Abstract:

Experimental research is the single most powerful method of indicating causal relationships (Erford, 2008; Fraenkel, Wallen, & Hyun, 2011; Wright, 2014). Studies on the effectiveness of online instruction exemplify a multitude of research designs and methodologies. The results of such studies reveal the many potential advantages of online instructional methods in terms of convenience for diverse learners and the possibility of matching teaching style with a variety of student learning-style preferences (Cicco, 2009; Cicco, 2012; Yang & Chou, 2008). However, in specifically examining student performance outcomes in fully online counseling skills courses, the research is somewhat scarce (Cicco, 2011; Trepal, Haberstroh, Duffey, & Evans, 2007). It is necessary to clearly and accurately measure the level of students’ counseling skill and technique development when taught through fully online instructional modalities. The research literature points to several preferred strategies for online counseling educators, including the development of positive supervisory relationships among students and faculty members to better assess students’ mastery of course objectives (Cicco, 2013). This article will describe an experimental research project, aimed at examining the development and mastery of counseling skills and techniques in counselors-in-training who are taught through fully online courses as compared to their counterparts who are taught in fully in-class courses. The advantages of online instruction and those of traditional instruction are not in question. Instead, the study will highlight the appropriateness of the online classroom for the frequent modeling, intensive practice, and ongoing triangulated evaluation of counseling skills and techniques that take place in core counseling skills and techniques courses. These skills are the cornerstone or foundational threshold concepts that counselors-in-training must master if they are to be effective and successful counseling practitioners (Ivey, Ivey, & Zalaquett, 2010). Therefore, an experiment that would compare students’ skill development in these two instructional modalities, online versus in-class, would possibly allow counselor educators to assert with greater confidence that in fact the level of skill development in each modality is similar or comparable. It would also enable researchers to point to more strategic and enhanced methods for teaching skills courses online. This proposed study would include approximately 80 participants, counselors-in-training, who would be evaluated on their performance in a series of 3 counseling videos to measure their skill acquisition and development. The videos would provide evidence of skill development at the beginning, middle, and end of a skills course, offered in both online and in-class modalities, and would be scored by at least 3 counseling evaluators using a researcher-made counseling rubric, a 20-item instrument with a 6-point scale of skills demonstration (Cicco, 2013). This article will detail the specifics of the experimental design, methodology, instrumentation, data analyses, and expected outcomes and research implications.

Keywords:

Experimental research, experimental design, counseling research, online courses, online instruction, counseling skills and techniques, counseling skill acquisition, counseling skill development and mastery.