Recreate the PhD experience at home

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I am hoping to experience what it would be like to work as a Ph. D student/research psychologist- I'm on an expedited timeline to decide since I have already started another graduate program. I've reached out to some grad students at a local university, but I won't be able to be heavily involved in the beginning- which is understandable, but I don't think recruiting and administering tests will give me a good idea of this career path. I've tried reading research papers on my own, including ones that don't interest me. Is there anything else I can do to try to create the experience on my own to see if it would be a good fit for me? Looking up psychology tests/raw data?

I've always enjoyed learning about psychology and the process of testing theories and discovering something new appeals to me, but I know everything is more tedious and boring in real life than in my imagination so I just want to make sure I get a realistic view.

 

[Justanothergrad]

If you don't have the time to devote to joining a research lab, you probably don't have time to explore being a graduate student in psychology.

 

[singasongofjoy]

what type of graduate program are you currently in? Maybe there are some parallels that we can point out. Also being a research psychologist is a pretty broad thing; the day to day looks quite different depending on the type of thing you're doing. What types of things are you interested in?

 

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what type of graduate program are you currently in? Maybe there are some parallels that we can point out. Also being a research psychologist is a pretty broad thing; the day to day looks quite different depending on the type of thing you're doing. What types of things are you interested in?

I'm in pharmacy school right now. I've thought about going into research after I graduate but it doesn't interest me as much and I don't think doing experiments on biological pathways is my forte. I'm interested in finding treatment therapies for ASPD, cognitive development, indicators of lying (visual cues/brain scans), development/learning in children and indicators of success/failure, etc. I just want to determine whether I want to read papers and learn about psychology as a hobby or if I'm suited for a career in research where this will be my daily life. Starting over to get a Ph. D will also take much longer, and I don't know if it's worth it.

 

[deleted343839]

I am hoping to experience what it would be like to work as a Ph. D student/research psychologist

Is there anything else I can do to try to create the experience on my own to see if it would be a good fit for me?

Probably not. PhD programs operate on a mentor model, which means a continuous cycle of feedback from a faculty member. Successful doctoral students are often self-motivated, but without that critical feedback it's easy to go down blind alleys or mislead oneself. When I think about my doctoral training, the didactic coursework feels very much secondary to the mentored experience. It was more of an apprenticeship, albeit one with a number of academic milestones to clear.

I just want to determine whether I want to read papers and learn about psychology as a hobby or if I'm suited for a career in research where this will be my daily life.

Attending a (good) research conference in your area of interest might give you a better idea of the field.

It's hard to know whether a research career will suit a person. But I would say that it's not a journey to embark on without a high baseline level of enthusiasm for psychology. There aren't enough research faculty jobs for all the PhDs, even for the well trained. With those prospects, zeal doesn't hurt.

Before you make any big changes, take time to explore paths that would intersect with psychological research. Where I trained there was a fair amount of collaboration between psychology and pharmacy faculty. CNS drug development is very much a multidisciplinary effort and can be done in academia and the private sector.

 

[PsychPhDone]

Is there anything else I can do to try to create the experience on my own to see if it would be a good fit for me?

Probably not. So much of my training was social, from mentorship/supervision/apprenticeship to class discussions to time in the lab. I'd recommend getting involved in a research lab if you have time in your program (...you probably don't). You, personally, would likely start out doing "gruntwork," but I'm a postdoc and still doing the grunt. You'd get to build relationships with the grad students/postdocs/PIs in the lab and see more of what the "life" is like.