Are there opportunities to conduct research for those with a Psy D?

[marcopolo0919]

I’m going to be a senior this semester and I’m trying to decide between applying to Psy d schools or PhD schools. I don’t hate research but I also don’t want it to be the focus of my graduate school training. My goal is to do therapy with children while being able to conduct research on the side. I know with a PhD it would be easier to do this but is this possible for somebody with a psyd to do as well?

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[WisNeuro]

Reputable PsyDs are balanced PhDs are generally the same with regards for research involvement. If you choose a diploma mill PsyD, your research opportunities and potential career paths in research will be slim.

 

[marcopolo0919]

Reputable PsyDs are balanced PhDs are generally the same with regards for research involvement. If you choose a diploma mill PsyD, your research opportunities and potential career paths in research will be slim.

Right now I am only looking at Kean in NJ as a psyd option because I’m in the national guard and they pay full tuition at any state school. (Also Rutgers psyd is very hard to get into.) They aren’t a degree mill but they were only recently accredited in 2016.

 

[Meteora]

Trying to get research experience in a PsyD program is generally going to be an uphill battle, as clinical work is typically the focus. Having said that, there are excellent PsyD programs out there where doing research would be an expectation. These are also the most competitive PsyD programs and tend to have funding as well (i.e. Rutgers, Baylor).

I have a few friends with PsyDs who were able to get some research experience in their program. However, they were incredibly self-motivated and pursued research opportunities with the faculty, putting in work beyond their time spent with classes and seeing patients. So I suppose the answer to your question is technically a yes.

Having said that, I encourage you to consider PhD programs instead of PsyD programs - for 2 primary reasons. First, the majority of PsyD programs are not funded and you would be looking at a minimum of >$75,000 debt for the entire program. PhD programs typically are funded, on the other hand. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, you stated that your goal is to primarily see clients but also conduct research on the side. Most clinical PhD programs will provide in-depth research training but will also provide great clinical training. On the other hand, PsyDs will have a much weaker research component (if any), and generally less opportunities for you to gain that kind of experience and develop competency.

I believe there's a statistic that like >70% of people who graduate with clinical PhDs end up becoming clinicians rather than going into research careers. Even if that is your end-goal, there are PhD programs that are more balanced, where you will get good clinical and research training. I urge you to consider these things as you go forward.

 

[WisNeuro]

Don't know much about Kean considering their newly accredited status and broken outcomes link. Their stated research "productivity" is very low for an entire program. My inkling is that it'd be very hard to carve out enough research experience and/or productivity (posters, manuscripts) at this program to be competitive for a job that will pay you to do any amount of research.

I'm with Meteora, I'd be looking to get into fully funded programs that can easily give you these opportunities.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Degree type matters less than avoiding massive debt and finding a mentor + faculty that fit your research interests and training goals...in that order.

If you want to go into academic medicine (as the setting to work with peds and do research), it can be an uphill climb. Publishing during grad school can be helpful in this regard. I don’t think degree matters nearly as much in most other settings as long as you avoid the PhD & PsyD diploma mills, though i’ve only worked at R1 AMCs and private practice so YMMV.

Conducting research in a strictly private practice setting can be difficult. The best realistic setup is to get on faculty at a Uni so you have access to collaborators and resources like good stats ppl and IRB, as it can be a big hassle to do research completely on your own.

 

[PsyDr]

Outlier experience: Did research throughout grad school. Have been a PI/Co-I in an AMC.

It's possible, but improbably. I would NOT count on replicating my experience.

 

[deleted343839]

Agree w/ others that a funded PhD program that allows for significant clinical training (ie, the "balanced" model) is probably a better bet than most PsyDs.

Spending most of your time in the clinic and, say, 20% doing research "on the side" is a thing that mostly happens in academic medical center-type jobs. It is the exceptionally rare private practitioner who keeps a hand in research or scholarly activities. Most who do this maintain some sort of tie to a university or AMC, usually as a result of having built relationships and reputation in their early career.

Outlier experience: Did research throughout grad school. Have been a PI/Co-I in an AMC.

It's possible, but improbably. I would NOT count on replicating my experience.

Side note: Academic medicine is the only setting where I've only ever personally seen someone with a PsyD work as a funded PI. And I can readily think of a couple of examples of this (yours not included).

 

[SchoolClinical]

Right now I am only looking at Kean in NJ as a psyd option because I’m in the national guard and they pay full tuition at any state school. (Also Rutgers psyd is very hard to get into.) They aren’t a degree mill but they were only recently accredited in 2016.

I'm in Kean's PsyD program now. Research is an expectation and there are plenty of opportunities for it (more so than most PsyD programs - when APA came for their site visit in 2016, they asked our program director why we weren't a PhD program...) That said, the overwhelming majority of students are clinically focused, and I can't imagine the program will produce many people who are strictly researchers.

 

[PsyD1]

I'm in Kean's PsyD program now. Research is an expectation and there are plenty of opportunities for it (more so than most PsyD programs - when APA came for their site visit in 2016, they asked our program director why we weren't a PhD program...) That said, the overwhelming majority of students are clinically focused, and I can't imagine the program will produce many people who are strictly researchers.

Hi, I am currently looking at Kean's PsyD program and I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about your research experience during the programs as well as pros and cons that you may have with the program. Thank you!