Ph.D. programs- can research and practice be different?

[modestmousktr]

Hello all,
I am applying to Ph.D. programs right now, and as I move forward in my master's program, I realize that I am becoming more and more interested in working with survivors of trauma. However, my research interests/thesis/etc are not trauma related, I just work with trauma patients clinically right now and would like to continue that.

In a Ph.D. program, does your practicum/externship/etc have to align with your research interests and thesis/dissertation?

Thanks!

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[Ollie123]

Ideally they should. It makes it easier to package things for internship/post-doc/job apps. No requirement though, particularly given folks should have a fairly diverse range of practicums anyways (i.e. I hope no program lets someone graduate having only worked with trauma). It can be tricky to talk about in interviews depending on your professional goals. It also depends how discrepant the two things are - start thinking about how you can weave a story about how the two things are related. Chances are they aren't completely unrelated.

 

[A Blue Duck]

This is intriguing. I would agree with Ollie that a cohesive package of clinical and research interests/experiences is certainly more appealing as an applicant; I would imagine at both the clinical PhD and internship levels. However, I think the reason for this (maybe not ideal) reality is due to the practical limitation of experience the applicant is assumed to have at this point in their career. That is, you may be perceived as a "Jack of all trades, master of none."

Really though, how many graduate students have established themselves as expert researchers in something directly applicable to their clinical interests- such as in treatment effectiveness or treatment protocol development for a specific illness? Not many I would assume.

Basically what I'm saying is that...yes, it will be to your advantage to have some link between your clinical and research interests (Can your research interests be seen as a basic mechanism of trauma related disorders?), especially if your career path is proposed to include both- something not being recommended by many clinical science programs anymore, by the way (i.e. Can it be argued against that someone who devotes 50% of their time to the clinic is not going to be as competitive for grants as those who are only teaching and doing research? Maybe their clinic experiences will in itself support their credentials...). But, I'm not sure this is a completely logical or ideal assumption for application committees to make.

 

[smalltownpsych]

Hello all,
I am applying to Ph.D. programs right now, and as I move forward in my master's program, I realize that I am becoming more and more interested in working with survivors of trauma. However, my research interests/thesis/etc are not trauma related, I just work with trauma patients clinically right now and would like to continue that.

In a Ph.D. program, does your practicum/externship/etc have to align with your research interests and thesis/dissertation?

Thanks!

I can't think of research in psychology that would not easily tie into trauma. Any population that you are investigating would have some people that have experienced trauma. Whatever your initial research is, the broad question would be how does trauma affect this. Also, your clinical experiences can change your interests as you go. Every practicum placement that I had became a new interest for me and also generated new research questions. I would actually think that having too specific of a focus at this point in your career would be more troublesome than to still be working on narrowing your interests and finding new ones.