Dissertation
Counselor educators’ experiences giving feedback on students’ reflective work: an interpretative phenomenological analysis
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Summer 2023
DOI: 10.25820/etd.007293
Abstract
The professional development process for counselors begins during their formal training and extends throughout their careers. Reflective thinking is closely connected with ongoing professional development. When counselors reflect on their experiences, they can generate new insights to shape future practice. Feedback is another important tool for fostering the development of counselors-in-training. Given the stated importance of reflective thinking for counselors and the frequent use of feedback to support student development, the field needs access to research addressing the interaction of these mechanisms of learning. Thus, the primary research question for this study is: How do counselor educators experience giving feedback on students’ reflective work? With additional insight into the role of feedback on students’ reflective work, counselor educators may be able to design reflective assignments, including approaches to feedback, in ways that best support students’ development.The purpose of this study was to generate an initial understanding of counselor educators’ experiences giving feedback on students’ reflective work. The study used the qualitative research paradigm of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to address this goal. The researcher recruited six participants who are experienced counselor educators, regularly assign reflective work in their classes, and give feedback on this work. Data sources included participant feedback on a mock sample of student reflective work, existing documents such as assignment descriptions and rubrics, and live interviews. In keeping with the idiographic approach that is fundamental to IPA, data analysis began with in-depth analysis and interpretation of individual cases. The researcher then moved to analysis and interpretation across cases, attending to both area of convergence and areas of divergence. Strategies to support trustworthiness included triangulation, reflexive journaling, expert review, conducting a pilot interview, member checking, engaging a peer debriefer, generating a thick description, and developing an audit trail.
The cross-case analysis and interpretation yielded three superordinate themes. In assigning and responding to reflective work, participants’ primary goal is to support students’ growth and development, particularly in the areas of reflective thinking, self-awareness, and taking ownership of learning. Participants described their feedback as relational in nature, reporting that feedback shapes their relationships with students and that these relationships shape their feedback. Additionally, participants indicated that when giving feedback on reflective work, they engage in a range of roles and responsibilities, including counselor, supervisor, and feedback recipient. Implications are provided for counselor educators, doctoral training programs, counseling students, and researchers. For counselor educators, these implications involve engaging in reflective practice themselves, making a plan for responding to reflective work, and communicating clearly with students when assigning and giving feedback on this work.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Counselor educators’ experiences giving feedback on students’ reflective work: an interpretative phenomenological analysis
- Creators
- Lindsay M. Woodbridge
- Contributors
- David K. Duys (Advisor)Laura L. Gallo (Advisor)Susannah M. Wood (Committee Member)Carolyn Colvin (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Counselor Education
- Date degree season
- Summer 2023
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- DOI
- 10.25820/etd.007293
- Number of pages
- xi, 284 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2023 Lindsay M. Woodbridge
- Language
- English
- Date submitted
- 05/17/2023
- Description illustrations
- illustration
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 246-255).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
Clients need counselors to do their best work. Counselors begin learning how to do good work when they are in graduate school. This learning continues throughout their careers. Reflection is a type of thinking that allows people to learn from their own experience. Many counseling programs try to teach students to be reflective thinkers. Counselor educators give feedback to help students learn. Some of the feedback is on assignments where students practice reflective thinking. Currently, little is known about what it is like for counselor educators to give feedback on reflective work. The purpose of this study was to better understand this experience.
Six experienced counselor educators signed up for the study. Each participant gave feedback on mock student journal entries. They also sat for one individual interview. The researcher first looked at data for each participant individually. Then the researcher looked at the data of all participants together. The researcher was especially interested in areas of overlap and areas of difference among the participants. The researcher found three primary areas of overlap. Participants give feedback to help their students learn and grow. The participants care about their relationships with students, and they think about those relationships when they give feedback. Finally, when participants give feedback, they draw on some of their other roles and responsibilities, such as counselor and someone who has received feedback themselves. The study closes with ideas for counselor educators and others. Some of the ideas are topics for future studies.
- Academic Unit
- Counselor Education
- Record Identifier
- 9984454187702771
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