Useful links
Unit of study_
PSTY5206: Psychotherapy Research Methods
2025 unit information
This unit will assist students to build skills, knowledge and attitudes in research methods in psychotherapy, mental health and trauma-informed care. This learning will provide a foundation for appraisal and design of psychosocial research and further scholarship in the area. The student will gain an understanding of a range of research approaches including the case study, qualitative and quantitative methods, mixed methods approaches, linguistic and dyadic research and the applications of these methods to epidemiological, process and outcome research. The student will also develop and demonstrate critical thinking that considers philosophical approaches, analytic investigation and reflective practice in psychotherapy. The student will be able to describe the research cycle and its use in developing a research project. The student will apply the concepts to critical appraisal of journal articles and synthesise learning by proposing a research project. This unit provides the initial foundation for the treatise that students need to complete as part of their training in the Conversational Model of Psychotherapy. It will assist students from a wide range of disciplines who wish to conduct research on psychotherapy, mental health and trauma-informed care. Please note students will not be required to undertake a research project as part of this unit of study.
Unit details and rules
Managing faculty or University school:
Medicine and Health
| Study level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Academic unit | Brain and Mind Science |
| Credit points | 6 |
|
Prerequisites:
?
|
PSTY5201 and PSTY5202 or PSTY5203 |
|---|---|
|
Corequisites:
?
|
None |
| Prohibitions:
?
|
None |
| Assumed knowledge:
?
|
This unit assumes a working clinical knowledge of basic counselling and mental health, commensurate with a clinician having worked 2 or more years in a setting with general health counselling or mental health clients. |
At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:
- LO1. describe the purpose and goals of psychotherapy research
- LO2. understand contemporary issues in psychotherapy research e.g. psychotherapy effectiveness, evidence-based practice
- LO3. appreciate the history of psychotherapy research and implications for contemporary research practice eg., quantitative versus qualitative research, epistemological issues
- LO4. understand research designs and methods used in psychotherapy research
- LO5. identify the differences between quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods research
- LO6. analyse and critique published papers
- LO7. understand how to write a literature review
- LO8. understand the use of standardised measures in clinical and research contexts
- LO9. describe the ethical issues in conducting psychotherapy research
- LO10. appreciate the significance of practitioner-based psychotherapy research
- LO11. understand the research cycle and its application to the development of a research proposal
- LO12. describe the rationale, methods and techniques of qualitative research
- LO13. explain the purpose and use of the case study
- LO14. Develop a research proposal on a specific research question
Unit availability
This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.
The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.
| Session | MoA ? | Location | Outline ? |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Semester 1 2025
|
Online | Westmead, Sydney |
Outline unavailable
|
Find your current year census dates
Modes of attendance (MoA)
This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.
