Discuss and demonstrate the role of research in advancing the counseling profession.
The purpose of this assignment is to build on the Literature Review skills you developed in RSCH 5150, and design a study based on some topic relevant to the counseling field. The focus of the Methods Paper is to create an original idea for a study designed to investigate some important aspect of the counseling and/or addictions field (e.g., therapy process/outcome research, surveys of beliefs/attitudes/practices related to counseling/addictions, or examination of some phenomenon relevant to counseling/addictions).
The Methods Paper will describe how you intend to test or gather data about your research question and hypothesis. The Methods paper will include four or more subsections. You must have the Intro, Design, Participants, Materials (Apparatus), and Procedure subsections in your research proposal. An optional Results section may be included if the student has the ability to collect original data. The methods paper should be 5-7 pages in length, must include a Title Page, References section, and must be in APA style.
Introduction: Briefly review your research questions and hypotheses, explaining the essential aspects of the topic, as if your reader had a basic knowledge of psychology but may not know much about your specific topic. This should be a VERY shortened version of your Lit Review. The Introduction section will also list one or more proposed hypotheses that the student could propose to test with the designed study.
Design – Describe in detail what design (e.g., observational; correlational; experimental – between-subjects or within-subjects; quasi-experimental – nonequivalent control group design, interrupted time-series design, etc.) you plan to use, as well as what the important variables (I.V.s & D.V.s) and operational definitions of these variables are. Explain why you are using this design and why this is the best way to test/explore your hypotheses.
Participants – Describe how many participants you will recruit and how the participants will be selected. What is your sampling procedure? What are your inclusion/exclusion criteria? Be as realistic as possible as to how you will select and recruit your participants. Describe the ideal sample in terms of demographics and characteristics.
Materials (Apparatus) – Describe the materials or equipment you will use in the research, such as tests, surveys, questionnaires, computers, recording equipment, etc. For each test/instrument, describe it in detail, making sure to include the purpose, administration, and psychometric properties (reliability, validity) of the instrument.
Procedure – Describe the entire process that a participant will go through when he or she participates in the study. For example, in an experiment, you would include a description of what happens to the participants in each condition and how they will be assigned to each condition (e.g., self-selected conditions, randomly assigned to conditions, etc.). In a survey/observational study, describe how and where participants will be surveyed, and any special considerations that might be relevant.
Conclusion – Briefly summarize your research design. Explain any limitations or weaknesses that might limit the generalizability of the study.
References – You must include a References list (in APA style) of the articles you referenced in your paper. The reference page does not “count” toward the page minimum.
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