Planning to pursue a graduate degree in Quant Psychology but have some questions

[Rhodo]

Hello everyone,

I'm interested in pursuing a graduate degree in the field of Quantitative Psychology. Right now I'm still at the undergraduate level, taking a major in Psychology, and about to begin a minor in mathematics. I've done some reading about Quantitative Psychology and what the graduate programs are looking for in applicants. According to the APA (http://www.apa.org/research/tools/qu...ve/index.aspx#) [p. 3], a background in statistics (big surprise) and mathematics is beneficial, along with experience in data-intensive research.

As I mentioned, I'm about to begin a minor in mathematics to complement the traditional quantitative classes that are included in a major in Psychology (At my university: Stats, Advanced Stats, Psychometrics, Multivariate Stats, and Research Methods) and I've just gotten a job as a research assistant doing tasks that focus on the data (for now its fairly simple data-management and analysis work in SPSS). I'm planning on completing an Honors degree, which would involve a thesis and presumably lots research focused around a topic that pertains to quantitative methodology in Psychology. Unfortunately, my school is quite small, and there isn't much support available from faculty regarding graduate studies in Quantitative Psychology. My statistics teacher, along with some other Psych professors, seemed to have little knowledge about the field as a graduate program.

My Honors thesis is a year or two away, but I'm still feeling a bit nervous about it. I don't really know where to begin in constructing a thesis about quantitative methodology. My knowledge of the field is still quite young, and unlike other Psychology journals I've read, journals that specialize in Quantitative Psychological issues seem to be rather esoteric. I feel like I'm on my own in my pursuit in Quantitative Psych at this point, and some sort of guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Also, programs like R, SAS and SPSS aren't taught at my university to my knowledge. Right now I'm planning to get a hold of the basics through reading guidebooks, but I'm not sure how much I am expected to know by the time I apply to graduate school (which would be in about two years.)

Thank you for reading, and in case you just skimmed to the end (which I don't blame you), in summary my questions are:

1) What would be an example of a realistic undergraduate Honors thesis one could do pertaining to Quantitative Psychology?

2) How much knowledge of R, SAS, SPSS, etc would be expected of me by potential graduate programs?

3) Is a major in Psychology all that necessary? Provided I take all the necessary Quantitative methodology classes, would it be more beneficial to major in something like Mathematics or Computer Science?

Thank you very much for reading all of this, I would appreciate any help/advice/answers you could give!

[stuellers]

1) I did my UG thesis on statistics anxiety. At the time, I didn't know enough to do actual statistics research, but I was prepared to do research on statistics education. You mention you are willing to teach yourself R. You could do a small simulation study on some subject you find interesting, e.g., simulate data which violate to varying degrees the assumptions of a model you learn in psychometrics or multivariate stats and see how bad the estimates and standard errors get. Even if your research is not very original, the act of doing this will (a) force you to really understand the model you are working enough to simulate data from it and ( develop programming and simulation skills that most students in quantitative psychology PhD programs that I know didn't learn until part way through grad school. You mention a lack of guidance at your institution. I strongly recommend contacting professors you are interested in working with now and ask whether you could get some supervision/advice from one or more of their advanced PhD students or a post doc.Most would be willing to help, and working over a distance is something worth learning (my PhD adviser was only in town 3 months of the year and I did the rest of my dissertation advising over Skype). I would try people at WUSTL, UNC-Chapel Hill, Missouri-Columbia, UIUC, UVA, ASU, OSU, KU, Georgia Tech, UW Madison (Ed Psyc), USU (Psyc/Epidemiology). If you post what types of research you are eventually interested in doing, I could make more concrete recommendations.

2) R is invaluable. SAS is useful. Use SPSS only when you have to.

3) No, a major in psychology is not necessary. You would be better prepared with a major in math, statistics (if a UG major in stats is offered), or computer science while taking a handful of psyc classes (developmental, clinical, abnormal, social, behavioral are a good core and what ever else you think you would like to do research in). Although most students I knew in quant psyc PhD programs had a psychology degree, those with math or CS degrees were at no disadvantage in the realm of psychology and had an advantage in the stats classes and the programming skills needed to complete a PhD in quant psyc.In terms of course work, the most useful classes taken as an undergraduate were (in this order) programming, linear algebra, and multivariate calculus, followed by several ties among the advanced stats classes I took (but I can't tell you one that was most useful).

[Rhodo]

Thank you so much for the helpful reply! I like the idea of using R for my thesis to help me both understand it and create a real QP project. I guess that leads me to looking for a good way to self-teach it. I know there's probably tons of resources between the internet and books. Is there anything you would recommend specifically?

And I probably will contact professors elsewhere to discuss potential work, but like I said I still feel like I don't know enough to really contribute or even ask the right questions about their work. It's definitely on my list.

And I'm about to enter my fourth semester (Year 2) as a Psychology major, but honestly I would rather be in a more Mathematics- or Computer Science-heavy course-load. I don't know if it's too late to change for me. It's something I'll talk about with an adviser soon. From what you're saying and what I've read, it sounds like successful applications have a lot more to do with Math and programming accomplishments rather than Psychology credits so I feel like I'm wasting a bit of time now. Hopefully by the fall this year I'll have it all straightened out.

Thanks again for your information!

[spunky]

From what you're saying and what I've read, it sounds like successful applications have a lot more to do with Math and programming accomplishments rather than Psychology credits so I feel like I'm wasting a bit of time now

well, it sort of depends on the institution, i guess. i know some uni's like the idea that if you're accepted into a graduate program in psychology is because you come from a degree in psychology. HOWEVER, with that being said, you'll realize very, very quickly that your background in mathematics/statistics is invaluable and will be much more useful to you than any psychology you've learnt until now. i did the opposite thing that you did (major in statistics with a minor in psychology) and during my interview with my advisor i found funny that he had my transcripts on the desk with all my math courses highlighted while the psych ones where just like there... heh.

anyways, jump into R as soon as you can because you're gonna use it and you're gonna use it A LOT...heh..

[Rhodo]

thanks for the reply. and yea, I think I'm going to talk to the dean and find out what to do with my program. i think it would be more beneficial if i was taking more math or comp sci classes.