Mixed Research Models for the Evaluation of Clinical Change in Psychotherapy

ROUSSOS, ANDRES

Qualitative Research in Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy in Latin America

Springer

Lugar: Cham; Año: 2025; p. 299 - 313

This paper is derived from a talk in 2023 at the CEPPS, Center for Studies in Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, with the Latin American Chapter of the Society for Psychotherapy Research and the doctoral program in Psychology at the Diego Portales University.Using mixed models concerning the study of processes and outcomes in psycho- therapy is a methodological strategy that combines quantitative and qualitative methods consistently and with a holistic vision.Throughout psychotherapy research, there have been and still are researchers and methodologies who consider qualitative and quantitative methodologies as mutually exclusive. They argue that both methods respond to opposing epistemo- logical positions and that, ultimately, they address different objects of study, so their integration results in methodological and conceptual error. However, many research- ers and methodologists have proposed alternative visions, seeking to articulate both methods coherently and respectfully, integrating their epistemological and method- ological principles to enrich knowledge in the field, in this case, psychotherapy.Carrying out research following the premises of both models is not easy, as it is not simply a matter of superimposing work methodologies and data collection or analysis techniques from both positions but also articulating them coherently with- out either overwhelming or distorting the vision of the other. This is the challenge that anyone who intends to use mixed research models must face: not only under- standing the form of methodological integration but also the fundamental limits of integration and understanding of the information that is made from the confluence of these two methods.