Helping Professionals

This course is a review of behavioral science research designs and methods appropriate for counselors and marriage/family therapists. Course topics include: philosophy of science, ethical issues in counseling research, hypothesis formulation, experimental and quasi-experimental research designs, data capture, measurement, analysis of data, interpretation and presentation of data. The application of these research concepts to professional counseling will be emphasized. COURSE OBJECTIVES Upon successful completion of this course, the student should be able to: 1. Identify the relationship of research to counseling or clinical psychology. 2. Identify variables in counseling and clinical psychology. 3. Write research questions and hypotheses associated with counseling or clinical psychology research. 4. Write an APA style literature review of a topic related to counseling or clinical psychology. 5. Describe methods of sampling from human populations. 6. Identify ethical issues to consider when conducting counseling or clinical psychology research. 7. Summarize factors related to reliability and validity of counseling or clinical psychology measures. 8. Describe basic experimental and nonexperimental designs along with threats to internal and external validity. 9. Describe the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics. 10. Describe and identify the use of measures of central tendency. 11. Explain basic statistical concepts (e.g., correlation, t-test, ANOVA) 12. Prepare a basic research proposal. 13. Demonstrate the ability to integrate Christianity and counseling or clinical psychology