Notes to take when reading POI's research? (Prepping for interviews)

[ezraontheinternet]

Hey everyone. I'm applying for counseling psychology Ph.D. programs, and have received two interviews thus far (yay!). The first one is in just under a month, so I've decided to start getting ready by getting super familiar with my POI's most recent first author publications. 

Is there anything specific that I should be paying attention to? I've heard that some professors will ask how you would improve/add to their research, but what else should I be reading for? Does anyone know common questions that professors may ask in regard to their research?

[fuzzylogician]

The right kinds of questions to prep for will have to do with how your research interests fit with the prof's, and how their expertise will benefit you. Along similar lines, they might tell you about some of their ongoing projects or stuff they're trying to get funded now and have a conversation with you about that. The goal is rarely to actually get you to make a research contribution during the interview; that's highly unlikely. Usually it's just about seeing whether you can hold a conversation about your research and understand what others are telling you. And just as much, it's simply about personality fit: can you have a productive conversation? Does it seem like you will fit with the group? Given that, I don't know that reading papers closely is the most useful thing, although some familiarity is useful. It's more about understanding the bigger picture: what does this prof and their group do? what kind of projects/papers do they work on? what kind of questions do they (generally) ask? how does that fit with what you want to do? 

[TakeruK]

Seconding what fuzzy said. Introductions and conclusion sections are where people generally relate their work to the bigger picture so that's a good place to read in a paper. I'd also be sure to read their research website to see how they explain their interests. If they have written review articles, those might be good to skim. Or, if your field has some database of federal grants, you can look up their grants and read the public summary parts (usually ~1 page) and see how they motivate their research questions.

[butwhyisallthecoffeegone]

I'd take a look at methodology and see where your talents overlap. For example, if you're, maybe, trying to work with someone who does a lot of qualitative analyses, you can talk up your experience in that area. If it's methodology you're not familiar with, take a moment to brush up on those.