Introduction to Research Methods

Introduction to Research Methods

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  2. Courses
  3. Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy (Holistic Practice)

Unit Description

This capstone unit introduces students to the role and significance of research in developing the evidence base for counselling and psychotherapy.

Students will be introduced to a range of research paradigms, research designs and methodologies, with an emphasis on qualitative methodology. Social, legal and ethical aspects of research in the discipline will be addressed.

Students will learn how to develop a research question and a draft research proposal, including a timeline for implementation. Students will be encouraged to give feedback to each other on the merits of each other’s proposals.

Students will also be introduced to systematic literature search techniques, and ways to record and display searches of literature. Students will conduct a search of published peer- reviewed research for the research question they develop, relevant to the counselling and psychotherapy discipline, and will produce a quality literature review synthesising and evaluating these findings.

Unit Code

203

Unit Type

Core Unit

Study Period

Semester 1, 2023

Credit Points

3.0

Consultation Times

30 minutes before and after workshop intensives and by appointment during the semester

Topics Covered

  • Why research matters: the role and importance of research in counselling and psychotherapy
  • Research paradigms and research design
  • Research methodology: quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods
  • Research methods, data collection and analysis
  • Developing sound research questions for research projects that are literature-based, autobiographical or use secondary data
  • Developing sound research proposals
  • Social, legal and ethical aspects of counselling and psychotherapy research
  • Criteria for evaluating the value of published research in counselling and psychotherapy
  • Literature review: How to search published peer-reviewed literature and record the search
  • Literature review: How to write and synthesise the findings of the literature review

Learning Outcomes

  1. Clearly articulate the role of research in advancing the counselling and psychotherapy profession
  2. Critically analyse social, legal and ethical aspects of conducting counselling and psychotherapy research
  3. Critically analyse epistemological and methodological differences between qualitative, quantitative and mixed method research paradigms
  4. Develop and evaluate sound research questions for exploring a topic relevant to process work
  5. Critically evaluate published peer-reviewed research in the selected research topic
  6. Critically review the body of literature pertaining to the selected research topic and synthesise the findings in a literature review

Delivery Mode

Workshop intensives on-campus

Workshop Intensive 1:

9:00 am to 5:30 pm
3.25 hours of teaching and learning

Workshop Intensive 3:

9:00 am to 5:30 pm
3.25 hours of teaching and learning

Online delivery
1.5 hour Zoom discussion mid-semester

Student Workload

(Student work load not in usable format)

Available in Courses

This unit is available in the following courses:

Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy (Holistic Practice)

Created: April 28, 2021, 4:48 p.m. • Updated: Oct. 20, 2021, 11:39 a.m.