TPC-Journal-V5-Issue3

The Professional Counselor /Volume 5, Issue 3 334 I’m not a big person about research. I think it’s just the word research that makes me kind of cringe, but really when you think about it, I think we all do research all the time; we just don’t think about it that way. Additionally, the behaviors that participants described at this stage were reflective of more than just consuming research, which was predominant at stage one. Sally shared the following: I read pretty much every article I can get my hands on, go to trainings all the time, and I took the initiative . . . to research material and do presentations and . . . I’m considering . . . [doing] more with research. Stage Three: Stabilization The third and highest level of RI for master’s-level counseling students was the stabilization stage , aptly named due to the stabilization in RI that occurred at this stage as compared with stages one and two. The themes connected to this stage of RI include the following: internal facilitators of higher levels of RI, external facilitators of higher levels of RI and faculty as salient to RI. One of the strongest components of this stage was participants’ internal state of RI. Participants’ conceptualization of research was influenced by the realization that research includes multiple components, ranging from surveying scholarly articles to conducting original research. Additionally, participants with a stronger internal RI were less vulnerable to negative messages about research. Participants described internal components that facilitated higher levels of RI, including persistence, dedication, curiosity, integration of practitioner and research identities, and broad conceptualization of research. Another key element that seemed to represent a higher level of RI was the way that participants conceptualized research. At stages one and two, participants were more focused on research being about numbers and an activity that others do. The shift in participants’ conceptualization of research was demonstrated through the visual representation that focus group interviewees offered when hearing the word research . Participant Jessica constructed an image that manifested her conceptualization of research as being multidimensional. Other important components of stage three were external facilitators of higher levels of RI described in the form of counselor education program elements, positive messages from others and undergraduate education that included research. Participant Henry gave an example of positive messages from others: I would say that [a message from a supervisor] was [an] emphasis to do research just because I . . . work in a profession where you . . . constantly have questions in the area and there is no possible way you can have the answer to everything, and so the only way to do that is to do the research behind it. Participant Dan discussed how exposure to research in his undergraduate program was critical in his RI process. He stated: Until I took that undergraduate class, I had absolutely no interest in research and didn’t understand any of the value to it and now all of a sudden when you begin to see statistics, valid statistics, mind you, but statistics that . . . reinforce your thought process or your program . . . [it] was a positive.