456 The Professional Counselor | Volume 10, Issue 4 through email. Faculty initially provided demographic information during a pre-registration phase. The last author reviewed this information to select participants from the pool of eligible volunteers for entry into the study utilizing maximum variation sampling. This sampling technique was employed to gather the perspectives of counselor educators from diverse backgrounds with regard to demographic characteristics and program characteristics. Maximum variation sampling also assisted with avoiding premature saturation (Merriam & Tisdell, 2016). The research team believed that counselor educator perspectives may differ by background. Thus the following criteria were used for selecting participants from among the eligible volunteers: (a) racial and ethnic self-identification, (b) gender self-identification, (c) length of time working in doctoral-level counselor education programs, (d) Carnegie classification of university where the participant was currently working (The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, 2019), (e) region of the counselor education program where the participant was currently working, and (f) delivery mode of the counselor education program where the participant was currently working (e.g., in-person, online). These six characteristics were selected because of indications in the extant literature of the influence of the above factors on CES faculty experiences and/or trends in doctoral program delivery, which may impact perceptions of what constitutes a high-quality doctoral program. Prior studies have identified the influence of racial and ethnic identity (Cartwright et al., 2018), gender identity (Hill et al., 2005), years of experience in doctoral counselor education (Lambie et al., 2014; Magnuson et al., 2009), Carnegie classification (Lambie et al., 2014), and delivery mode (Smith et al., 2015) on faculty perceptions and experiences. Once participants responded regarding their interest in the study, the last author purposively selected participants one at a time to ensure adequate variation by these characteristics. Participant selection was predicated on meeting variability requirements between participants regarding the six criteria identified above. For example, the first and second participants were selected because of their differences in gender, years of experience, and Carnegie classification. Subsequent participant selection decisions were made on the basis of variant ethnicity and region. Overall participant characteristics interviews were conducted until data seemed to reach saturation and redundancy. Data reached saturation after 15 interviews. Faculty members who provided demographic information during preregistration were informed that they had not been invited to participate in the interview portion of the study and were thanked for their participation during pre-registration. A total of 15 participants were interviewed for the study. All 15 participants were from separate and unique doctoral-level CES programs, with no program represented by more than one participant. With regard to self-identified gender, the sample consisted of seven female participants (46.7%) and eight male participants (53.3%). No participants identified as non-binary or transgender. The majority of participants identified as heterosexual (n = 14, 93.3%), with one participant identifying as bisexual (6.7%). Eleven participants (73.3%) self-identified as Caucasian, with multiracial/multiethnic (n = 1, 6.7%), African American (n = 1, 6.7%), Asian (n = 1, 6.7%), and Latinx (n = 1, 6.7%) ethnic backgrounds also represented. The sample was experienced, working as full-time faculty members for an average of 19.7 years (SD = 9.0 years) and a median of 17 years, ranging from 4 to 34 years. Participants spent most of those years working in doctoral-level CES programs (M = 17.3 years, SD = 9.2 years, Mdn = 16 years), ranging from 3 to 33 years. More than half of participants (n = 9, 60%) spent their entire careers working in doctorallevel CES programs. Eight of the participants (53.3%) currently worked at programs in the Southern region, with two participants (13.3%) each from the North Atlantic, North Central, and Western regions. One participant (6.7%) currently worked in the Rocky Mountain region. Five participants (33.3%) had
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