Fairness is a core component of validity, yet it is often underexamined or treated as an optional analytic step in counseling research. This session reframes fairness as an ongoing interpretive responsibility of the researcher that occurs across the research process. Attendees will learn practical strategies to integrate fairness into study design, measurement, analysis, and reporting to support valid interpretations and ethical score use.
Research can be a powerful form of advocacy by using empirical inquiry to expose injustice and inequity. Both quantitative and qualitative research studies can influence systemic change and advocate for marginalized populations. In this session, attendees will learn how to conceptualize research as a means of advocacy grounded in the AARC Standards for Multicultural Research and MSJCC. Examples of research projects that serve to facilitate systemic change will be presented.
This session explores strategies and considerations for teaching and supporting counselor education doctoral students to transition from research consumers to independent researchers. Grounded in scholarly frameworks, the presenters will share insights and examples from teaching doctoral research courses and mentoring doctoral student researchers. Participants will engage in collaborative discussions and leave with implications to enhance their own doctoral-level research instruction.
Research challenges the harmful misconception that Black, Latinx, low-income, and limited English-speaking families do not value education or client success, a narrative that sustains systemic barriers to engagement in counseling contexts. This session examines how assessment data informed culturally responsive, client and family-centered workshops. Using pre/post surveys, outcome indicators, and focus groups, findings demonstrate how data-driven interventions strengthen engagement.
This presentation examines transcendental phenomenology as a rigorous qualitative methodology in counselor education. Drawing on Husserl and Moustakas, it clarifies distinctions between transcendental and hermeneutic approaches and outlines core analytic procedures (e.g., horizontalization, reduction, synthesis). Participants will learn strategies to enhance rigor and trustworthiness and apply these methods in counselor education and supervision contexts.
This session introduces semantic network analysis as a method for examining narratives in counseling research and training. Participants will explore foundational concepts, learn basic analytic steps, and examine examples using narrative and textual data. Illustrative examples will demonstrate the application of semantic network analysis to counseling research and practice.
Randomized control trials (RCTs) are relatively rare in the counseling literature despite the strengths of this research design to inform evidence-based counseling practice. Come learn the scope (e.g., client populations, presenting concerns, modalities) and methodological quality (e.g., randomization procedures, intervention fidelity, data analysis) of RCTs published in counseling journals between 2015 and 2024. Opportunities and strategies for RCT research in counseling will be discussed.
This education session introduces multilevel structural equation modeling (MLSEM) for analyzing hierarchically structured data. Attendees will learn foundational concepts including multilevel modeling, multilevel CFA, and the stepwise MLSEM analytic process. Using Davidov et al.'s (2012) cross-cultural measurement noninvariance study as a worked example, this session demonstrates how MLSEM addresses measurement invariance through contextual predictors.
Grounded in our ethical responsibility for inclusivity, this session introduces critical evidence-based research pedagogy and inquiry-based learning in counselor education. Participants will define core principles, evaluate integration across CACREP-aligned courses, and design an inquiry-based strategy with measurable outcomes. Through guided discussion and hands-on application, attendees will link theory to practice to foster equity, critical consciousness, and ethical evidence-based care.
Inductive Content Analysis (ICA) research is popular and used in diverse ways in counselor education. ICA allows scholars to uncover big-picture patterns when prior knowledge is fragmented or has not been discovered. Thus, scholars must use a systematic approach to conduct ICA research in counseling. We will present Schreier’s six step model for conducting inductive content analysis projects to help attendees learn to design and conduct rigorous ICA research.
Daniel DeCino (pronouns-he/him/his) is an Associate Professor in the Division of Counseling and Psychology Programs at the University of South Dakota. Dr. DeCino is a former middle school counselor in Colorado and he earned his Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision from the... Read More →
This session presents preliminary findings from interviews and assessments with 18 counseling students enrolled in a crisis and trauma course. Results highlight how relational pedagogy, structured reflection, and experiential learning support students’ emotional regulation, reflexivity, and perceived preparedness. Attendees will gain strategies for assessing student outcomes in trauma training and integrating experiential evaluation into counselor education.
Exclusionary discipline remains common despite evidence linking suspension to negative outcomes. This session frames discipline as a measurable system using an MTSS lens. Participants will learn to analyze referral patterns, disaggregated outcomes, and fidelity indicators to identify gaps and evaluate impact. A checklist-based evaluation tool shows how measurement can guide intervention selection, monitor effectiveness, and support equitable, evidence-based discipline systems.
