Doctoral counselor education programs are charged to develop effective researchers; however, limited investigations have examined research constructs in counselor educators-in-training. Therefore, this study will investigate a national sample of doctoral counselor education students’ levels of research self-efficacy (Research Self-Efficacy Scale; Greeley, et. al 1989), interest in research (Interest in Research Questionnaire; Bishop & Bieschke, 1994), and research mentoring (Research Mentoring Experiences Scale; Hollingsworth & Fassinger, 2002). A cross-sectional, correlational research design will be used to test if doctoral counselor education students’ year of preparation (1st, 2nd, or 3rd year) predicts their research self-efficacy, interest in research, and research mentoring scores. In addition, the study will investigate if doctoral students’ research practices, (e.g., publishing refereed journal articles, presenting papers at national conferences) correlates with their levels of the three research constructs. Limitations and implications for the study will be discussed.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between research self-efficacy (as measured by the Research Self-Efficacy Scale [Greeley et al., 1989]), perceptions of the research training environment (as measured by the Research Training Environment Scale --Revised [Gelso et al., 1996]), and interest in research (as measured by the Interest in Research Questionnaire [Bieschke & Bishop, 1994]) within a national sample of doctoral counselor education students (N = 89). Additionally, the study investigated whether there were differences between levels of research self-efficacy, perceptions of the research training environment, and interest in research in relation to the demographic characteristics (i.e., age, gender, race/ethnicity, scholarly productivity, reported professional aspirations, and number of doctoral-level research courses completed) of counselor education doctoral students. An ex-post facto, cross-sectional design was implemented which included the following statistical analyses: Pearson's correlation coefficients (two-tailed), simultaneous multiple regression, and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Findings identified that the demographic variables of age and doctoral-level research courses completed had a statistically significant effect upon perceptions of the research training environment. In addition, results suggested that scholarly activity had a statistically significant effect on research self-efficacy scores. Finally, interest in research was positively correlated with research self-efficacy scores. In summary, the study addressed the present void in the counselor education literature with regard to counselor education doctoral students' development in the areas of research self-efficacy, perceptions of the research training environment, and interest in research. In order to contribute to the counselor education literature and support doctoral student development, it is crucial that counselor education doctoral training programs provide an effective research training environment to foster and encourage student research. Recognizing and appreciating the influence of counselor education doctoral students' research self-efficacy, perceptions of the research training environment, and interest in research may not only be important for students, but is also necessary for counselor education doctoral preparation programs to continue to develop and prepare students for academic positions and success. Study findings may provide beneficial information to assist colleges and universities to develop and tailor polices to encourage and foster research amongst their doctoral counselor education students.

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