on structural figure perception. Subjects were classified according to type of approach, based on the order in which tasks were performed using a computer recording of lines traced. Results demonstrate substantial contrasts among groups of children of different cultural origins. Inherited culture appears to influence structural figure perception, which could explain the variation in scores obtained. The impact of the familiarity with this type of task and educational level of the families are discussed.