Include this on my CV or not?

[EyelandPychePhD]

Under my "Research Experience" section on my CV, I am including two part-time (20 hour per week) positions as a research assistant at two separate labs, 2018-2019 year for the first lab and 2019-2020 year for the second lab. I am detailing all of my duties for those positions in brief descriptions, but I haven't been responsible for entering data. I've simply collected data as part of research procedures as a research assistant, but haven't used, for example, RedCap, Qualtrics, or SPSS while working at those labs. Unfortunately, I didn't really get the opportunity to take part in research design under those labs either. I simply carried out the research procedures and collected the data.

I am wondering if it look good (or acceptable) to have a section beneath the "Research Experience" section, titled "Research Skills"- to outline some skills which I have acquired on my own time or through coursework, but just not during my experience with the research labs I've worked at. For example, I've done projects using SPSS during a Statistics course. And I have self-taught myself how to use various other data collection/analysis software - however have not actually implemented these within a work or volunteer position. Is that worthwhile to put on my CV?

 

Also, I went to a Liberal Arts undergrad which doesn't calculate GPA and did a double-major in which both of my majors (neither of them were Psychology) required us to take credits Pass/Fail, not letter a grade. I have no idea how I am going to explain this, and can't really calculate an undergrad GPA if I tried. To make matters worse, for the few courses that I did take for a letter grade, outside of my major, I received a B in the course. At first glance, you see a handful of Bs and then "Pass, Pass, Pass, Pass, Pass" for the rest of the grades, so I am afraid that admissions might just assume that I passed those other courses with an equivalent of a B, just filling in the gaps. In reality I received a "Pass with Distinction" in those courses (since I was talented at the classes in my major)- which is my undergrad's version of an A. However, they don't include this "pass with distinction" feature on the transcript. I'm a bit concerned about how my undergrad transcript is going to look. I have an MA in Clinical Psychology, with a 4.0 GPA from the Masters program in which I took all the prereqs for Psychology PhD programs. 

To sort of "make up" for this undergrad transcript situation and add some interest to my CV, I thought about including the fact that during my undergrad I received a grant for an EEG device. The description of the project is as follows: 

As an undergraduate, received a grant in 2013 in the amount of $300 with a team of three other students which was used to purchase an EPOC EEG 14-channel Neuroheadset, manufactured by a company called Emotiv. The remaining cost for the EEG device was funded by _______ University's Digital Language Arts Department. The headset was used for a project, playfully titled “Telepathically Responsive Virtual Reality” for a course called Digital Language Art I. When placed on the user’s head the neuroheadset gathered EEG data which, when calibrated to a specific user using SDK Software to recognize thought patterns, could differentiate between cognitive commands for movement such as “move left, right, up, down, forward, back”, or making object disappear. In addition, the headset was capable of reading cognitive states in real time, such as excitement (arousal), engagement/boredom, stress (frustration), and meditation (relaxation). This EEG feedback was then programmed using software and computer game design, to correlate specific cognitive states with inputs for commands during a computer game simulation. The avatar for the computer game was designed to look like “Jesus”, and one of the tasks was to make Jesus walk on water by achieving a meditative state while “thinking” the command ‘move forward’. Failure by the user to maintain a meditative state resulted in the avatar sinking into the water and “dying”. While attached to the EEG headset, the user would use mind-control within the game simulation to navigate the Jesus avatar through the various levels of the game spatially. In addition, certain tasks required the user to achieve a certain cognitive state in order to accomplish small goals in order to proceed through the computer game’s levels. Ultimately the project was a creative art piece investigating computer game design, cognition, EEG feedback.

      

 

Would that be ridiculous to put on my CV or is it worth mentioning because it's kind of cool and the EEG device is obviously psychology-related? 

Thank you to anyone who has advice. I can't wait until this stressful process is over! Good luck to everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 14, 2020 by EyelandPychePhD

[PsyDuck90]

At the bottom of my CV, I have a section called "Skills" where I put things like "Proficient in SPSS, Qualtrics," etc. and other things that don't fit elsewhere (such as assessments I am able to administer, but that will be applicable once you're in a program). That may be an option for you to include all of those programs you are familiar with. I honestly wouldn't worry too much about your undergrad GPA if you have an MA. They are going to care about that one more, along with your GRE scores. 

I would definitely add the EEG stuff, but trim down that description. There is a lot of filler that does not need to be there, such as the explanation of everything the EEG does or that the project was "playfully" titled. Just be as concise as you can be. Like, I would just have "As an undergraduate, received a grant in the amount of $300 with a team of three other students to purchase an EPOC EEG 14-channel Neuroheadset for a project titled 'Telepathically Responsive Virtual Reality.' The project was a creative art piece investigating computer game design, cognition, and EEG feedback." I think that could go under research experience. I'm assuming you collected data in order to present this in some way, correct?

[EyelandPychePhD]

23 hours ago, PsyDuck90 said:

At the bottom of my CV, I have a section called "Skills" where I put things like "Proficient in SPSS, Qualtrics," etc. and other things that don't fit elsewhere (such as assessments I am able to administer, but that will be applicable once you're in a program). That may be an option for you to include all of those programs you are familiar with. I honestly wouldn't worry too much about your undergrad GPA if you have an MA. They are going to care about that one more, along with your GRE scores. 

I would definitely add the EEG stuff, but trim down that description. There is a lot of filler that does not need to be there, such as the explanation of everything the EEG does or that the project was "playfully" titled. Just be as concise as you can be. Like, I would just have "As an undergraduate, received a grant in the amount of $300 with a team of three other students to purchase an EPOC EEG 14-channel Neuroheadset for a project titled 'Telepathically Responsive Virtual Reality.' The project was a creative art piece investigating computer game design, cognition, and EEG feedback." I think that could go under research experience. I'm assuming you collected data in order to present this in some way, correct?

Hey thanks for the great advice. I think I will include the Research Skills section and if anyone asks, I'm happy to talk at length about the skills I taught myself on YouTube- but just leave out the YouTube part. Maybe talk about how much I'd love to use those programs in a research study such as _____. Or even name a few well-known studies in the field who used those analytic methods. All that will require is a bit of homework prior to an interview. 

Okay cool, so I will add the EEG Device grant. Yes we collected data, it was interesting because it records the users response in real time. For example, while wearing it in front of the class to demonstrate, the line representing of the "excitement" component of my EEG data (displayed on a screen in front of everyone) would sky rocket when someone asked me a question, then as I answered you could see the EEG start to go down, and then spike again as I got to my main point with my answer. It was pretty cool. 

That's a relief about the undergrad GPA. I still don't know how to "calculate" it because some applications ask you to report your GPA aside from them already seeing the transcripts. Should I write the admissions saying, "Hey sorry but for undergrad a GPA is not possible and here's why?"

[PsyDuck90]

1 hour ago, EyelandPychePhD said:

That's a relief about the undergrad GPA. I still don't know how to "calculate" it because some applications ask you to report your GPA aside from them already seeing the transcripts. Should I write the admissions saying, "Hey sorry but for undergrad a GPA is not possible and here's why?"

Can you maybe contact your undergrad institution? I'm assuming you aren't the 1st graduate to apply to grad school. They may be able to tell you how others have navigated that. Otherwise, I have no idea since I went to a state school with a standard grading system, so I have limited advice in that aspect. 

[jujubea]

PM'ing you about the undergrad situation