Forensic/Correctional Dissertation and Research

[PsychMel]

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So, I'm interested in the forensic and corrections portion of clinical psych, and am wondering what kind of research and dissertations people have done on these topics. It is so hard to get prison data, so it has been suggested I try to apply my ideas to college students (for example I thought of doing research on malingering within inmates and was told maybe to do reasearch on malingering within college students.) I'd really like to do research on what I am interested in, not on a topic and then apply it to what I am interested, so I am wondering what kind of things others have done in the past.

thanks!

 

[CheetahGirl]

So, I'm interested in the forensic and corrections portion of clinical psych, and am wondering what kind of research and dissertations people have done on these topics. It is so hard to get prison data, so it has been suggested I try to apply my ideas to college students (for example I thought of doing research on malingering within inmates and was told maybe to do reasearch on malingering within college students.) I'd really like to do research on what I am interested in, not on a topic and then apply it to what I am interested, so I am wondering what kind of things others have done in the past.

thanks!

I also was interested in doing dissertation research on inmates, but it was suggested to me by an advisor (who was faculty at a highly respected clinical program & also consulted on clinical psychology/forensic cases at Rikers Island in NYC ) to extrapolate my ideas to a population that was more "attainable." Inmates are included under a group of individuals who are protected by certain human subject rights, see NIH link http://phrp.nihtraining.com/

Unless you are part of program that is already funded to do research in prisons, like UVA's Prisoners and their Families Project, then it will be near impossible to access these individuals as a pre-doctoral student. (Search this program and you'll get several interesting studies to think about.)

My dissertation focuses on the intergenerational transmission of violence and certain psychological processes that occur during the transmission from generation to generation. I'm also looking at the general population, not a clinical population because what I intend to discover needs to be known in 'normal' samples as well as clinical samples. *Think of it as baseline data* (I'm being vague intentionally because I still have not defended.) I can relate my idea to forensics in many ways if I need to, so I think the advice you received is well-intentioned and solid.

Just find some areas that interest you and look for the gap in the literature that will connect those interests with what needs to be known. Then you can use your wit to peruse the Department of Justice statistics and relevant literature on incarcerated individuals to support your findings. Voila! Your dissertation will turn out to be exactly what you hoped it would be without having to interview participants who are handcuffed to the table. 😱

You can always gear your internship towards hospitals with forensic units, and get your hands-on training that way.

 

[NotTheHoff]

Some possible angles to research forensic issues without access to an institutional population or archival data:

--Evaluate presence of forensic-related behavioral, cognitive, or emotional processes with a community sample (e.g., prevalence and predictors of sexually violent fantasies among college students)
--Examine practitioners regarding their intervention practices (e.g., under what circumstances are practitioners likely to use or deviate from evidence-based intervention)
--Examine decision-making or attitudes about forensic issues across different populations (community, police officers, psychologists, law makers, etc.; e.g., confirmation bias when participants read forensic-related media articles with conflicting information)