ABSTRACT
The concept of countertransference is helpful to understand situations when something in the researcher is being stirred in the context of the research relationship. Research is an essential component of the counselling and psychotherapy core curriculum. Data analysis appeared however to bring up particularly strong feelings, sometimes of a countertransference level, where the childhood of the researchers comes into play. Social background, gender, nationality and prior emotional experiences are likely to impact the research in terms of creating 'lenses' for our world view, but attending to how that happens will also add to the findings. Group supervisions or research seminars play a significant role in throwing light on and adding new perspectives to the researcher's understanding. The fear of misinterpreting and misrepresenting people appears to be as strong in research as in clinical practice for most therapists.
