Characteristics of Psychology Students Who Serve as Research Assistants

Participation in undergraduate research has been shown to provide a wide array of benefits across many disciplines of study; however, relatively less is known about the impact of this experience on Psychology majors specifically. We collected measures of Psychology students' (N=229) knowledge o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:College student journal 2017-03, Vol.51 (1), p.77-80
Main Authors: Pawlow, Laura A., Meinz, Elizabeth J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
College students
Core competencies
Evaluation
Exit Examinations
Identification and classification
Majors (Students)
Methods
Multiple Choice Tests
Participatory Research
Performance Based Assessment
Psychological research
Psychology
Research Assistants
Research Projects
Student Characteristics
Student Experience
Student Participation
Technological Literacy
Undergraduate Students
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Summary:Participation in undergraduate research has been shown to provide a wide array of benefits across many disciplines of study; however, relatively less is known about the impact of this experience on Psychology majors specifically. We collected measures of Psychology students' (N=229) knowledge of the major (career, core, and statistics/methodology knowledge), critical thinking, writing skills and self-reported technology skills (regarding SPSS and PowerPoint) to investigate the characteristics of students who had served as Research Assistants (RAs) in the department. RAs had significantly higher career, core, and statistics/methodology knowledge, higher critical thinking and writing skills, and higher self-reported SPSS skills than non-RAs, highlighting specific ways in which participating in laboratory-based research experiences may benefit undergraduate students majoring in Psychology.
ISSN:0146-3934
2691-3887