On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

1. Demonstrate critical understanding of qualitative, quantitative and mixed method research design and its applications in counselling research.
2. Compare the strengths and limitations of a range of research methods in relation to the sub-discipline of counselling and psychotherapy.
3. Reflect constructively on the positioning of researchers and research participants in practitioner research.
4. Critically position and evaluate selected published research studies in counselling.
5. Frame an answerable research question that is significant and relevant for their field of practice, and plan how they would systematically approach this question.
6. Relate questions of method to research epistemology and an understanding of research as a scholarly, professional and social practice.

- introduction to a broad range of research methodologies and methods relevant to practitioner research in psychotherapy and counselling.
- introduction to the foundations of quantitative, qualitative and mixed method research design.
- exploration of the relationships between epistemological assumptions, methodology and method.
- critical reading and evaluation of selected published research in the areas of counselling and psychotherapy.
- practice in framing research questions and a research proposal in the student's professional field.
- reflection on research as a social, professional and interpersonal practice.