Students usually get pretty good guidance on which courses they need to complete to fulfill their major and graduation requirements. Course catalogues detail the general curricular path and advisors are typically available to help students build their semester schedules.
But coursework is only one piece of the career preparation puzzle. Both employers and graduate programs highly value the real-world training students get when they take advantage of experiential learning opportunities like internships and research assistantships. Unfortunately, the path into these experiences can be challenging to navigate. The goal of this article is to provide you with a roadmap to help you get started on this journey.
Why is research experience valuable?
Research experience can help you:
- hone the skills that all employers seek in college graduates such as the ability to work effectively in teams, engage in critical thinking, and analyze and interpret data (Finley, 2021)
- delve more deeply into the areas within psychology that interest you the most
- cultivate a closer relationship with your professors and gain mentorship
- prepare for a job after graduation as a social science research assistant
- bolster your competitiveness as an applicant for graduate school in psychology or other STEM fields
Psychology alumni who gain research experience during college rate themselves higher on the skills needed to succeed in the job market, perceive their psychology training to be more useful to them in their current job, and report more satisfaction with their undergraduate education than those without research experience, regardless of the career path they follow (Budesheim et al., 2021).
What is research experience?
What students actually do when they gain “research experience” can vary widely depending on the nature and setting of the experience.
From start to finish, the psychology research projects you learn about in your classes involve a lot of complex steps, completed by a team of researchers, over a period of time that can last several years.
Some of those steps can include:
- conducting a literature review to identify what we already know about a particular psychological phenomenon
- identifying a knowledge gap that a new research project can fill
- designing a study – choosing the participants, methods, and measures
- considering ethical issues related to designing, conducting, and reporting on research
- applying for approval from the Institutional Review Board
- conducting the study, collecting data, etc.
- coding, managing, and analyzing data
- preparing posters and/or manuscripts to share the results with others
- presenting at local, regional, or national conferences
Contributing to ongoing research as a team member.
Most students gain research experience by joining a team that is already in the process of conducting a research study and helping out with one or more of these steps. For example, you might spend a semester helping to run participants through a research study. Or devote part of your summer to coding data that has already been collected. If you join a team at the start of a project, you might be asked to find, read, and summarize research articles that could stimulate the design of a new study. And if your research team is busy juggling multiple projects at one time, you might get the chance to do a little bit of all of the above on different projects.
Designing and conducting your own research project.
Working on specific tasks as one member of a research team is a valuable way to learn more about the field, hone your skills, and gain mentorship. But it is not always what students envision when they imagine gaining research experience. Some students hope to design and conduct their own independent research project. Although that is certainly possible, it can be extremely time intensive, and it requires finding a faculty member or researcher who is willing to provide intensive supervision. Students who’ve developed research skills earlier in their academic journey by working with teams will be better prepared to take on this challenge. At many institutions, these opportunities are only available to students who are approved to complete an undergraduate thesis and there may be GPA or other requirements.
Deepening your research experience.
Although it can be rewarding to design and conduct one’s own research project, there are definitely other paths one can follow to deepen their research experience. For example, many students who work on research teams get the opportunity to present a piece of their work at a local, regional, or national conference. Some get the opportunity to contribute to a paper that is published in an academic journal. Authorship on presentations and papers can definitely bolster the application of those looking to pursue a graduate degree in psychology.
How do I find a research experience and get started on this journey?
- Take coursework early. Ideally, you should consider completing coursework in research methods and statistics as early as you can in your program of study. Taking these classes early will prepare you to take advantage of opportunities to gain research experience within your college or university.
- Find out about opportunities within your institution. You can always volunteer to work on a faculty members’ research team, but many departments also offer research experience for academic credit. Check your program manual and ask your academic advisor about research opportunities within your program. Use these resources to figure out if your program offers students the opportunity to conduct a thesis (and if so, if there are any GPA or other eligibility criteria).
- Use your research skills to find a potential research mentor. Faculty members often have webpages where they describe their research interests and current projects. Once you identify a few faculty members doing research in an area that interests you, reach out and ask if you can set up a meeting or drop in to their office hours to learn more about their research.
- Demonstrate your initiative, commitment, and skill by being well-prepared for your meeting. Invest the necessary time into learning about a faculty member’s research before you meet with them. Read their webpage carefully and use PsycInfo to find and review a few of their recent publications. Take notes on what you learn and prepare a set of questions.
- Don’t start the meeting by asking, “Tell me about your research.”
- Do start the meeting by saying something like “I was fascinated by the paper you recently published on XX, especially the finding that XXXX, and I was wondering if you were working on a follow-up to that study.”
- Look for research opportunities outside of your institution. Researchers work in a variety of settings including academic institutions, medical centers, research institutes, community-based organizations, and in private industry. Look for opportunities to volunteer, complete an internship, or find a part or full-time paid position in these settings. Some of these opportunities are advertised on the APA webpage, but it can also be helpful to go directly to an organization’s website to search for employment listings. For example, research positions with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs can be found at the USA Jobs Website.opens in new window Exploring the employment websites of large research-oriented medical centers such as Massachusetts General Hospitalopens in new window, the Mayo Clinicopens in new window or John’s Hopkinsopens in new window can yield research opportunities. Keep in mind that you will be more competitive for these external experiences if you first gain research experience at your institution.
Although I recommend this path into research for psychology majors who are just starting their journey, there are many roads that lead to research experience. So, if you are a senior or recent graduate who is just now looking for research experience, don’t be discouraged. It is definitely possible to enter the research experience pathways at different points in the journey, although you may need to put in some extra work to secure a position. For example, if you are struggling to secure a paid research position, you might consider looking for volunteer opportunities. Reach out to faculty members from your undergraduate institution, as well as researchers in your local community to express your interest and ask for help.
References
Finley, A. (2021). How College Contributes" to" Workforce Success: Employer Views on What Matters Most. Association of American Colleges and Universities.
Budesheim, T. L., Khanna, M. M., Klanecky Earl, A. K., & Guenther, C. L. (2021). The Long-Term Impact of Undergraduate Internships and Research Experiences in Psychology: An Alumni Survey Study. Teaching of Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/009862832110410opens in new window
About the author:
Susan (Sue) Orsillo is the Senior Director of Psychology Education and Training in the APA Center for Education in Psychology. Her work is focused on advancing psychology in secondary schools, community colleges and undergraduate programs by providing information, linkages, resources, funding and professional development to faculty, students and the general public. As someone who taught, supervised, and mentored undergraduate students, doctoral students in clinical psychology, interns, and postdoctoral fellows for close to 25 years, Sue is deeply interested in, and committed to, supporting psychology majors in their career exploration and professional development. In her previous position at Suffolk University, she developed and taught a course aimed at helping students reflect on their skills and interests, identify potential career paths, develop plans to gain the experience needed to pursue their chosen career, and cultivate networking and interviewing skills.
Sue is also a licensed clinical psychologist, whose clinical research focuses how acceptance-based behavioral therapy–informed strategies can help buffer against contextual stressors, build resilience, improve psychosocial functioning, and enhance quality of life among students and individuals struggling with anxiety and related disorders.
