The world of the Counselor An introduction to the counseling profession 5e chapter 13

 Literature Review Examination of prior research  Use electronic data bases, such as ▪ ERIC ▪ PsycINFO  Statement of the Problem  Places research in its historical context  Discuss

Research & Evaluation

 “The inquiry of truth, which is the love-making, or wooing of it; the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it; and the belief of truth, which is the enjoying of it; is the sovereign

good of human nature.” (Sir Francis Bacon, 1997/1597 , p 6) (from p 430 of book)

 Purposes:

 Inquiry of truth

 Development of new paradigms

 Without research, knowledge is stagnant

 Validates what we are doing

 Literature Review

 Examination of prior research

 Use electronic data bases, such as

▪ ERIC

▪ PsycINFO

 Statement of the Problem

 Places research in its historical context

 Discusses why issue at hand is important

 Points you in direction of developing research questions, statements, and/or hypotheses

 See Box 13.1, p 432 for an example

 Two types:

 Quantitative

▪ Assumes objective reality which science can examine

▪ Probability that certain behaviors, values, or bleiefes either cause or are related to other bheaivors values or beliefs

 Qualitative

▪ Multiple ways of viewing knowledge

▪ Make sense of the world by immersing on in the research situation

 See Table 13.1, p 435 to describe differences

 Looking at relationships among variables

 True Experimental Research

 Crème de la crème of research

 Independent and dependent variables

 Random assignment

 Causation

▪ See Figure 13.1, p 435

 Quasi-Experimental

 Manipulating independent variable

 Looking for causation

 No random assignment

 Use of intact groups

 Nature of quasi-experimental research leads to less credibility (more threats to internal validity) (see Box 13.2,

p 437)

 See Box 13.3, p 437

 One Shot Case Study and One Group Pretest/Post-Test

Design

▪ No random assignment

▪ There is manipulation of independent variable

▪ Example: “ABA” design

▪ Take Baseline measurements then offer treatment and then take baseline measurements again

▪ Do repeatedly

▪ See Figure 13.2, p 438

 Correlational Research

 Studies relationship between variables using correlation coefficient (positive correlations and negative correlations)

 Two types:

▪ Bivariate: Studies the relationship between two variables

▪ Simple: Here and now (see Figure 13.3, p 439)

▪ Predictive: Now and the future (e.g.: GRE’s and GPA in college)

▪ Multivariate: The relationship among more than two variables

▪ Multiple regression: (e.g., relationship among empathy, being nonjudgmental, building an alliance, and success in counseling)

▪ Many types: Discriminant analysis, factor analysis, differential analysis, canonical correlational, and path analysis (last two are considered “causal”)

 Survey Research

 Uses questionnaires or interviews

 Purpose

▪ To gather information from a targeted population

▪ To gain information about the values, behaviors, demographics, and opinions of a population

 Ex Post Facto (Causal-Comparative)

 Use of intact groups

 Cannot manipulate independent variable

 Convenient, but hard to decide the reasons for differences that may be found

 Example: Comparison of NCE students from accredited programs with those from non-CACREP accredited programs

CACREP-▪ Even if you find differences, what are the reasons for them???? (see some possible reasons, top p 442)

 Naturalistic-phenomenological philosophy

 Many ways to interpret reality

 Observe, describe, and interpret phenomena within

social context

 Relies on “case study” method—focusing upon and

deeply probes and analyzes events or phenomena

 A number of methods that allow “themes” to emerge

 Grounded Theory

 Developed in 1960s by Glaser and Strass

 Describes a process (not a moment in time)

 E.g., Question: “How do counselors develop a theoretical orientation toward their careers”

▪ Interview counselors with designated list of questions (see questions, p 443)—other questions might emerge

 Grounded Theory (cont’d)

 Steps:

▪ Preparing: Reflecting on biases and preparing info collection

▪ Data collection: Gather information based on your process (e.g., focus groups)

▪ Note taking: Keeping notes so you don’t have to rely on memory

▪ Coding: Identifying common themes until you get

“saturation”

▪ Writing: Sort out themes into major categories and write up findings

▪ Meet with these individuals

▪ Questions to give me “rich” and “thicker” descriptions

▪ Bracket my biases

▪ Data collection similar to Grounded Theory

 Ethnographic Research [Description (graphy) of human cultures (ethno)]

▪ Margaret Mead was one of the first to do this

▪ Understand events through meanings that people make

▪ Steps:

1 Identify the group to be studied

2 Conduct a literature review

3 Decide on what method to immerse oneself in the culture

4 Make a plan for data collection

5 Plan, usually includes:

 Observation (see Box 13.4, p 446)

 Ethnographic interviews

 Collection of Documents and Artifacts

 Historical Research

 Purpose: To describe and analyze conditions and events from the past in an effort to answer a research question

 Relies on systematic collection of information

 Generally, try to use primary sources (not secondary sources):

▪ Oral histories

▪ Documents

▪ Relics

 Descriptive statistics: Measures of central tendency, variability,

and relationship Often used with survey research

 Inferential statistics: Measures whether differences or strengths

of the relationships between groups are likely to be the result

of chance (e.g., t tests, ANOVA, MANOVA, significance of

correlation coefficient, chi square)

 Generally, experimental and ex post facto research uses

inferential statistics while correlational research examines strength of relationships between variables

 Effect size: Practical significance of one’s findings

 Example: male counselors more likely than female

counselors to try to persuade their clients not to have an abortion, but vast majority of male and female counselors

would not do this despite a significant difference being found

 Relies on inductive analysis: themes and categories emerge from data

 Often, coding is used: breaks down large amounts of data

into smaller parts that hold meaning for the researcher

 Use multiple sources

 Find themes

 See data collection methods and emergence of themes in:

 Box 13.5, p 449

 Box 13.6, p 450

 “The degree to which scientific explanations of phenomena

▪ Discussed earlier in Box 13.2, p 437

▪ Quantitative research tends to control for this more than qualitative research

 External validity

 How generalizable are the results?

 Tight controls of quantitative studies sometimes makes it hard to generalize

 In qualitative research, external validity is the ability of the researcher to describe the research in ways that will be

helpful to other researchers with other populations

 Is validity valid in qualitative research?

 Often, words like “credible and trustworthy” are used instead of validity Based on ability to accurately record information and analyze results.

 Show credibility and trustworthiness by:

 Prolonged and persistent gathering of info

 Triangulation: multiple methods

 Bracketing biases

 Using an “informant” or “participant observer”

 Have an “outside auditor”

 Conduct member checks

 Other methods?

 See Box 13.8

 The purpose of evaluation

 Has program achieved its goals and objectives

 Has program shown its value

 Two types of evaluation

 Formative (Process) Evaluation

 Summative (Outcome) Evaluation

 Formative or Process Evaluation

 Measures ongoing effectiveness

 Often Informal

 Methods:

▪ Ask for verbal feedback

▪ Have participants write down reactions

▪ Complete rating forms

 Summative or Outcome Evaluation

 Used to measure efficacy of a program

 Used to determine if program should be used in future

 Used as a method of showing accountability

 Sometimes experimental research designs are used to assess this type of evaluation

 See comparison of formative and summative evaluation

 See Box 13.9, p 455

See Table 13.2, p 458

 Bias in Research and Evaluation

 “Every decision a quantitative researcher makes in

designing, implementing, analyzing, and interpreting a study

is a reflection of his or her personal biases.”

 Qualitative research allows us to peek inside the world of

another culture and understand it from a phenomenological perspective (see Box 13.10, p 457)

 However, qualitative research certainly is subjective and

filled with its own biases

 White researchers conducting multicultural research

 Some appalling research: Tuskegee Experiment

 To reduce bias of white researchers Chang et al (2010) suggest:

▪ Obtain a skill to explore each cultural perspective

▪ Be aware of their own cultural biases

▪ Do not make cultural differences the major focus, but always be aware of cultural differences

▪ Be considerate of cultural differences of participants

ETHICAL ISSUES

 Ethical Issue: ACAs Code:

 Research responsibilities

▪ Through curriculum standards set by

CACREP

 Legal Issues

 Exclusion of females and minorities in research

 Institutional Review Boards

 The Counselor in Process

 Are you willing to risk leaping into the black hole called research?

 Will you be a conductor, reader, and publisher of research?

 Will you discover new paradigms?