ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some guideposts for reading research and summaries of research. Most psychotherapists want to have what they do in practice be consistent with the latest research. But how does one stay current with relevant findings? There is no central clearinghouse that evaluates clinically relevant research, disseminates key findings, and places research in context. Each clinician needs to become a good consumer of research. It is essential for psychotherapy to be informed by relevant research, but how is a practicing therapist to assess whether findings presented are solidly grounded and widely applicable? Most research is ultimately about a comparison between groups of subjects or between subjects before and after treatment and these comparisons is reported in statistical tests. In typical published research, a statistically significant effect is reported, but it still remains essential to understand how clinically meaningful the effect is. There are some criteria for judging research.
