RESEARCH EXPERIENCE IN PSYCHOLOGY
List of research opportunites in psychology.
Psychology is an empirical science. "Doing research" in psychology means asking questions about behavior, designing and running experiments and collecting data regarding those questions, analyzing and interpreting the results, and communicating these results to colleagues. Research is often thought of as the domain of the academic psychologist, but a good deal of research conducted in psychology is done in clinics, community health programs, the armed forces, industrial and corporate research units, etc.
The foundations of research skills should be established in the undergraduate years. Particularly if you anticipate going to graduate school in psychology or in other related professional areas, you should consider obtaining some firsthand experience in research while an undergraduate. Of course, much of the content of the various courses in the department is about research, and should provide you with a knowledge base for better understanding any research in which you do become active.
There are four levels at which you can learn research skills in the department. The first is through one of the focused laboratory courses and the other three are specialized, pass-fail courses which are set up on an individual basis and tailored to your interests.
Focused Laboratory courses. Each of the areas of the department offer laboratory courses designed to acquaint you with the methods and approach to research in a particular sub-field of psychology. You must take one of these courses as part of the requirements for the major. If possible, these courses should be taken by the end of the junior year if you wish to do a senior thesis, but since this is often difficult due to the high demand for these courses, strive to at least take them in the first semester of your senior year. The courses and titles were provided in the section, "Requirement for the Psychology Major".
Consult the Undergraduate Catalog for descriptions of these courses. The courses range from "hands-on" exposure to experimental and observational techniques, to interactive work with computers, to writing research reports about data collected in the lab. To find out when each course will be offered, check in the Catalog first, then double-check with a Psychology advisor because scheduling of courses sometimes changes during the year.
Each of these is described briefly in the following sections. More detailed information can be obtained from the Advisement Office in 135 PSY.
Individual research experience. In addition to regularly scheduled laboratory courses, you may gain individual experience working one-on-one with faculty and graduate students carrying out psychological research. This is done as part of one or more of the individual work courses in the department, PSY 3912 - Introduction to Research in Psychology, PSY 4905 - Individual Work, and PSY 4970 - Senior Thesis. Each of these courses is described in detail in the section below, "Individual Work in Psychology."
VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE IN PSYCHOLOGY
List of volunteer opportunities in psychology
Students interested in one of the applied fields in psychology, such as Clinical, Counseling, or School Psychology, are well served by gaining experience working with special needs populations. Work in this area might involve helping at-risk minority children with schoolwork and social skills training, assisting mentally ill patients with their transition to community living, tutoring adolescents who are incarcerated, working in a homeless shelter or in a hospital. In addition to gaining knowledge about the needs of a specific population, the student involved in such work learns invaluable lessons in such diverse areas as communications, networking and conflict mediation.
It is possible to gain clinical experience as part of your undergraduate degree in Psychology by enrolling in Community Work, PSY4949. Students who have completed a minimum of 12 hours of psychology coursework may register for this pass/fail course after arranging a volunteer work placement. The Psychology Advising Office maintains a list of pre-approved community work sites for students to contact to set up their placement. See a further description of this course in the section below, "Individual Work in Psychology."
INDIVIDUAL COURSEWORK IN PSYCHOLOGY
In addition to regularly scheduled courses, you can enroll in any of four individual-work courses on a pass-fail basis. Up to 9 of these hours will count toward the 36-hour minimum requirement. In each case, a faculty member or other approved professional serves as a supervisor of your activities. It is up to you to contact a supervisor and arrange to take these courses. Application forms can be obtained from PSY 114 or the Advisement Office in PSY 135. For more information about these courses, see an advisor.
In some cases you can arrange to participate in research under the supervision of a qualified professional who is not on the department faculty. Under these circumstances, the application must be approved by a department member who is familiar with the intended supervisor and his/her research qualifications. It is then the responsibility of the faculty member to turn in a grade to the department at the appropriate time at the end of the semester.
The three courses follow a rough sequence leading from the basic course (PSY 3912) through the execution of a senior thesis (PSY 4970). As you might expect, many more students are active in the initial course than in a formal senior thesis. It is highly recommended, however, that students considering graduate work in psychology take part in these activities, including the senior thesis. NOTE: Credit for these courses can't be awarded retroactively, so if you're about to become involved in an appropriate activity, look into the possibility of earning credit for it.
Introduction to Research in Psychology - PSY 3912
PSY 3912: Individual Study Registration Form
(Max 9 hours; 1-3 per semester.) Students participate in ongoing research in psychology, assisting in such phases as experimental design, data collection and analysis. It is intended for students with little direct laboratory experience. To enroll, you need only obtain the approval of a faculty supervisor. The application form is signed by the faculty member, and you can then turn it in to the departmental secretary, who will provide you with the section number of the course. In some cases it may be possible to work with a graduate student who has an ongoing research project. In such cases, however, you must also obtain approval from the student's faculty supervisor.
There are various ways to find out about opportunities for PSY 3912. The most direct way, of course, is to approach faculty members in your area of interest. Second, the Psychology Advising office posts a list of faculty currently seeking research assistants for this course across from the advising office (room 135 Psychology), and it is also posted on the "Research and Volunteer Experience should link to where we are posting research and volunteer now web page. Third, faculty members or graduate students seeking research assistants are asked to post notices on the bulletin board across from the advising office or on the bulletin board across from the water fountain near the Psychology office in 114 PSY. Finally, getting to know a faculty member or graduate TA through a course often provides the necessary contact and familiarity. Finally, the undergraduate psychology clubs have in the past kept records of which faculty members were making use of PSY 3912 students, and in what capacity.
If you wish to work on research with a member of the Clinical and Health Psychology faculty, you may also sign up for CLP3911 and receive credit toward you psychology major. However, HSC4905 may NOT be substituted for PSY3912 nor CLP3911, nor does it count toward your 36 hours in psychology. No exceptions!
Individual Work in Psychology: Special Topics - PSY 4905
PSY 4905: Individual Study Registration Form
(Max 4 hours; 1-3 per semester; prerequisite 12 semester hours of psychology.) Qualified students and the supervisor choose a particular problem for investigation from the various areas of psychology. Activities may include experimental research or directed reading study. In each case, you begin by arranging for the course with a supervisor. Applications are obtained in room 114 PSY. The application must include:
One common use of PSY 4905 is to develop a proposal for a senior thesis (see below). The semester's activities would then involve reading about a research area and, with the supervisor's help, formulating a particular project designed to investigate a problem. The PSY 4905 report, then, can form the basis of the proposal to be submitted as the start of a senior thesis.
PSY 4970: Senior Thesis Registration Form
(Maximum 6 hours, 1-3 per semester; prerequisite 12 semester hours of psychology.) Qualified students may enroll in Senior Thesis and conduct an individual experimental research project under the close supervision of a faculty member. At the end of the project, a formal report written according to the guidelines of the American Psychological Association is submitted to the faculty member for approval, and a copy submitted to the department. In certain cases the report may also be submitted for consideration for Departmental Honors (see below). In fact, to graduate with high or highest honors, a student must complete a senior thesis or its equivalent.
Prerequisites. The formal requirements are at least 24 hours of credit in psychology, and the approval of the faculty supervisor. Also, a formal proposal describing the intended project must be submitted to the supervisor and the Undergraduate Coordinator in order to register for the course. Details on the format of the proposal can be obtained in the Advisement Office (PSY 135). Senior theses are almost always conducted by students who have previously become involved in research through prior research courses and labs, and have become known well enough for a faculty member to be willing to invest a substantial amount of time in supervising the student. The commitment typically lasts at least two semesters.
The application for Senior Thesis is obtained from PSY 114 or PSY 135 or printed here Registration Form for Senior Thesis in Psychology. It must be approved by the supervisor, and submitted to the Undergraduate Coordinator with the proposal attached. The departmental secretary will then provide the section number needed.
Sample Senior Thesis
These sample senior theses are intended for undergraduate students who might be interested in conducting a senior thesis, PSY 4970. For students interested in taking PSY 4905 as a research oriented project, the Introduction and Method sections of these papers will be very similar to the paper that the student will turn in at the end of the semester.
Senior thesis #1 is a sample senior thesis completed in 2001 by student doing counseling research. (MS Word or Acrobat format)
Senior thesis #2 is a sample senior thesis completed in 2000 by student doing developmental research. (MS Word or Acrobat format)
Community Work in Psychology - PSY 4949
PSY 4949: Individual Study Registration Form
(Maximum 4 Cr., 1-3 per semester; prerequisite 12 hours of psychology coursework). PSY 4949 provides a way to gain practical experience as an undergraduate. You may earn credit hours through PSY 4949 for volunteer work or training in applied psychological settings. Approval for credit depends on both the agency's willingness to use students who are earning credit, and the Department's approval of the activity.
The guidelines for this experience require that for a regular 15 week semester, students earn one hour of credit for each three hours per week (for all 15 weeks) the student devotes to the agency. The student must volunteer this time. In other words, credit cannot be given if the student is a paid employee of the agency. The Psychology Department requires that the agency provided initial orientation and training, in-service training, supervision and monitoring, and that the agency be directed by competent professionals. It is possible to earn credit with agencies from other areas of the State of Florida, but extra arrangements need to be made with the site to complete a site approval form which can be obtained from the psychology advising office and must be reviewed and approved by the undergraduate coordinator.
More than a dozen agencies in the county work with majors on a regular basis through PSY 4949, and each semester we have three to four dozen students participating as volunteers. A current list of approved agencies, and brief descriptions of their programs, can be obtained from the Advisement Office, PSY 135 and is available on the Research and Volunteer Experience web pages.