Using Online Surveys Creatively in Counselling and Psychotherapy Research

Abstract

The use of online surveys is a rapidly expanding research tool within the counselling and psychotherapy professions and one that has considerable power and sophistication in harvesting both quantitative and qualitative data. Online surveys have the potential to reach groups of participants who might not engage in less anonymous research methods and consequently can be focused on very personal and sensitive issues. There have been significant advances in using online surveys and it’s clear that they can be a very effective qualitative research method. Using effective online surveys in research can be exciting and offer the researcher a variety of options to present the impact and meaning of their findings. There are also a range of intuitive analysis tools to explore and drill down into online survey data. There’s probably never been a better time to start exploring the versatility and participant inclusion offered by online surveys. The supporting technology is readily available and easy to use. If used wisely and focused on viable research topics, with due diligence to engaging with research participants, online surveys can deliver a wealth and richness of meaning that can provide new and relevant research to the counselling and psychotherapy professions. There is also an introduction to survey logic which is the basis of so-called intelligent surveys. For those unfamiliar with online surveys, how to construct a survey and what types of questions can be used a succinct account can be found by McBeath (Doing qualitative research with a survey.