COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY

Counseling Psychology

Counseling Psychology

Introduction

Ponterotto (2005) provided an elaborative argument on the gradual paradigm shift, and the factors that expresses the movement towards a balanced reliance on qualitative and quantitative research methods. Presenting his "recent observations and current perceptions" (p.126), Ponterotto argued that the field of psychology, in general, and counseling psychology, in particular, has been, for too long, dominated by the positivist and post positivist paradigms associated with quantitative research methods.

This dominance, it is argued, is reflected in available course work, dissertations conducted and in published research reports. Ponterotto argue that such over-reliance on single research philosophy significantly reduces the potential for growth and also limits the knowledge base and practical relevance of counseling research. Therefore, by broadening the field's research scope to include interpretivist paradigms and the associated qualitative methods, counseling psychology will advance more rapidly as a scientific field. Ponterotto is not alone in his opinion. He shares the same sentiment with several other authors like Duplock, S 2004 who argued that "the conception of psychological science commonly shared within the discipline is historically frozen and is endangered by its isolation from the major intellectual and global transformations of the past half century” (p.803); and Goldman who has been calling for a revolution in counseling psychology for several decades.

Discussion

Ponterotto also observed that in recent times, the need to enhance and improve the level of qualitative research training available to students of counseling psychology has been emphasized by several stakeholders. The author argues that though the present level of adoption of qualitative research training is still low, it is on the increase. Highlighting the importance of the increase in qualitative research training students and scholars receive, Rennie, Watson, and Monteiro (2002) noted that graduate students and scholars start appreciating the richness of qualitative research methods and its potential contribution to the field counseling psychology. With such increase in interest, professional conferences start receiving proposals for qualitative research papers and eventually, journal editors and publishers start to take notice of the "shift in the wind". The authors declare that from all indications, all of these have been happening already, signaling the slow, but determined shift in research perspectives. Lastly, Ponterotto observed that an increasing number of quantitatively trained counseling psychologist now adopt qualitative methods into their research programs. While the negative implication of this is that most of these counseling psychologists would erroneously be carrying out qualitative researches through a quantitative lens, on the other hand, this indicates the increasing awareness of and interest in, qualitative research methods. Since developing expertise in any philosophy of science or research method takes time, in a most cases, several years of study, it is apparent that this quantitatively trained counseling psychologist would become better qualitative psychologist with time.

In sum, Ponterotto's claim that the field of counseling psychology is in the middle of a paradigm shift is premised on these observations and perceptions. Fortunately, he is not alone in this thought; there are several observations from numerous authors to strengthen his ...