After earning a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, I hope to go on to do my own research. This project allowed me to learn about each stage of the research process, from creating research questions and analyzing data.
I continuously received feedback on my work and learned what specific areas of my writing I can improve.
This project also informed my research interest of adolescent anxiety and depression which guided my search for post-baccalaureate research jobs.
My faculty mentor for this project also connected with me with an old coworker of his that was hiring a research coordinator for her lab, and, after applying and interviewing, I was offered the position.
Beyond the Undergraduate Research Forum, I have presented my thesis work as a poster at the Ohio Academy of Science conference and will present at the upcoming Stephen Hinkle Poster Session.
In addition to creating this poster, I wrote an APA-style manuscript detailing my research process and findings. It was imperative that my writing is clear and organized.
I practiced the presentation of my poster numerous times before conferences to ensure that I was explaining my work in an accessible and organized way. It was also important to be aware of my body language, pacing, and inflection.
I took a graduate level course in psychological statistics, which greatly helped my ability to manipulate and analyze the data. I was able to operate a bit more independently in that regard, though I certainly received assistance from my faculty and graduate student mentor.
I learned the process of multiple imputation and how to report the process in a paper. Multiple imputation is a common and important practice to impute missing variables in the data set, so learning this process provided me with foundational skills for psychological research.
The discussion section of my paper required a critical interpretation of my results, especially because one of my hypothesis was insignificant while the other was significant.