Counseling Research: A Practitioner-Scholar Approach

Research Importance

There are many advantages to relying on research in the practice of counseling. A mix of practitioner-scholar and scientist-practitioner models emphasizes its utility as clinical training, research, and practice are tightly intertwined, with the overlap in required skills and competencies (Balkin & Kleist, 2017, p. 16). According to Balkin and Kleist (2017), a solid balance between research and practice is needed for a professional counselor to operate independently. However, they also highlight the importance of a flexible approach, where the researchers combine reliance on evidence-based protocols with integrative, reciprocal treatment models (Balkin & Kleist, 2017). Ultimately, regardless of its specific form, research is crucial in counseling.

Research and Program Evaluation: Relationship

Counseling research may take many shapes, one of which is form evaluation; whether or not program evaluation counts as research has been hotly debated. Research is defined as a systematic investigation, including research development, testing, and evaluation, designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge (Balkin & Kleist, 2017, p. 229). Program evaluation, however, does not generalize information instead, it pertains to a concrete program, frequently from a single institution (Balkin & Kleist, 2017). It systematically reviews and analyzes data on the effectiveness and the consequences of programs and services (Balkin & Kleist, 2017). Due to the narrow focus, there is often a lack of the control group required for research to be generalizable (Balkin & Kleist, 2017). There are two main types: summative, which assesses the programs products and outcomes, and formative, which evaluates the delivery process (Balkin & Kleist, 2017). Either form commonly informs both decisions and practice in counseling through both narrative and quantitative data (Balkin & Kleist, 2017). Overall, program evaluation is a multifaceted approach that may combine multiple research methods and is essential in counseling.

Researchers Roles and Responsibilities: Ethical and Cultural Considerations

In conducting any research related to human beings, researchers are bound by certain responsibilities. Ethical and cultural concerns become especially vital when considering the modern American context of inequity, systemic discrimination, and corruption (Balkin & Kleist, 2017). Three fundamental ethical requirements, respect for persons, beneficence, and justice, informed correspondent areas of implementation: consent, risk-benefit evaluation, and participants selection (Balkin & Kleist, 2017, p. 46). Specifically, Balkin and Kleist (2017) list several obligations: obtaining voluntary consent, avoiding all unnecessary physical and mental suffering, minimizing potential risks, and terminating the experiment should the subject request so. These considerations become especially important in working with vulnerable populations such as pregnant women, children, inmates, and mentally disabled or economically or educationally disadvantaged people (Balkin & Kleist, 2017, p. 55). Moreover, in reporting and disseminating the findings, counselors are ethically responsible for reporting them accurately, even if they are unfavorable to stakeholders (Balkin & Kleist, 2017). Some of the specific strategies of research conduct and data interpretation are discussed in the next section of the paper.

Strategies for Conducting, Interpreting, and Reporting Research Results

A broad range of strategies may be utilized to conduct ethical and culturally sensitive research. Any research, however, should start and progress from the literature review to the gap in the literature, to the research questions or hypotheses (Balkin & Kleist, 2017, p. 36). The purpose of the study ultimately defines its design, whether experimental, quasi-experimental, non-experimental (explanatory), correlational, or investigative (Balkin & Kleist, 2017). However, cultural variables vary across individuals, for instance, ethnicity or religion. Balkin and Kleist (2017) argue that random sampling is largely unsuitable in counseling research since it may not account for cultural variables, resulting in an unrepresentative selection. Hence, one of the strategies that researchers may implement is stratified random sampling, which ensures that all individuals from an accessible pool stand an equal chance of being selected (Balkin & Kleist, 2017). In this way, counselors can conduct their research to account for cultural differences.

As discussed earlier, strategies for conducting experimental research are regulated by fundamental principles that researchers must uphold to satisfy the fields moral, ethical, and legal requirements. Researchers must regulate coercion to participate and representation, which is achieved, for instance, by safeguarding children from undue coercion and ensuring that all prisoners are equally likely to participate (Balkin & Kleist, 2017). In cases of working with participants in institutional settings, a representative with the appropriate authority, background, and experience from that institution must be present to advocate for the best interests of the representee (Balkin & Kleist, 2017). Hence, the researchers can utilize ethically informed strategies for conducting their studies.

Lastly, interpreting and reporting the results should also rely on ethically- and culturally-informed strategies. One of the most critical obstacles in conducting objective research is the presence of bias, which may influence the perceptions and, in turn, the questions that the researchers may ask (Balkin & Kleist, 2017). Hence, the researchers should utilize appropriate ethical strategies to safeguard against bias, like formulating the hypotheses based on the literature and not on personal preference and deciding the data analysis methods in advance (Balkin & Kleist, 2017). Creating a strategy prior to data collection and analysis is more ethical and transparent than data mining running analyses without a previously organized structure (Balkin & Kleist, 2017, p. 38). The last strategy entails the researchers being aware of the inherent bias of interpreting other human beings with unique experiences and cultural norms (Balkin & Kleist, 2017). If the research is investigative, a phenomenological approach may be appropriate as it focuses on examining the very nature of participants lived experiences (Balkin & Kleist, 2017). The researchers can then select whether to interpret the results holistically or selectively, depending on the circumstances (Balkin & Kleist, 2017). Overall, the ethical and cultural methods of data interpretation and sharing should always consider bias and control it as much as possible.