4 TPC Digest Michael T. Kalkbrenner Guidelines and Recommendations for Writing a Rigorous Quantitative Methods Section in Counseling and Related Fields | TPC Digest Read full article and references: Kalkbrenner, M. T. (2022). Guidelines and recommendations for writing a rigorous quantitative methods section in counseling and related fields. The Professional Counselor, 12(3), 217–231. doi: 10.15241/mtk.12.3.217 Quantitative research involves collecting and analyzing numerical data. The Methods section in a quantitative study lays out the protocols and procedures for how the authors conducted the study and analyzed the data. The Methods section is particularly important because methodological flaws cannot usually be resolved once data collection is complete and, in the most extreme cases, serious methodological flaws can render the findings meaningless. Thus, it is imperative that counseling practitioners and other consumers of quantitative research are aware of how to recognize and evaluate the key elements in a quantitative Methods section. To this end, the author wrote this article as a primer on guidelines, best practices, and recommendations for writing or evaluating the rigor of the Methods section of quantitative studies. The article begins with an overview and layperson’s description of the major elements and subsections of a quantitative Methods section, including introducing the research design, Participants and Procedures, Measures, and Data Analysis. More specifically, the author details sampling procedures (both probability and non-probability procedures) and statistical power analysis. The author provides commentary about the following important aspects of the Measures subsection: (a) introducing the instrument and construct(s) of measurement, (b) presenting existing and computing reliability and validity evidence of test scores, and (c) cross-cultural fairness and norming considerations. The Data Analysis section includes information about the data, variables, data analysis techniques, and assumption-checking procedures. The author concludes with an exemplar Methods section to provide a sample of one way to apply the guidelines for writing or evaluating the quantitative research Methods that are detailed in the article. The exemplar Methods section is based on a practice data set, includes a sample research question, and provides a step-by-step example of how to write a quantitative Methods section. Finally, readers are presented with an Appendix, which includes a bullet-pointed outline and brief overview of a quantitative Methods section. Michael T. Kalkbrenner, PhD, NCC, is an associate professor at New Mexico State University. Correspondence may be addressed to Michael T. Kalkbrenner, 1780 E. University Ave., Las Cruces, NM 88003, mkalk001@nmsu.edu.
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