Abstract: Counseling process-outcome research is used to investigate the effects of process variables. This research has been conducted in western countries for more than 5 decades, developed from exploring main process variables, verifying them, to probing into operation mechanisms of these variables. The research methods have developed from quantity, to quality, and the combination of these two, whereas each of them has been improved. Process-outcome research has just been launched in China. Various problems exist such as, narrow research scope, deficient local research, primitive methods usage, and etc. The purpose, the subject, as well as the reliability and validity should be considered while initiating such research.

Key words: counseling, process-outcome research, localization