Evocative Engagement with Research.

Abstract

Teaching research methods to counselling students is an important aspect of developing competent, reflective practitioners who can demonstrate professionalism as well as contribute to the strengthening of the counselling profession. However, counselling practitioners still seem to be reluctant to engage in research. Low motivation, lack of confidence, and high anxiety, as well as confusion about the relevance of research skills when trying to learn counselling skills, have been identified as reasons for this reluctance. It is proposed that these impediments need to be addressed within counsellor education programmes in order to develop a long-term solution to this problem. This article discusses how a course in research methods is intentionally taught in a meaningful and evocative way in order to captivate the imaginations and motivations of counselling students in a Christian college. The results of a survey exploring the questions that counselling students bring to their engagement in research are presented, and recommendations are offered for how research methods can be taught more effectively to counsellors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of New Zealand Journal of Counselling is the property of New Zealand Association of Counsellors and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)