An Update on the Status of Sponsored Research in Counseling Psychology

Abstract

Prior research has indicated that relative to other specialty areas in psychology, counseling psychology researchers are less likely to engage in research activities sponsored by external funding agencies. The primary purposes of this article were to address external funding in the counseling psychology profession and to compare the rates of articles published in the premier counseling psychology research journal (Journal of Counseling Psychology [JCP]) that reported external funding to other specialty areas' premier research journals. Between 2007 and 2011, articles in JCP were less likely than those in other journals to report external funding and less likely to report research designs associated with external sponsorship. Post hoc analyses indicated that articles in a leading vocational research journal also had relatively low rates of external funding, and counseling psychology faculty members were less likely than peers in other programs to report external funding. The implications of these findings for the field are discussed.

Multicultural and International Research in Four Career Development Journals: An 11‐Year Content Analysis

“…Gender‐ and age‐focused scholarship also experienced steady increases. This increase may be attributable to the historical focus of career development and vocational psychology in these areas, an increase in the number of women in these fields, federal funding priorities, and increased grant funding in higher education settings (Martens et al, ). The National Science Foundation, for example, has prioritized research on the career development of women and adolescents in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields.…”

Reflections on Grant Writing From a Vocational Psychologist

“…First, I disagree with Martens et al's (2016) suggestion that grants could have stemmed the loss of counseling psychology programs in R1 institutions. I am not convinced that grants alone would have prevented the closing of the programs, such as those at Michigan State, Ohio State, or Penn State universities.…”

“…My third reaction is some bewilderment at Martens et al's (2016) second post hoc analysis. I suspect many readers will wonder who was in that set of top 10 programs in research productivity.…”

Conflicts of Interest

“…It can mean that the researchers have not succeeded in developing links to the field of expertise, and that their work is 'sterile. ' Martens et al (2016), reporting on the field of counseling research, noted that 'sponsored research has the potential to advance the professional goals of a field by allowing researchers to conduct studies of a scope and magnitude that they would not be able to do without external funding' (p. 460).…”