Identifying and Using Secondary Datasets to Answer Policy Questions Related to School-Based Counseling: A Step-by-Step Guide

This chapter expands knowledge of national secondary datasets with the aim of increasing policy relevant research related to school-based counseling. A brief review of benefits and challenges of national and international secondary datasets is provided. A six-step research process (i.e., gaining access to the data, becoming familiar with and evaluating the data, preparing the data for analysis, conducting appropriate analyses, interpreting results and examining policy implications, and describing the limitations of the study/data) is presented as a step-by-step guide to conducting research studies with these national and international secondary datasets. Potential policy relevant research questions pertinent to school-based counseling are discussed.