Qualitative and Mixed Methods Research in Educational and Psychological Consultation: Introduction to the Special Issue

ABSTRACT

This article introduces the special issue focused on qualitative and mixed methods (QMM) research in educational and psychological consultation. The purposes of the special issue, to highlight the role of QMM in studying school consultation and to guide future QMM research, are considered, and each of five featured articles are briefly introduced.

Qualitative and mixed methods (QMM) are increasingly accepted approaches to inquiry within professional psychology. Rigorous QMM research can promote a fuller understanding of school consultation processes and outcomes (Meyers et al., 2014). Indeed, such methods are contextually driven and can promote insights into complex systems and interactions across cultures, systems, and institutions (Nastasi & Schensul, 2005). QMM are useful for exploring new phenomena, and can generate theories grounded in data, which can be the focus of future consultation research (Meyers et al., 2014). Given these rationales for the application of QMM in the study of school consultation, it is not surprising that the Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation (JEPC) is a welcome home for qualitative school consultation research. Yet, despite its pertinence, QMM remain under-applied in the study of school psychology (Leech & Onwuegbuzie, 2008) and school consultation (Newman et al., 2017). Accordingly, the purposes of this special issue are to highlight the potential role of QMM research in the study of school consultation, and to provide a detailed consideration of specific QMM approaches to guide future research.

The issue begins with an introduction by Clare (2022), who insightfully links consultation practice and research with a reliance on storytelling. Clare proposes that QMM can help researchers listen to, acknowledge, and reflect those stories to expand our collective understanding of consultation, and how it may best be implemented in practice. Next, Nastasi et al. (2022) overview criteria for evaluating the quality of consultation research, particularly QMM, and propose a Synergistic Participatory Mixed Methods Quality (SPMMQ) model. The SPMMQ approach includes legitimation criteria for the effective integration of qualitative and quantitative methods in consultation research, and a consideration of treatment validity consistent with participatory action research methods.

The next article, by Knotek et al. (2022), focuses on the application of ethnography to consultation research. Ethnography is an approach to explore the experiences of participants embedded in a particular cultural context. Drawing from four exemplary ethnographic studies of consultee-centered consultation, the authors illustrate the application and viability of an ethnographic approach from a study’s conceptualization to its completion. In the subsequent article, Ingraham et al. (2022) apply constructivist grounded theory to study a process of peer feedback used by consultants-in-training during their preservice level consultation coursework and supervised practice. Not only does the study provide insights into trainees’ learning processes during consultation training, but it also exemplifies a rigorous constructivist grounded theory approach, which may serve as a model for those interested in studying consultation with this methodology and associated methods. The special issue concludes with a thought-provoking article by Truscott et al. (2022), who put forth engineering as an analogy for consultation practice, and engineering research as model for consultation research: Like engineers, consultants and consultation researchers should possess deep knowledge of evidence-based techniques, the context in which the work is occurring, and the intricate processes of interpersonal interaction which inform its application. Therefore, the authors describe QMM as essential for promoting sufficient understanding of consultation.

In its totality this special issue confirms the pertinence and importance of QMM to consultation research. The methodologies and methods that are presented offer a starting point among numerous possibilities for applying QMM in promotion of further understanding of educational and psychological consultation. It is my hope that this special issue will stimulate novel, empirically rigorous, and meaningful research which expands our understanding about how consultation works, with whom, and under what circumstances.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Daniel S. Newman

Daniel S. Newman, Ph.D., NCSP, is an Associate Professor in the School Psychology Program in the College of Education, Criminal Justice, and Human Services at the University of Cincinnati. His research interests include school consultation practice and training, clinical supervision, and professional issues in school psychology. He is the Editor of the Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation.