Where Is the Research on Consultation Effectiveness?

Abstract

This article describes the empirical literature on consultation effectiveness from 1961-1989. A review of journals and a computer search of on-line databases identified 119 journal articles, book chapters, monographs, and 59 dissertation abstracts. During this 29-year period, the median number of databased publications exploring consultation effectiveness was less than five per year. Psychology journals published more than double the number of such studies than did special education journals. Authors of two thirds of the investigations used group designs as opposed to single-case designs. Behavioral consultation was four times more likely to be investigated than mental health models. In ,nearly two thirds of the studies, student or teacher behavior was used alone or in combination with another criterion to judge consultation success, whereas student achievement was a criterion in only one quarter of the studies. These and other findings are discussed in terms of how consultation may be perceived in a political climate that is placing increasing emphasis on outcomes and accountability.