dimension is that of massage therapists refining their research skills to the 7 Research Competencies 7 point of being able to contribute in an active fashion to the research literature as part of a multidisciplinary research team. Dimension 43Learning Activities for Enhancing MTRCs This third dimension among eight centers on those learning activities most appropriate for enhancing MTRCs (see Table 4). The practice of actually conducting and evaluating professional literature searches is foundational to developing research competency in any profession or discipline. Essential to this activityand actually building on it is that of critiquing published massage therapy research documents in accordance with well-established criteria. These two foundational learning activities, in turn, make possible two additional activities at a more advanced level; viz., authoring a massage therapy proposal and participating in the implementation of a research study as a member of a professionally diversified team. Dimension 44Print, Electronic, & Personnel Resources for Promoting MTRCs The fourth dimension essential to advancing MTRCs pertains to those print, electronic, and human resources appropriate to scientific inquiry within our profession. The elements listed here in Table 5 are fairly apparent; however, their acknowledgment certainly cannot hurt and does serve as a reminder of the vast array of resourcesmaterial and humanto which we can appeal .Of special note in this dimension are several books that focus on the research process applied to the health sciences in general and/or manual therapies in particular. These resources might provide a starting point as we begin the complicated process of determining content coverage, instructional context, and learning activities most appropriate to both pre-service and in-service therapists. Although somewhat of a "sampler" at this point, these resources meriting our attention are the following: Domholdt's (2000) Physical Therapy Research; Helewa and Walker's (2000) Critical Evaluation of Research in Physical Rehabilitation; Hicks' (1999) Research Methods for Clinical Therapists; Jenkins, Price, Straker, and Twomey's (1998) The Research Competencies 8 Researching Therapist; Kazdin's (1998) Methodological Issues and Strategies in Clinical Research; and Polzar and Thomas' (2000) Introduction to Research in the Health Sciences. Dimension #5Types of Massage Therapy Research Documents Dimension #5 specifies those varied types of massage therapy research documents that constitute the range of professional literature essential to promoting MTRCs (see Table 6). An obvious starting point is a genre of reference materials known as preliminary sources (e.g., Medline, PsycInfo, Sociological Abstracts, and the newly-launched AMTA Foundation's Massage Therapy Research Database) that are accessible via on-line computer searches employing descriptor terms leading to bibliographic citations and accompanying abstracts. Empirical research reports, typically in the form of journal articles, provide both quantitative and qualitative analyses of research questions that have been operationalized and investigated via established scientific procedures ensuring both validity and reliability. Theoretical/conceptual works often represent a synthesis of earlier empirical studies in terms of explanatory themes and, in turn, provide a rationale for continued empirical research. Finally, state-of-the-art literature reviews provide an exhaustive coverage of both empirical and theoretical/conceptual studies in an attempt to synthesize past and current work in a given area of inquiry. Dimension #6Potential Research Strategies The sixth dimension considered here is that of potential research strategies that may be used depending primarily on the nature of one's research question (see Table 7). A differenceoriented research strategy in its most basic form investigates the relationship between an independent variable (e.g, some form of treatment intervention) and a dependent variable (e.g., some outcome measure of interest), with its methodological options including true experimental, quasi-experimental, and ex post facto. The association-oriented research strategy employs methods typically labeled as correlational studies and predictive studies, each of which may function as a prelude to a difference-oriented study. The descriptive-oriented research strategy is Research Competencies 9 frequently the initial focus in an evolving research problem area and spans such methods as the following: case studies, observational studies, surveys, archival research, and content analyses. The complete array of research strategies, then, is available and should be reflective of the type of research question being investigated. Dimension #7Potential Areas of Inquiry in Massage Therapy Research The seventh dimension speaks to that vast array of potential areas of inquiry for massage therapy researchers. The recent works of Cassidy (1998/1999), Freeman (2001), and Kahn (2001a, 2001b) provide the backdrop for those varied areas listed in Table 8. Priority areas of safety and efficacy studies, along with primary and secondary prevention studies from both pathogenic and salutogenic (wellness) models, define to a large extent where we have been and where we need to expand. Inherent in each of