Southern Methodist University Training Psychologists to Integrate Research Paper paper must be typed neatly and contain no misspelled words, typos, or gram

Southern Methodist University Training Psychologists to Integrate Research Paper paper must be typed neatly and contain no misspelled words, typos, or grammatical errors. Assignments must be double-spaced (no extra spaces/lines between paragraphs) using 1″ margins, use New Times Roman font (12 cpi). Number the pages on the top right please. Start on Page 1 – no need for a title page. Be sure your name, date, and the title of the assignment are on your work. If your assignment is shorter than 4 entire pages, it is too short, and points will be deducted). Canadian Psychology / Psychologie canadienne
ISSN: 0708-5591
© 2019 Canadian Psychological Association
2019, Vol. 60, No. 4, 242–246
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/cap0000195
Training Psychologists to Integrate Basic, Applied, and Evaluation
Research: In Pursuit of Meaningful Contributions
Stewart I. Donaldson
Claremont Graduate University
As many as 80% of psychology doctoral students being trained in Canadian universities will pursue
careers beyond traditional tenure-track faculty careers. However, most research focused doctoral
training programs in psychology primarily prepare students to conduct basic research in a way that
will increase their chances of obtaining a tenure-track faculty position and eventually earning tenure.
This paper describes an established psychology graduate training approach that prepares students to
apply the science of psychology in both applied research and academic careers. Faculty in Canadian
Psychology Departments are encouraged to think about how they might add at least some of the
components of this approach to meet the needs of the changing graduate student population in
Canada and to empower the next generation of Canadian research psychologists to purposely focus
on using psychological science to promote social betterment in pursuit of meaningful career
contributions.
Public Significance Statement
This paper describes a successful graduate training approach for psychology students as a model
for addressing pressing needs in Canadian universities. This approach is designed to facilitate the
development of psychology graduate students for engaging and meaningful careers applying the
science of psychology in both applied research and academic careers.
Keywords: graduate education, careers in psychology, applied research, evaluation research
being seen in other countries throughout the world including the
United States (Donaldson, 2019; Donaldson & Berger, 2006).
Despite the scarcity of tenure track academic jobs and the fact that
the majority of psychology graduate students prefer to seek meaning and purpose in applied research-oriented careers, many universities have nonetheless doubled down on training their doctorate students mainly for academic jobs and careers (Naylor, 2019).
The purpose of this paper is to describe a somewhat unique
graduate training approach that has been in operation for more than
50 years. This approach is designed to facilitate the development
of psychology graduate students for engaging and meaningful
careers applying the science of psychology in both applied research and academic careers (see American Psychological Association, 2019; Donaldson, Berger, & Pezdek, 2006; Donaldson,
Csikszentmihalyi, & Nakamura, 2011; Neff & Donaldson, 2012).
“Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of
meaning and purpose.”
—Victor Frankl
It has recently been reported that the vast majority of research
psychologists being trained in Canadian universities no longer
desire or will obtain traditional tenure-track professor positions
throughout their careers. Some estimates are that this number has
risen above 80% in recent years (Naylor, 2019). The same trend is
Editor’s Note. This article received an editorial review by Vina Goghari.—VG
The graduate programs and portfolio-planning process described in this
paper were designed and redesigned collaboratively over time by the
graduate faculty in psychology at Claremont Graduate University. A more
full description and supporting documentation can be found on the psychology department website: https://www.cgu.edu/. The information provided about alumni is public information and more details can be found on
their professional and personal websites.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Stewart I.
Donaldson, Department of Psychology, Claremont Graduate University,
123 East 8th Street, Claremont, CA 91711. E-mail: stewart.donaldson@
cgu.edu
The Claremont Experience
The Claremont colleges are a consortium of seven highly selective institutions of higher education located in Claremont, California. They comprise five undergraduate colleges—Pomona College, Scripps, Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd
College, and Pitzer College—and two graduate schools—Claremont Graduate University and Keck Graduate Institute. The con242
TRAINING PSYCHOLOGISTS TO MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS
sortium was founded in 1925 by Pomona College President James
A. Blaisdell, who proposed a collegiate university design inspired
by Oxford University. He sought to provide the specialization,
flexibility, and personal attention commonly found in small colleges but with the resources of a large university. Today the
consortium has approximately 7,700 students and 3,600 faculty
and staff and offers more than 2,000 courses every semester.
The graduate programs in psychology are housed at the
Claremont Graduate University, but psychologists from across
the consortium participate in graduate training. In the 1970s,
with much input from potential employers and successful
alumni working in applied settings, the traditional graduate
psychology programs were redesigned to prepare students for a
broader range of careers options focused on making meaningful
contributions in society. The overall mission of the psychology
doctoral program at Claremont Graduate University is to teach
graduates how to conduct high-quality basic, applied, and evaluation research and to provide graduate students with experiences integrating all three focused on preventing and/or ameliorating a wide range of social, health, and organizational
problems in societies across the globe. This mission is accomplished by providing coursework and requiring the completion
of a doctoral portfolio focused on developing expertise in one or
more of the following current concentration areas:
• Positive organizational psychology
• Positive developmental psychology
• Organizational behavior
• Evaluation and applied research methods
• Basic and applied social psychology
• Applied cognitive psychology
A more detailed description of the concentrations listed above
can be found on the Claremont Graduate University website (https://
www.cgu.edu/).
tailored to prepare them well for the pursuit of their most highly
valued career aspirations.
All doctoral students are required to develop a detailed DPP
during the first 2 years of their doctoral study. The student’s
academic advisor typically selects a committee of two faculty
members who along with the student will convene a program
planning and portfolio qualifying meeting. The adviser will ordinarily chair this committee. The purpose of this meeting is to (a)
aid the student in defining his or her specialization area, (b) ensure
that the student is advancing satisfactorily in each of the domains
of preparation outlined below, (c) formalize an appropriate portfolio for the student, and (d) for students with prior graduate work
elsewhere, evaluate the student’s transcript to determine which
courses will be accepted for transfer credit on the basis of relevance to the student’s area of specialization.
In developing the DPP and selecting related core courses and
research tools, the following domains should be represented:
1.
Mastery of field of specialization—Students should take
the core courses as well as topics courses necessary for
mastery of their field of specialization; relevant coursework outside psychology should be considered and any
research or methods courses necessary to support the
designated specialty area. As necessary, portfolio items
should be selected to require such mastery.
2.
Breadth of preparation—Students should take content
courses as well as methodology courses outside their
program of specialization to enhance the breadth of their
knowledge base.
3.
Integration—Each student must include in her/his portfolio at least one item that requires integration of information in the area of specialization; this may be a review
paper, a meta-analysis, a theoretical integration, or some
other written project that accomplishes this goal.
4.
Research productivity–The portfolio should include one
or more samples of research appropriate to the specialization area (e.g., MA thesis, publishable paper, technical
report, etc.).
5.
Practical experience—The portfolio should include at
least one item representing practical experience relevant
to the student’s career goals.
Doctoral Coursework
Psychology doctoral students are required to complete 72 units
of graduate coursework. Most courses are either 3 hr once a week
for 7 weeks (2 units) or 3 hr once a week for 14 weeks (4 units).
The majority of this coursework is expected to be completed at the
Claremont Colleges, but up to 24 units of approved graduate
courses from other colleges and university may be transferred
toward the PhD coursework requirement. All doctoral students are
required to take at least 20 units in statistics and research methodology and approximately 40 units of core courses and related
electives in their concentration area, complete a field or teaching
internship and a transdisciplinary core course, pass an oral qualifying exam, and complete a doctoral portfolio (described in more
detail below) and a doctoral dissertation. Some students also
choose a co-concentration (similar to a minor), which requires
coursework and related items to be included in their doctoral
portfolio plan (DPP).
Doctoral Portfolio Plan
One hallmark of the psychology doctoral training program at
Claremont Graduate University is the DPP. This seems to help
students seriously reflect about their strengths and interests and to
use this reflective practice to design a course of graduate study
243
Students with career goals in academia must include the experience of teaching at least one college course, preferably on their
own; these students should also have as portfolio items at least one
research report submitted for publication (preferably with the
student as Stewart I. Donaldson) in addition to the MA thesis
research.
Students with career goals in nonacademic settings must include
a field placement or work experience relevant to their area of
specialization; these students should also consider as portfolio
items an additional research tool and/or additional methodology
courses that are utilized in their field of specialization as well as a
grant proposal and/or technical report of the nature utilized in the
field of interest.
DONALDSON
244
Contents of the DPP
The DPP is expected to represent a cohesive set of experiences
that balance the student’s training in their field of specialization. It
is the student’s task to prepare the DPP proposal to be given to
each committee member at the time of the meeting. The DPP
proposal should be discussed with the student’s adviser prior to the
meeting. Sample proposals are available in the Psychology Office.
The DPP proposal will represent the domains of preparation outlined above and include:
(a)
A title and description of the proposed area of specialization
(b)
Specification of proposed core courses and research
tools (a copy of research tool requirements is available
in the Psychology Office)
(c)
A brief statement of career goals and possible job activities
(d)
Identification of skills appropriate to these goals and
specialization
(e)
A proposed set of at least six portfolio items with a brief
description and the proposed completion date for each
(f)
A current vita.
Procedure for Entering Items in the DPP
Each student’s DPP must contain at least six items, each of
which is relevant to the student’s area of specialization. It is
expected that each item approximates the work effort required in
4 – 8 units of graduate coursework. The following list illustrates,
but does not exhaustively define, appropriate types of items:
(a)
MA thesis
(b)
Research article submitted for publication
(c)
Formal oral presentation at a professional meeting
(d)
Research or technical report
(e)
Research or grant proposal
(f)
Review paper
(g)
Teaching experience
(h)
Internship or field placement
(i)
Relevant job experience
(j)
Eight or more units of nonrequired methodology
(k)
Relevant nonrequired two sequence outside psychology
(l)
A cohesive series professional development workshops
from an accredited institution.
Each item will first be submitted to the adviser who will determine its relevance for the DPP and the need for additional readers.
Items such as research reports, grant proposals, and review papers
will be reviewed by a second reader as well before being added to
the DPP.
An item will be signed off on the DPP if the adviser determines
that it meets the specifications of the plan and, for items with two
readers, if:
(a)
Both readers approve it or
(b)
One reader approves and one disapproves. In this case
the item will be entered in the portfolio at the student’s
option with a copy of the review from the dissenting
reader
(c)
An item disapproved by both readers may be revised
only once and resubmitted; no item will be reviewed
more than twice by each reader
(d)
If one item is disapproved by both readers or if more
than one item is disapproved by one reader, the committee chairperson will reconvene the committee to review the student’s overall progress and determine what
action should be taken
(e)
Appropriate documentation of each portfolio item, as
specified by the committee, will be filed in the department office and available for inspection by the faculty
until after the student’s advancement to candidacy for
the PhD. The final DPP, signature sheets, and an updated copy of the student’s vita will be kept in department files permanently.
Changing the DPP
The student may request a change in the DPP by submitting in
writing to the committee a detailed description of the proposed
changes along with a rationale for these changes. The students
should sign the proposed change and provide a space for approval
signatures of the portfolio committee. To become effective, the
proposed changes in the plan must be endorsed by all committee
members. The student’s adviser will determine whether the committee should reconvene to consider the proposed changes. With a
specific written rationale, the student or any committee member
may request changes in the committee membership. Any proposed
changes will be decided by a majority vote of the committee.
The Final Steps
Once a student completes all the required coursework and
requirements of the DPP, he or she is eligible to schedule an oral
qualifying exam. Upon the successful completion of the oral
qualifying exam, the student is eligible to propose a dissertation
topic to three faculty members. Upon approval of the dissertation
proposal, the student is advanced to candidacy (all but dissertation)
and is given approval to complete and then orally defend the
doctoral dissertation.
At the end of this doctoral training experience, most students
report having strong basic, applied, and evaluation research skills
TRAINING PSYCHOLOGISTS TO MAKE CONTRIBUTIONS
that they can applied in either an applied research or academic
career. Of particular importance seems to be their training to build
and manage data sets as well as strong analytic and statistical skills
necessary for answering basic, applied, or evaluation research
questions. The DPP appears to help them develop a wide range of
job-related practical skills outside what they learn in the classroom, which serves them well when they are on the job market and
throughout their research careers.
A Sample of Alumni in Meaningful Careers
After implementing this curriculum for close to 5 decades, we
have been able to observe the career paths of more than a thousand
alumni. These observations have revealed there are at least five
common career paths: (a) academic careers within psychology, (b)
academic careers in other disciplines, (c) applied research and
evaluation careers, (d) consulting careers, and (e) careers that
evolve into various types of leadership positions. Many examples
of the careers of research psychologists who have been trained at
Claremont are described by Donaldson et al., 2006. A few illustrative examples for each of the five categories are provided below.
Academic careers in psychology. Elisa Grant-Vallone (1998),
Robert McKenna (1998), and former U.S. Olympian Lacy BarnesMileham (2009) developed their careers within psychology departments. However, all of them have also risen into academic leadership positions. Dr. Grant-Vallone is currently professor of
psychology and chair of the psychology department at California
State University, San Marcos, California. Dr. Robert McKenna is
currently professor of psychology and chair of the industrial/
organizational program at Seattle Pacific University. In addition,
Dr. Lacy Barnes-Mileham is professor of psychology at Reedly
College in California and president at the State Center Federation
of Teachers in Fresno, California.
Academic careers in fields other than psychology. The Claremont approach of integrating basic, applied, and evaluation
research provides students with the skills to work across disciplinary boundaries and often inspires students to pursue real-world
problems that are multidisciplinary or transdisciplinary in nature.
Many of our alumni who pursue academic careers find themselves
thriving in departments other than psychology departments. David
B. Wilson (1993), Ellen Ensher (1998), and Bianca MontroseMoorehouse (2009) have developed their careers in fields outside
but related to psychology. Dr. David B. Wilson is currently professor and chair of the Criminology, Law, and Society Department
at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Dr. Ellen Ensher
is currently Professor of Management at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. Dr. Bianca MontroseMoorehead is currently Associate Professor of Research Methods,
Measurement, and Evaluation at the University of Connecticut,
Hartford, Connecticut.
Applied research and evaluation careers. Many of our students pursue careers that involve conducting research and/or evaluation in a wide variety of real-world settings. It is estimated that
as many as 75% of our current doctoral students will seek careers
in this category. Dr. Katrina Bledsoe (2003) is principal research
consultant at the Education Development Center in Washington,
D.C. Dr. Shabnam Ozati (2012) is Director of User Experience
Research at Google in San Mateo, California. In addition, one of
our recent graduates, Sara Mason (2018), was hired last year to
245
conduct research and evaluation, and to help develop a research
and evaluation center at the University of Mississippi in Oxford,
Mississippi.
Consulting careers. One of the most popular career paths in
recent years involves providing a wide range of research, applied
measurement, and evaluation consulting services. Dr. Chrismon
Nofsinger (2001) specializes in leadership advising and training
using applied research and evaluation at the Nofsinger Consulting
Group in Seattle, Washington. Dr. Rena Yi is a people analytics
consultant at LinkedIn in San Francisco, California. A recent
graduate, Dr. Lara Hilton (2019), is senior manager of government
and public services at Deloitte Consulting in Los Angeles, California.
Leadership careers. Many of our alumni decide to develop
and lead their own nonprofit or for-profit organization focused on
important social, health, or organizational issues.
Others seem to rise to leadership positions rather quickly in
large organizations. For example, Dr. Geoffrey Smart (1998) is
chairman and founder of ghSMART in Denver, Colorado, and Dr.
Kevin Groves (2002) is president of Grove Consulting Group,
Hermosa Beach, California. Dr. Maren Dollwet (2016) is an example of an alumna rising quickly in a large corporation. She is
currently senior director of U…
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