TPC Journal V8, Issue 1 - FULL ISSUE

The Professional Counselor | Volume 8, Issue 1 27 Limitations and Areas for Future Research The sample size and composition were sufficient for the purposes of the initial development and classical testing and item response analysis (Heppner et al., 2016); however, these authors still suggest caution when applying the results of this study to other populations. Endorsements of the participants may not reflect answers of the population in other areas of the country or different academic levels. Future research should sample other student and professional groups. This will help to further establish the psychometric properties and item response analysis conclusions and make the RIS more appropriate for use in other fields. Additionally, future research may examine how scores on the RIS correlate with traditional measures of learning (e.g., grades in individual research courses, collapsed grades in all research courses, research portion on counselor licensure exams). Conclusion As counselors-in-training and professional counselors are increasingly being required to demonstrate they are using evidence-based practices and measuring the effectiveness of their services, they may benefit from assessments of their RI (American Counseling Association, 2014; Gladding & Newsome, 2010). CACREP (2016) has responded to increased accountability by enhancing their research and evaluation standards for both master’s- and doctoral-level counseling students. The American Counseling Association is further supporting discussions about RI by publishing a recent blog post titled “Research Identity Crisis” (Hennigan Paone, 2017). In the post, Hennigan Paone described a hope for master’s-level clinicians to start acknowledging and appreciating that research helps them work with clients in ways that are informed by “science rather than intuition” (para. 5). As the calling becomes stronger for counselors to become more connected to research, it seems imperative that counseling programs assess their effectiveness in bridging the gap between research and practice. The RIS provides counseling programs an option to do exactly that by evaluating the way students are learning and growing in relation to research. Further, the use of this type of outcome measure could provide for good modeling at the program level; in that, the hope would be that it would encourage counselors-in-training to develop both a curiosity and motivation to infuse research practices (e.g., needs assessments, outcome measures, data analysis) into their clinical work. Conflict of Interest and Funding Disclosure The authors reported no conflict of interest or funding contributions for the development of this manuscript. References A merican Counseling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA code of ethics . Alexandria, VA: Author. Bruning, R. H., Schraw, G. J., Norby, M. M., & Ronning, R. R. (2004). Cognitive psychology and instruction (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NY: Pearson Merrill/Prentice Hall. Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs. (2016). 2016 CACREP standards. Retrieved from http://www.cacrep.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/2016-Standards-with- Glossary-7.2017.pdf Dillman, D. A., Smyth, J. D., & Christian, L. M. (2009). Internet, mail, and mixed-mode surveys: The tailored design method (3rd ed.) . Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.