| CODE | COU5307 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Advanced Research Methods for Counselling | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 10 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Counselling | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit is intended to equip students with an advanced knowledge of the concepts and methods of counselling research; and consolidate their knowledge and enhance their experience in different methodologies and the use of various research techniques. This study-unit will provide students with an opportunity to enhance their knowledge and skills for understanding, critiquing, using, designing and implementing counselling research at post-graduate level. It will have three aspects. Students will have the opportunity to discuss overarching issues in research methods, namely the relevance of scientific inquiry to real world professional work, issues and phenomena that give rise to research questions, and how different research questions are related to the different paradigms of quantitative and qualitative designs. This part of the study-unit will also address the role of research in the counselling profession, in a context where counsellors are also reflective practitioners and where research is enshrined in the Counselling Act for warranted counsellors. Conceptual Frameworks and Ethical issues in research will then be addressed in relation to qualitative and quantitative research. This part of the study-unit will address issues related to the conceptualisation, design, strategies and techniques for data collection, analysis and reporting in relation to conceptual Framework which should ground the research and Ethical Issues involved. Students will then be exposed to qualitative and quantitative research methods. With regard to qualitative research, the focus will be on Narrative Research, Auto/Ethnography, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Discourse Analysis, Thematic Analysis, Grounded Theory and Evaluation research methods. The use of interviews, focus groups and observational techniques will also be discussed. With regard to quantitative research, the use of survey/questionnaire research and the fundamentals of statistical concepts, populations, sampling, statistical significance, and inferential statistical techniques will be covered through a combination of hands-on activities applying IBM SPSS. Students will also be introduced to the use of computer aided qualitative data analysis software. Trainee counsellors will be exposed to the use of computer packages to save, handle and analyse data. The study-unit will conclude with a forum where presentation of research by members of the Department of Counselling will be discussed. The aim is to give students the opportunity to critique and reflect upon the research process as they gain an in-depth knowledge of different methodologies, data collecting tools, and conceptual frameworks in preparation for their own research. Study-Unit Aims: This study-unit is aimed at enabling students to be able to evaluate research evidence and to conduct their own research, particularly in relation to issues regarding clients’ and counsellors' challenges. Students will be able to critically evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of the use of quantitative and qualitative approaches. The input will enable students to understand research concepts, methodologies, designs, techniques and procedures, vital to plan, carry out, analyse and report using rigorous quantitative and qualitative research. It also aims at helping students become familiar with, understand, critique and implement conceptual frameworks and ethical issues and considerations. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Demonstrate an overall understanding of the issues involved in doing research in this area; - Demonstrate an understanding of the basic principles underlying quantitative and qualitative research; - Identify the characteristics of major qualitative research designs and discuss their advantages and limitations; - Determine what designs are appropriate for research questions; - Discuss in more depth the different methodologies and methods in research including the philosophical assumptions underlying the different methodologies; - Demonstrate the skills of doing research in the context of practical problems that students may face in the research field; - Demonstrate an overall understanding of the issues involved in doing counselling research; - Identify the different theoretical frameworks; - Appraise the different methodologies and methods in research including the philosophical assumptions underlying the different methodologies; - Discuss characteristics, advantages and limitations of major research designs; - Identify the basic tenets of quantitative and qualitative research; - Present issues of trustworthiness, credibility, reliability, validity, bias and sampling of qualitative and quantitative research; - Critique issues of trustworthiness, credibility, reliability, validity, bias and sampling of qualitative and quantitative research; - Demonstrate the rationale of quantitative and qualitative techniques; - Show an understanding of the types of quantitative tests available; - Compare and contrast descriptive versus inferential statistics; - Discuss and deliberate ethical issues in research. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Demonstrate the skills of doing research in the context of practical problems that students may face in the research field; - Analyse the appropriate selection of research methodologies and research tools; - Illustrate an understanding of the research tools available in quantitative and qualitative research; - Decide on the best research design to apply for different research questions; - Determine which qualitative research approach to adopt for different qualitative research questions; - Decide on the best form of, and write appropriately relevant research tools, Demonstrate familiarity with the use of data collection tools such as interviews, focus groups, questionnaires etc.; - Utilise data collecting tools appropriately, including interviews, focus groups, interview conversations, field notes, surveys, questionnaires; - Identify and address ethical issues in research; - Explain credibility, trustworthiness, reliability and validity; - Explain sampling procedures; - Demonstrate familiarity with the use of data analysis tools; - Explain statistical significance (p-values); - Understand and interpret the nature of computer-assisted qualitative analysis tools (e.g. NVIVO); - Manage the IBM SPSS and understand SPSS results; - Interpret findings; - Utilise computer packages for qualitative and quantitative data; - Write reflexively. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - Holman Jones, S., Adams, T. E., & Ellis, C. (2016). Handbook of autoethnography. Routledge. - Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (2000). Narrative inquiry.Jossey Bass. - Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2017). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Sage. (or latest edition). - Etherington, K. (2004). Becoming a reflexive researcher: Using ourselves in research. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. - McLeod, J. (2015) Doing Counselling Research. Sage Publications. - Ravitch, S. M., & Riggan, M. (2016). Reason & rigor: How conceptual frameworks guide research. Sage Publications. Supplementary Readings: - Bryman, A. (2016). Social research methods (5th ed.). Oxford University Press. - Coolican, H. (1999) Research methods and statistics in psychology. Hodder and Stoughton. - Denzin, N.K. &Lincoln, G. (2002) Handbook of Qualitative Research. Sage. - Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). (2011). The Sage handbook of qualitative research. Sage. - Field, A. (2013). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics. Sage. - Flick, U. (2002). An introduction to qualitative research. Sage. - Punch, K. F. (1998). Introduction to social research. Quantitative and qualitative approaches. Sage. - Searle, A. (2000) Introducing research and data in psychology. Routledge. - Strauss, A.l. & Corbin, J (1990). Basics of qualitative research: grounded theory, procedures and techniques. Sage. |
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| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Students are expected to attend all the lectures and prepare themselves by completing assigned readings prior to the respective lecture | ||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Liberato Camilleri Michelle Camilleri Ruth Falzon Sharon Martinelli |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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