New ways of investigating coaching: linguistic research on executive, business and workplace coaching – a systematic scoping review

Systematic reviews are characterized by a methodical and replicable methodology and presentation. They involve a comprehensive search to locate all relevant published and unpublished work on a subject; a systematic integration of search results; and a critique of the extent, nature, and quality of evidence in relation to a particular research question. The best reviews synthesize studies to draw broad theoretical conclusions about what a literature means, linking theory to evidence and evidence to theory. This guide describes how to plan, conduct, organize, and present a systematic review of quantitative (meta-analysis) or qualitative (narrative review, meta-synthesis) information. We outline core standards and principles and describe commonly encountered problems. Although this guide targets psychological scientists, its high level of abstraction makes it potentially relevant to any subject area or discipline. We argue that systematic reviews are a key methodology for clarifying whether and how research findings replicate and for explaining possible inconsistencies, and we call for researchers to conduct systematic reviews to help elucidate whether there is a replication crisis. Show more

Change process research (CPR) is the study of the processes by which change occurs in psychotherapy and is a necessary complement to randomized clinical trials and other forms of efficacy research. In this article the author describes and evaluates four types of CPR. The first three are basic designs and include quantitative process-outcome, qualitative helpful factors, and microanalytic sequential process; the fourth, the significant events approach, refers to methods such as task analysis and comprehensive process analysis that integrate the first three. The strengths and weaknesses of each design are described and summarized using both causal and practical criteria as part of an overall argument for systematic methodological pluralism. Show more

This article focuses on the presentation of qualitative meta-analysis as a method for reviewing qualitative studies. Qualitative meta-analysis is an attempt to conduct a rigorous secondary qualitative analysis of primary qualitative findings. Its purpose*to provide a more comprehensive description of a phenomenon and an assessment of the influence of the method of investigation on findings*is discussed. The distinctive features of conducting meta-analysis approaches are presented. Several considerations important for conducting qualitative meta-analysis are also discussed. The author uses examples of the first experiences attempted with qualitative meta-analysis in the field of psychotherapy research. Show more