Hypothetical interview question

[hyperjulie]

Hello,

So I have been contacted by a program that has informed me that I will be contacted by a certain POI soon. I'm not sure if this necessarily means an interview, but in case I've been looking more deeply into her research, trying to get a further understanding of where she's at. While I have a general understanding of the type of research she is doing, unfortunately since I am not yet well-versed in this specific niche of study, other than the broader umbrella terms (semantics, morphemes, phonemes, orthography, etc.), I really don't speak the lingo and I honestly don't understand a lot of what is going on in her research articles. This is partially a problem because most of what she has written is not available in full-text, so I can't go through the methods section to try to get a firmer grasp of the research techniques that she is using. I'm mostly looking at abstracts that are packed with jargon that I have never encountered before in the psychological studies I have read.

My question is, is it likely that she will grill me on or expect me to know the specifics of her research? Also, is it acceptable to admit that you don't fully understand her research if you follow up with specific questions that will help clarify? I hope that she will be coming from an understanding that I am not an expert in the field but I am hoping to become one, but I really don't know.

Thanks!

[Frida27]

I think its always better to admit to not knowing then to potentially look like a fool trying to fake it. You might also try logging in via a university or library computer, many times they have subscriptions with journals and you can download the pdf in its entirety. If you have your own research history, be prepared to talk about that and what makes you interested in her work and the university. I would be surprised if you were grilled about what you knew of her...

[coonskee]

I think she may ask "Have you looked at my research?", which I think is totally fair. I think asking questions about her research will be good because it will show you want to learn and are curious - but don't ask "silly" questions. By that, I don't mean ones that may seem simple to her -- I mean ones that you can easily google the answer to (so, if I were reading her paper and came across a word I don't know [say morpheme] and a methodology I don't understand, I'd make sure to look up for myself what a morpheme is, but the methodology may be more difficult to figure out on my own, and would therefore be a valid question, imho).

Papers should be available through university and library computers - if you don't have a uni account right now, maybe one of your friends do and could look these papers up for you?

Good luck!!

[che psyra psyra]

I second Coonskie's advice to ask the POI directly about the tougher stuff, I'm sure she'll be happy to explain it and intelligent questions from you will facilitate a good conversation.

As for finding her recent articles, are you using a search engine or did you start at her CV/lab website? These are two places where profs often link full-text PDFs, if you haven't tried that. Good luck!

[hyperjulie]

I was using online databases through my school's library like PsycINFO. I did look on her website which had some titles, but it didn't occur to me to click on the CV.

Thanks for the advice everyone!

[crazygirl2012]

I talked to my POI on the phone without fully understanding all of the biology behind her work. She definitely didn't grill me on it! It's very important that you are familiar with the person's work, but not that you understand every detail. As my mentor keeps reminding me, they know we're not grad students yet.