Journal of Counseling & Development ■ Fall 2005 ■ Volume 83 488 Although there are more than 79,000 licensed professional counselors currently practicing in the United States, this figure is small when one considers there are 5 times this number of counselors practicing in the United States. De- spite the large number of practicing counselors, it is cur- rently unclear as to the following: • Who are professional counselors? • How have professional counselors been trained? • Where do professional counselors work? • Who are the clients that professional counselors serve? • What services do professional counselors provide? • What are the effects/outcomes of the counseling services? At first glance, the above questions seem simple; however, in reality, they are complex questions that are not easy to answer. One of the problems in characterizing professional counselors is that counselors work in a wide variety of settings in unique and profound ways (Engels & Bradley, 2001). For example, professional counseling occurs in such settings as agencies, clinics, hospitals, private practice of- fices, K–12 schools, business and industrial settings, and college campuses. The problem of characterizing the pro- fessional counselor is made even more difficult because of variations in specializations, theoretical orientations, and postdegree professional development. Despite the com- plexity in answering the aforementioned six questions, they must be answered. In an era of increased accountability, researchers have pointed out that counselors and clients have an interest in knowing what “works” (Lambert, 2001; Lambert, Hansen, & Finch, 2001; Lambert et al., 2002; Lueger et al., 2001; Sex- ton, 2001; Whipple et al., 2003). Stated slightly differently, the question of the efficacy of counseling must be answered on the basis of research. Beyond that, counselors have a moral and ethical responsibility to know whether counsel- ing is promoting the welfare of clients or harming clients (Heppner, Kivlighan, & Wampold, 1999; Lambert & Cattani- Thompson, 1996). Similarly, Gall, Borg, and Gall (1996) concluded that research (e.g., counseling research) must be able to describe the phenomenon and predict its conse- quences. Hood and Johnson (1997) provided credence for evidence-based research when they posited, “counselors need to evaluate the effectiveness of their counseling en- deavors” (p. 7). Research that can answer the six questions listed earlier is vital to the American Counseling Associa- tion (ACA) in its quest to inform the general public and legislators not only about who counselors are and what coun- selors do but also why this research is vital in substantiating the claim that “counseling works.” Without additional current and ongoing research data, ACA and the counseling profession are seriously hampered when they discuss counseling outcomes. Without a sound, dynamic research base that better articulates the characteris- tics of practicing counselors, their respective practices, and counseling outcomes, professional counseling is unlikely to be competitive in the contemporary environment of in- creased accountability, managed care, and research-based practices (Sexton, Whiston, Bleuer, & Walz, 1997). Given the need for information about professional counseling, the American Counseling Association Practice Research Net- work (ACA-PRN) was established. The purpose of this article is to describe the ACA-PRN. Specifically in this article, we not only describe the makeup of the ACA-PRN, but, more important, we describe how the ACA-PRN offers a new research model designed to provide a better link between practice and research among counseling professionals. Loretta J. Bradley, Counselor Education Department, Texas Tech University; Thomas L. Sexton, Counselor Education Department, Indiana University; Howard B. Smith, Professional Affairs, American Counseling Association. Howard B. Smith is now in the College of Education and Counseling, South Dakota State University. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Loretta J. Bradley, Counselor Education, Texas Tech University, COE Box 41071, Lubbock, TX 79424 (e-mail: loretta.bradley@ttu.edu). The American Counseling Association Practice Research Network (ACA-PRN): A New Research Tool Loretta J. Bradley, Thomas L. Sexton, and Howard B. Smith In an era of increasing accountability, there is a need to provide data on counseling outcomes. That is, there is a need to substantiate the claim that counseling works. This article describes the American Counseling Association Practice Research Network (ACA-PRN), which is designed to provide data on evidence-based counseling. © 2005 by the American Counseling Association. All rights reserved. pp. 488–491