Qualitative Research Methods Render and Advance Consultation Practice: Here’s Why that Matters

ABSTRACT

Consultation relies on story. This is true for researchers, for practitioners, and for clients. Given this fact, qualitative and mixed methods (QMM) research are particularly well suited to listening to the stories that compose the clinical practice of consultation in order to extend understanding and to support improvement and innovation. In this way, QMM is worthy of its growing credibility as a centerpiece of empirical inquiry. To initiate the series of articles collected for this special issue, this article extends consideration of readiness for the consultation process. By positioning consultation research as the consultee and QMM as the consultant, this brief discussion anchors in the metaphor of best consultation practice, as we understand it today.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

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Notes on contributors

Mary M. Clare

Mary M. Clare, Ph.D. is co-founder of Full Ecology, LLC in Bozeman, MT. She is Professor Emerita with the Graduate School of Education and Counseling at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Her research interests include social justice, consultation, mixed-method measurement and most directly the relationship of social ecology with climate repair and environmental justice. A fellow in the American Psychological Association, she has authored of over 100 journal articles and three books.