TPC Journal-Vol 11-Issue-1

The Professional Counselor | Volume 11, Issue 1 65 The proportions of quantitative and qualitative research studies appearing in TPC have changed significantly over time— F (1, 176) = 9.025, p = .003, η 2 = .049—constituting the highest effect size of any analysis in this study, albeit still a small effect. Quantitative designs shifted from a slight minority (46.9%) of research designs in 2011–2014 to a substantial proportional majority (69.3%) in 2015–2019, while the qualitative studies displayed converse proportions. We noted that about one-third of the qualitative studies did not specify an approach or methodological tradition. When qualitative approaches/ methodologies were specified: 15.4% used a generic “content analysis”, 30.7% were phenomenological, 9.6% used grounded theory, 7.7% used case study, 5.8% used consensual qualitative research, 5.8% used narrative, 3.8% used constant comparative, and 1.9% simply specified an ethnographic approach. Intervention studies maintained a stable presence among TPC research articles at 12.3%: F (1, 152) = 0.020, p = .889, η 2 = .000. Likewise, the types of research designs appearing in TPC research articles (see Table 2) have been relatively stable over time: F (1, 156) = 1.232, p = .269, η 2 = .008. Non-experimental designs dominated TPC research articles and were heavily weighted toward descriptive/survey (42.4%), qualitative (18.4%), and correlational designs (18.4%). The most rigorous experimental designs (true/quasi-experimental designs) comprised only 4.4% of TPC research studies. Table 2 Proportion of Research Designs Used in TPC Research Studies Time 2011–2014 2015–2019 Total Descriptive/Survey 22 (35.5%) 45 (46.9%) 67 (42.4%) Qualitative 16 (25.8%) 13 (13.5%) 29 (18.4%) Correlation 17 (27.4%) 12 (12.5%) 29 (18.4%) SSRD 1 (1.6%) 7 (7.3%) 8 (5.1%) Comparative 2 (3.2%) 5 (5.2%) 7 (4.4%) True/Quasi-Experiment 3 (4.8%) 4 (4.2%) 7 (4.4%) Meta-Analysis/Other 0 (0.0%) 6 (6.2%) 6 (3.8%) Test Development 1 (1.6%) 4 (4.2%) 5 (3.2%) Totals 62 96 158 Note . SSRD = Single-subject research design Proportions of types of participants have shifted significantly across TPC research studies— F (1, 224) = 5.573, p = .019, η 2 = .024—the second highest effect size of this meta-study. From the 2011–2014 to 2015–2019 time windows, adult participant samples increased from 28.0% to 41.7%, while undergraduate samples dropped from 17.3% to 6.0% (see Table 3). TPC research article sample sizes by category were consistent over time: F (1, 153) = 0.901, p = .344, η 2 = .006. Small samples (< 30 participants) composed 33.5% of all studies, medium samples (30–99 participants) 20.0%, large samples (100–499 participants) 36.1%, and very large samples (500+ participants) only 10.3% of research studies. At the same time, the median sample size increased from 65 participants in 2011–