Technically incompetent or generally misguided: Learning from a failed counselling research project

Abstract

In a world that is becoming consistently more dependent upon technology, this paper intends to urge researchers to be appropriately cautious when designing projects that utilise new media. It does this by frankly discussing a research project that turned out to be a resounding failure due to a lack of forward thinking. The study intended to recreate face-to-face interviews with UK-based Quaker counsellors using email to contact counterparts in the US. A discussion regarding this failure is entered into and suggestions for avoiding similar mishaps in the future are made. Finally the culture of researchers only reporting success stories is challenged.

Keywords:

• Online
• research
• failure
• counselling
• email
• interviews

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge the part played in developing this paper by Clare Lennie, Lynne Gabriel, Garry Squires, Val Woskett, Adrian Foley and by Jim Moorey who re-visited his experience of a failed research project.