AbstractThe information processing demands of planning and conducting psychotherapy and the types of information that clinicians value potentially can inform research that is likely to be useful to clinicians. Four approaches to conducting research on psychotherapy issues—technology transfer studies, quasi‐experimental single‐case designs, mental health services research, and case‐focused patient profiling—have the potential to inform the practicing therapist. These approaches generally are either treatment focused or patient focused, and can vary in their relevance to the individual case. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 58: 1265–1276, 2002.