Anglo-North American qualitative counseling and psychotherapy research

Qualitative counseling and psychotherapy research produced in the United Kingdom and in Canada and the United States is examined. It is shown that the methods and methodologies in the British research have been influenced by postmodern epistemology more than in North American work, which reflects a greater effect of positivism. Correspondingly, it is shown that a higher value has been placed on methods in the latter region compared with the former. The differences are discussed in terms of the way the field of counseling has developed in the United Kingdom compared with the United States and Canada. Also discussed are the tensions between realism and relativism and, correspondingly, between positive valuing of method and skepticism. The article concludes with thoughts about the implications of qualitative research for the field of counseling and psychotherapy as a whole.