This book has grown out of our experience in teaching research methods, advising mental health professionals who were struggling to conduct research, and carrying out research projects ourselves. It aims to help readers become both better consumers and better producers of research in clinical and counseling psychology. We hope that, at a minimum, it will encourage and enable practitioners to read research reports critically and to evaluate a study’s strengths and weaknesses. We further hope to inspire at least some of our readers to produce research themselves. In addition to teaching the tools of the
trade, we will try to convince readers that doing research can be stimulating, challenging, and fun.