The Professional Counselor | Volume 10, Issue 4 619 to increase the likelihood of a diverse and representative sample (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). Participants were selected one at a time to ensure adequate variation of the selection criteria. The selection criteria included: a) gender self-identification, b) racial and ethnic self-identification, c) Carnegie classification of the university where the participant was currently employed (The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, 2019), d) length of time working in doctoral-level counselor education programs, e) the method used to deliver the counselor education program where the participant was currently working (e.g., in person, online), and f) the region of the counselor education program where the participant was currently working. Based on previous research (Cartwright et al., 2018; Hill et al., 2005; Lambie et al., 2014; Smith et al., 2015), each of the noted criterion were believed to have some impact on the participants’ perspectives and, ultimately, their responses. Data saturation occurred after 15 interviews. A constant comparative method was utilized to assure saturation. All 15 participants interviewed for this study taught in separate and unique CES programs. No program was represented by more than one participant. The demographics of the participants included eight self-identified males (53.3%) and seven self-identified females (46.7%). No participants identified as non-binary or transgender. All but one of the participants identified as heterosexual (n = 14, 93.3%); the one remaining participant identified as bisexual (6.7%). Racial and ethnic representation, also selfreported, was largely White (n = 11, 73.3%). Other racial groups represented included African American (n = 1, 6.7%), Asian (n = 1, 6.7%), Latinx (n = 1, 6.7%), and multiracial/multiethnic (n = 1, 6.7%). According to the 2017 CACREP Vital Statistics report, 71.38% of counselor education faculty in CACREP-accredited programs are White (CACREP, 2018). Thus, our sample was representative of the CES profession as it relates to the cultural identification of being White. The participants averaged 19.7 years (SD = 9.0 years) of experience as full-time faculty members. Most of the participants’ years as faculty members were spent at the doctoral level in CES programs (M = 17.3 years, SD = 9.2 years, Mdn = 16 years). The number of years as a faculty member ranged from 3 to 33 years. Procedure After receiving approval from the last author’s IRB, a database of doctoral-level counselor educator contacts who worked at the then 85 programs accredited by CACREP was created (CACREP, n.d.). Thirty-four faculty responded to the request to participate. Of the 34 respondents, 15 respondents (41% response rate) were selected to participate in the study. The process of selecting and interviewing the 15 participants was scheduled and conducted by the fifth author. The selection of the 15 participants was done using maximum variation sampling (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The interviews lasted for approximately 60 minutes and were recorded with the consent of each participant via the Zoom online format. One interview was completed during a professional conference and was recorded with a Sony digital audio recorder. Participants were assigned an alphabetical identifier to protect individual identities during the data analysis process. This step allowed all researchers to be blinded to the participants’ identities except for the fifth author. The fifth author did not participate in the coding and analysis process in order to enhance participant anonymity and reduce the potential for bias during the data analysis process. Interview Protocol The interview question analyzed for this study was “How have you helped students to successfully navigate the dissertation process?” To start each interview, participants were asked the demographic questions mentioned above. Following the demographic information, eight in-depth questions were asked that addressed the research questions of the larger qualitative study (see Appendix). Per Patton’s
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDU5MTM1