Research Community

The Institute of Coaching has a mission of supporting high quality research in coaching and connecting researchers to exchange ideas, collaborate and plan joint research projects. We offer many opportunities and platforms for catalyzing connections and collaborations.

To connect with fellow researchers and identify their area of focus, visit our Membership site.

To access many resources, examples of published empirical and theoretical work in coaching visit the Resource database. It includes full text papers from Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research, and Practice, International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring, Leadership Quarterly, The Journal of Positive Psychology.

To view the research conducted by the Harnisch scholars, through grants from the Institute of Coaching, visit the Harnisch Researchers and Featured Research pages, as well as our Resource database which contains the final grant reports written by the scholars.

In 2015 we also started publishing a Research Digest, sponsored by Meyer-Campbell. The Research Digest features abstracts from selected, as well as links to papers when available, published in leading journals including Coaching: An International Journal of Theory, Research, and Practice, International Journal of Evidence-Based Coaching and Mentoring, Leadership Quarterly, The Journal of Positive Psychology and Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research (APA).  

Suggested Resources:

Kauffman, C: De-mystifying Research


 

Active Research Studies
 

RESEARCH STUDY: BEHAVIOURAL CONTRACTING IN GROUP COACHING

This study will be exploring group coaches’ experiences of contracting in group coaching, with a specific focus on behaviours / ’ground rules’ and other agreements with group members. To do this, focus groups will meet in February & March 2024 (dates TBC) for a single session (1.5 – 2 hours) on MS Teams. After sign-up participants are invited to complete an optional questionnaire about themselves and their practice.

This opportunity to connect with peers and share experiences will help to develop an understanding of the current practice of behavioural contracting in group coaching. This understanding will contribute to the professional coaching community, with the potential to be used in the development of consensus-defined standards of practice.

The study is inviting group coaches who have 50 or more hours of coaching experience with 5 or more coaching groups to participate. For the purposes of this study, coaching groups are defined as:

  • Small groups with participants who have not worked together as a team (minimal or no pre-existing relationships with one another)
  • Engaging together in the coaching group for a limited number of sessions
  • Leveraging group dynamics as an integral part of the work
  • The group has a theme or purpose, however Clients work on individual outcomes or goals within the group (there is no shared goal)
  • There is no (or minimal) psychoeducation on the part of the coach – the coach engages with the group primarily from the position of coach rather than educator
  • There is no mentoring component

For more information or to sign up to the study, please use this link https://uelpsych.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_5i4wfDQBzCrpH14 If you have any questions, please contact the researcher, Natalie Moult, at [email protected]

 

RESEARCH STUDY: ADHD COACHING FOR ADULTS

This study will be looking at outcomes of 12-sessions of a coaching engagement with adult clients (not college students) who have ADHD, as well as explore client perspectives on ADHD coaching. Coaches will recruit interested clients and will document the coaching process. Clients will complete surveys prior to the coaching and after the coaching engagement and will participate in a focus group or interview at the end of the engagement as well.

We are looking for coaches who meet the following criteria, and who would be willing to recruit new adult clients for participation:

  • Completed a minimum of 60 hours of coach-specific training
  • Completed a minimum of 25-35 hours ADHD-specific coach training
  • Have a minimum of 2 years of ADHD-specific coaching experience
  • Hold an International Coaching Federation credential (ACC, PCC, MCC)
  • Willing to recruit new adult client for the study
  • Are based in the United States

You can learn more about what this study would involve at the link here.

If you are interested in participating, or have questions, please contact the researchers Elizabeth Ahmann and Micah Saviet at adhdcoachingresearch@gmail.com.