This course is designed for counseling students to develop the skills of being critical consumers of research epistemology, methods, qualitative and statistical analysis, needs assessment, and program evaluation. Additionally, this course has been tailored for those students who are brand new to research methods and may be taking their very first research course within a university setting. Also, this course has been structured according to the curriculum standards as determined by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). Course Objectives: 1. To be able to critically evaluate the published research in the fields of clinical mental health counseling and professional school counseling 2. To identify research in the counseling literature that decenters social privilege and promotes greater equity for historically marginalized groups. 3. To develop a knowledge and appropriate application of ethical standards and guidelines in counseling related research.

Instructional methods used in this class will be Screen casts, Macro-enabled Power-point slides, Microsoft Teams Check-ins, Discussion Board forums, reading, writing, and research assignments. Learning Modules Learning will take place via the vehicles of Learning Modules. Modules will comprise readings, screen casts, and PowerPoint slides. Readings You will have reading assignments within each module. It is expected that you will complete every assigned reading of every learning module of this course. At the end of the semester there will be one test question that asks, “Did you read every assigned reading in full?” A “Yes” response will be worth 7.5 pts, a “No” will be worth 0 pts. Screen casts For each learning module I will provide screen casts that contain a brief lecture in support of the readings for the week. It is expected that you will view every screen cast of every learning module within this course. At the end of the semester there will be one test question that asks, “Did you view/listen to every screen cast in full?” A “Yes” response will be worth 7.5 pts, a “No” will be worth 0 pts. Discussion Board Postings Each learning module allows for engagement via the Discussion Board domain of Blackboard. You are required to post discussion board threads for a minimum of 5/10 Learning Modules. During weeks that you choose to participate in Discussion Board, you will need to post one original comment/and or question, and you will also need to respond to at least 2 questions and/or comments from fellow students. Your original comment and/or question is due by Wednesday of the week. Your questions and/or comments to fellow students are due by Friday of the week. Learning Module Tests Every Learning Module offers a test online via Blackboard, for a total of 10 tests to choose from. You are required to take the Module 1, Module 8 and the Module 9 tests. The remaining tests are optional, depending upon how you choose to personalize your assessments. Modules 1 – 8 tests will consist of 10 multiple choice questions valued at 1 pt. each. Module’s 9 & 10 tests consist of short answer and fill-in-the-blank items. Items within the tests will be drawn from the readings, the slides and the lecture casts. On Monday of each module week, I will make available a study guide (the item pool) from which the questions will be drawn. On Friday of each week the test will be made available. You are welcome to study the test item pool with classmates. You are encouraged to answer all of the test item pool questions in advance, highlight the answers on the test item pool, and have your notes in front of you while you are taking the test. You will only be able to take the test once, and there will be a time limit imposed. You will have until August 13th to complete any tests. It is highly recommended that you complete one test per week. In the past, students who chose to complete four or five tests in the final few weeks of the course did not perform very well. Papers For students who would like to go a little deeper into developing the skills to consume research related to your field, you have the option of writing papers. All papers are optional and may be included in your Personalized Assessment plan. You have your choice of three papers: o A Review and Critique of a Qualitative study that I have chosen that connects equity issues to your field. o A Compare, Contrast and Critique of Two Quantitative Audit studies that I have chosen. o A summary of the Critical Quantitative theory the explores the racist origins of social research practices, inferential statistical theory, and how this relates to equity within the field of counseling.

Evaluation Criteria: There are mandatory evaluation criteria for this course as well as personalized evaluation criteria for this course. The mandatory assignments, are self-explanatory: everyone must complete them and scores on these assignments will be used to determine your grade for the course. From the personalized evaluation options, you need to determine which assessments you will complete with the goal of building 30 pts. Mandatory Assessments  Assigned Readings Quiz 7.5 points possible  Screen Casts Viewing Quiz 7.5 points possible  5 Discussion Board engagements (1 pt each) 5 points possible  Module 1 test 10 points possible  Module 8 test 10 points possible  Module 9 test 10 points possible Total points 50 points possible Personalized Assessment Options • Module Two Library Tutorial Certificates (2 @ 2.5 pts each) 5 pts possible • Module Two Human Subjects Training Certificate 5 pts • Module Three test 10 pts • Module Four Test 10 pts • Module Five Test 10 pts • Module Six Test 10 pts • Module Seven Test 10 pts • Module Ten Test 10 pts • Critical Quantitative Theory Paper 15 pts • Qualitative Research Review Short Paper 15 pts • Quantitative Compare, Contrast, Critique Paper 20 pts Total Points Needed from this category 30 pts