Counseling researchers have been faced with the ethical dilemma that they are responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of treatment with rigorous research design while simultaneously being responsible for providing clients with the best treatment....
Counseling researchers have been faced with the ethical dilemma that they are responsible for evaluating the effectiveness of treatment with rigorous research design while simultaneously being responsible for providing clients with the best treatment. That is, counseling researchers have recognized the necessity of control groups for valid conclusions about the effectiveness of treatment, but questioned about the use of no-treatment or placebo control groups because treatment is being withheld from clients. Counseling researchers
should be aware of this issue and conduct research which satisfies ethical principles related to clients' welfare and the demand of sound research methodology. In order to achieve this goal, the following solutions are suggested: the use of (1) single-subject design, (2) comparison of two or more treatment modalities, (3) component control comparison, and (4) no-treatment control or placebo groups with maximal client safeguards.