Research experience

[gabriel13]

I made the mistake of only applying to one school this year and not contacting the faculty I wanted to work with beforehand. Now that I've learned that lesson, I'm looking to strengthen my application (for 2013 sigh). Bottom line, I have plenty of experience writing lit reviews/critiques from my master's forensic psychology program, but I'm concerned that's just not translating into a research program in evolutionary psychology. So two questions, am I right/wrong in my assumption here? If I'm right, is there really any way for me to get the research experience needed while not in academia? I'm starting to think the only way would be to quit my current job and just apply for research assistant positions, but that seems a bit drastic. I'm really open to any advice here.

[stereopticons]

No, experience writing is not enough if you are applying to an experimental type program (which I assume you are). You need experience executing a research project, beyond just writing critiques and lit reviews. Try emailing professors in your area and asking if they need volunteers on their lab. It seems the best way to get experience without quitting your job.

[Behavioral]

Is evolutionary psychology experimental!??!

[KatKad]

No, experience writing is not enough if you are applying to an experimental type program (which I assume you are). You need experience executing a research project, beyond just writing critiques and lit reviews. Try emailing professors in your area and asking if they need volunteers on their lab. It seems the best way to get experience without quitting your job.

I agree. When I was in my undergrad program, there were 1-2 people not currently in school who were working in the lab a few hours a week for extra experience. Talk to professors at your local university, and any others in youre area. There may even be some independants who do research work that would like some help. Probably won't need to quit your job (hopefully), and many researchers love free help! If the only experience you've had has been in writing but no hands on experimental work, Id take anything that came open, whether its evolutionary or not. Then next year, when yo uare writing a statement of purpose you can talk about your reasons for wanting to do evo rather than what you've been doing. At least you'd still get some sort of research experience that can translate into a new area.