Research Interests vs. Career Plans

[haoran]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this question, but I'm doing it.

 

I'm planning on applying to school psychology programs at the end of the year, and I've just started working on my list of schools. I love working in schools, but I miss conducting research, and after talking with our school's school psychologist, I noticed the obvious answer.

 

My academic background is primarily in cross-cultural research. Almost all of my own research (for labs and seminars) had to do with cultural identity, or the roles (specific) cultural values play in clinical settings.

 

The problem is that I want to pursue research in prosocial behavior. While I've found plenty of school psychology professors with research in cultural systems, I haven't found any who study prosocial behavior. It's definitely applicable in a school setting (I'd say), but I haven't found it. Would I be able to conduct this kind of research in a program without professors who specialize in it? Should I admit that these are my research interests? I don't want to go for a degree in Social Psyc because I'm sure I want to be a School Psychologist. 

 

What do you do when your research interests conflict with your career plans?

[iphi]

Hi! You should join the thread.

 

Honestly though, from reading what you wrote I wonder if maybe you wouldn't be better suited (generally) toward Counseling Psych programs? Purdue has a good program/labs in cross-cultural research + prosocial stuff. What are your actual career goals? I assume since you're talking research you mean to pursue a PhD or PsyD rather than an EdS.

 

We actually share a research interest -- I applied to School Psych programs (and the one Counseling Psych program at Purdue) to study cross cultural transitions/identity. I think you should check out University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. That's actually where I'm headed in the Fall (although it's not the reason why I'm recommending it to you)! The department as a whole is focused on multicultural education, and one woman there -- Kyongboon Kwon studies how children's social groups affect their social/academic development.

 

PM me if you want to talk specifics!

[iphi]

The problem is that I want to pursue research in prosocial behavior. While I've found plenty of school psychology professors with research in cultural systems, I haven't found any who study prosocial behavior. It's definitely applicable in a school setting (I'd say), but I haven't found it. Would I be able to conduct this kind of research in a program without professors who specialize in it? Should I admit that these are my research interests? I don't want to go for a degree in Social Psyc because I'm sure I want to be a School Psychologist. 

 

And sorry, to answer your original question more clearly, yes you can pursue it as long as the prof you are working with has agreed to let you. That means you should pick someone who works with social behavior of kids and then your project can fit in tangentially. I think it is an interesting take on SP research probably surrounding social groups. What age group are you interested in, btw? You might have more luck with profs who study early childhood ed or with autism research, but I could see research with adolescents working as well.

[juilletmercredi]

^Agree with the above - if you work with a professor who does research that cuts across social and school psych, you can do this research.  There's also the option of going to a place with both a traditional social psych program and a school psych program and working with two advisers, so that your research merges both fields together.

 

An additional thought is that many people switch their research foci after graduate school, so you can do something related to your real interest (in which you are also interested in hopefully) and then add the prosocial behavior stuff after you graduate and have a position.

[haoran]

Thank you so much for your responses! Very helpful. Kyongboon Kwon's research seems especially interesting. 

 

I'm actually starting to think a PhD program might be what I'm looking for, as Iphi kind of suggested. It's just intimidating since most of my experience is in education, and I have no research experience outside of the labs and seminars I took as an undergrad.