Below is my paper that I completed for CNL-540

Research in Counseling (CNL-540)

Define- Evidence-Based Practice (EBP)? Discuss the inherent strengths and limitations of EBP. Be sure to include your comments regarding what is meant by “validity of treatments.”

As adopted by and described by American Psychological Association, EBP of psychotherapy integrates the research conducted with the client that is most suitable to a client’s culture, environment, personal preferences, and individual characteristics, (APA, 2008). “Pertinent research evidence is used with EBP to make clinical decisions, implement treatment plans, foster a therapeutic alliance, and achieve positive outcomes” (APA, 2008) and gives the client options. These are all based off data and reports and not off of individual opinions.    Limitations of EBP are high. Two of them that seem most prevalent are that “The majority of evidence-based psychotherapies are cognitive–behavioral, whereas many practitioners employ existential–humanistic, interpersonal, psychodynamic, systemic, and/or integrative models. While there appears to be a divide between evidence-based research and practice and clinical application, evidence-based psychotherapies synthesize new knowledge when providers test evidence-based guidelines and adapt them to cohort specific circumstances, and reliance on scientific research is problematic. 

What are the issues of objectivity and subjectivity as they relate to methodological issues in conducting counseling research in the Objectivity and subjectivity in social research video?  

In a foundational sense, Objectivity is counseling research means that when seen in the traditional form, “implies absolute objectivity, truth, correspondence of reality and can include both natural science and social science” (Williams, Scott, and Letherby, 2014). An example that was given in the film was about there is a basic notion that we all see the world differently, but that our goal in objectivity is to claim that the way that we perceive it is accurate and correct (Williams, Scott, and Letherby, 2014)

Subjectivity/Objectivity in counseling research means:

In counseling, objectivity in the traditional form implies a very absolutist notion that truth corresponds with reality and how they influence some of the debate within both natural science and social science (Williams, Scott, and Letherby, 2014). Some argue “that there was a basic difference between the world as it really is, independently of people and the world as we see it, perceive it and some want to explore how it is that we can claim that our knowledge, our perception of the world is an accurate, truthful representation” (Williams, Scott, and Letherby, 2014). Subjectivity means that measurements can be incorrect based on our own bias and the research can be unstable to our discipline (Williams, Scott, and Letherby, 2014). “Constructs such as mood, well-being, and culture may be inherently difficult to measure regardless of psychometric properties that illustrate validity of a measure or the reliability of scores” (Williams, Scott, and Letherby, 2014).

Reference:

Williams, M., Scott, J., Letherby, G. (Academics). (2014). Objectivity and subjectivity in social research [Video]. Sage Research Methods. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473907638