Understanding School-Based Consultation as Engineering Using a Mix of Methods

Abstract

The central purpose of school-based consultation is making psychological and educational knowledge accessible to teachers, parents, systems, and communities so that it becomes standard practice. Current research methods based on limited scientific paradigms have not adequately addressed that purpose. Applied research based on engineering is a better model to study the complex problems at the interface of psychoeducational science, indirect service, and classroom practice in a diverse, pluralistic society. Such research requires a mix of methods focused on producing usable knowledge about the practices and processes of school-based consultation. Mixed method research may be particularly well suited to that task because it a) recognizes the composite expertise of the participants; b) features pragmatic approaches to merge education science with application and implementation realities; and c) acknowledges that educational systems are inherently relational. We provide additional considerations that may be useful as researchers tackle the thorny problems of applied school-based consultation research.