Guidelines for clinicians considering family therapy research

This paper is written by clinicians for clinicians who are thinking about or planning to evaluate family therapy. The basic premise is that to be successful a research project must be built from the beginning on a very solid foundation. This foundation is built from a careful consideration of various research problems which are interrelated yet which can be solved when addressed in a particular sequence. The paper describes eight stages which must be followed in any research project. The authors illustrate these stages with examples from their own experience with a family therapy process research study lasting five years. This project did not produce reliable results, but the authors learnt important lessons about such things as the way a particular theory may lead a researcher to select data which cannot be reliably observed; and the way in which practical constraints can erode the reliability of the outcome. Discussion of why and where the project went wrong offers direction and warnings for the prospective clinician/researcher.