Research-active therapists and therapy trainees: The need for continuity and clinical significance in our research.

The article focuses on the integration of qualitative and quantitative research methods in psychotherapy and counselling, emphasizing the importance of continuity and clinical significance in research conducted by therapists and trainees. Mick Cooper, a counselling psychologist and researcher, advocates for a pluralistic, mixed-methods approach that values both lived experience through qualitative methods and broader comparative insights from quantitative data. He highlights challenges in the field, such as fragmented small-scale qualitative studies by trainees and the need for research to build cumulatively on client experiences to inform practice. Cooper also stresses the importance of embedding current research findings into training programs to foster research-active practitioners and encourages trainees to engage meaningfully with research communities and questions that genuinely seek new knowledge. The article discusses Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR), a team-based qualitative method used to explore clients' experiences of therapy preferences, illustrating collaborative analysis as a way to enhance reliability and depth in qualitative research.