The first year APA held its Advanced Statistical Training in Psychology program, the undergraduate participants got so excited they nicknamed themselves the "Stats Campers" and the "Stats Geeks."
That's just the kind of response that makes quantitative psychologists happy. Concerned about the ever-shrinking number of students entering the subfield, they are creating special events designed to provide students at every level with encouragement and training that will prove useful no matter what area of psychology they eventually pursue.
Here are just a few examples:
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The Advanced Statistical Training in Psychology (ASTP) program is an advanced statistics seminar for undergraduates planning to get advanced degrees in psychological research. An intensive, nine-day program held in July, ASTP offers training in statistics and research methods, plus advice on getting into and making the most of grad school. The program targets students between their junior and senior years who are underrepresented in the field, such as minority students and first-generation college students.
"It's not just memorizing formulas and doing 'cookbooking,' which is what students often do in introductory stats classes," says ASTP organizer Brett Pelham, PhD, an associate psychology professor at the State University of New York at Buffalo. "The training makes them really think about data and learn skills they'll need to collect and understand their own data."
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The Society of Multivariate Experimental Psychology Minority Conference in Quantitative Psychology targets underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students interested in quantitative psychology.
"We would like to attract more women and minorities into quantitative psychology," says Lisa Harlow, PhD, president-elect of APA's Div. 5 (Evaluation, Measurement and Statistics) and a psychology professor at the University of Rhode Island. Held just before APA's Annual Convention, the multi-day conference consists of presentations on various aspects of quantitative psychology, opportunities for students to present their own research, career advice and social time that helps participants build a network of peers.
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The Postdoctoral Traineeship in Quantitative Methods at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign offers National Institute of Mental Health-funded training in quantitative methods for behavioral and social science. The training includes seminars on advanced methods plus opportunities for both methodological and applied research. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents who earned their doctorate no more than two years ago.
--R.A. CLAY