Research interest among counseling psychology doctoral students: A path analysis.

摘要

Counseling psychology professionals and graduate students demonstrate a lack of interest in research. In order to develop a clearer understanding of the variables which contribute to research interest, an examination of the multiple individual and situational variables previously shown to effect interest in research is necessary. Participants included 184 counseling psychology doctoral students; each completed the Vocational Preference Inventory-Form B, the Research Training Environment Scale, the Research Self-Efficacy Scale, the Interest in Research Questionnaire, and a demographic questionnaire.;Results of the factor analysis of the Research Training Environment Scale using principal-axis factoring and oblique rotation suggested a three factor solution was the best fit. The three factors were as follows: (a) mentoring (5 items); (b) faculty modeling (6 items); and (c) flexibility regarding research ideas (9 items). The subsequent path analysis indicated that a mentoring training environment, the Investigative Holland typology, and number of years in graduate school significantly predicted research self-efficacy. A mentoring training environment, the Investigative Holland typology, and research self-efficacy significantly predicted interest in research.