Main description:

This textbook aims to support counsellors, psychotherapists, and counselling psychologists to develop a creative research-informed practice. Following from the authors' earlier title Enjoying Research, the book covers qualitative, quantitative, pluralistic, and mixed methods approaches with a special focus on diversity, researcher support and innovative methods. The book explores research during critical stages like question formulation, data gathering, ethics, analysis, and presentation of the findings. It mixes theory with illustrative real-life, 'how-to-do-it'-examples and reader activities. International experts contribute with examples ranging from arts-based 'decolonising' research to creative use of outcome- and survey-based approaches - with a shared interest in dialogues between 'scientific' and 'aesthetic' (or intuitive, embodied) means of knowing. This is essential reading for anyone looking for a book that combines self-awareness with analytical and practical skills in counselling and psychotherapy related research.

Contents:

Chapter 1: Introduction

(Dr Sofie Bager-Charleson and Dr Alistair McBeath )

The introduction expands on the key themes, with an overview of each section and chapter

Part 1: Qualitative Research

Chapter 2: Thematic Reflexive Analysis

(Professor Virginia Braun, Professor Victoria Clarke and Dr Nikki Hayfield, University of Auckland and University of the West of England)

Chapter 3: Decolonising Research

(Prof Divine Charura and Dr Rachel Wicaksono, York St John University)

Chapter 4. Engaging with critical self-enquiry: Doing heuristic research

(Prof Keith Tudor, Auckland University of Technology, Aotearoa New Zealand)

Chapter 5. Autoethnographic Psychotherapy Research: A Methodology that keeps our 'Heart in Mind'. (Dr Saira Baines-Razzaq, Metanoia Institute)

Part 2: Quantitative Research

Chapter 6: Quantitative Practice Based Research

(Professor Terry Hanley, Manchester University)

Chapter 7: Dilemmas and decisions in Quantitative Driven Online survey research into Researchers' Mental health and Support

Doing a quantitative-driven mixed methods survey (Dr Cassie Hazell and Dr Clio Berry, University of Westminster and University of Brighton)

Part 3: Mixed Methods Research. Theory and Examples of Integration

Chapter 8: Using Online Surveys Creatively in Counselling and Psychotherapy Research (Dr Alistair McBeath)

Chapter 9: Mixed Methods Research to Build Fences

(Prof Brittany Landrum & Prof Gilbert Garza, University of Dallas)

Chapter 10: Mixed Methods Research: The Case for the Pragmatic researcher

(Dr Alistair McBeath, Metanoia Institute)

Chapter 11: Dialectical Pluralism (DP) in Counselling and Psychotherapy Research (Prof Tres Stefaruk, Virgina, S Dixon and Prof Burk Johnson, South Alabama University)

Chapter 12: Taking Qualitative-driven Mixed Methods Further (Professor Nollaig Frost and Karen Dempsey, Cork University, Ireland)

Chapter 13: Mixed Methods for Researching Sensitive Topics. (Dr Louise Rolland, Dr Sally Cook, Prof Jean-Marc Dewaele and Dr Beverley Costa, Birkbeck university)