Research experience- Any advice?

[livetosail]

Ok, imagine for a second that you were given a free ticket for you and your family (and all your household goods) to move anywhere in the US, including areas like San Deigo, CA; anywhere in the D.C Area; Charleston, SC; Jacksonville, Pensacola or Key West, FL; Whidbey Island, Bremerton, or Oak Harbor, WA; Corpus Christi, TX; and choice international locations such as Honolulu, HI; Guam, Italy, Spain, Sicily, or Japan. Where would you go?

Wait.

Before you answer that question, consider that you have been working very hard to get everything in order to get into a good doctoral program for the Fall of 2011, and the only thing that you need more of is... more research experience.

Every one of the places listed above is available to me. I literally have a free ticket to any one of them. As long as there is a Naval Hospital, I can go there. Almost every place listed above has at least one Psychologist/Psychiatrist. The only catch is almost none of them are currently involved in any sort of research.

Now where would you go?

Maybe I am going about getting research all wrong, but I have had very little luck finding positions that I can use to boost my experience level. I am beginning to think that I am trying to reinvent the wheel, or simply uninformed about what exactly I need to do to get these positions.

First, where can I find people that are currently conducting research when I am not currently affiliated with their school? Second, how do I go about volunteering as a research assistant- other than the obvious "I am a grad student trying to gain research experience so I can get into a good doctoral program. PLEASE HELP ME!"

I am not looking for paid positions, which, I should think would make it easier to find someone willing to let me assist. I am not limiting my search to only the areas I am interested in, which I also figure should help me more. Still, I have been completely unable to find anything substantial in the past six months of looking, and I am starting to get a little apprehensive about making a decision of where to take my family next. With such a wide-open offer to move anywhere I'd like, I feel I need to really understand how I can maximize the next 2-3 years of my life in order to satisfy my goals of getting into a good program.

Any suggestions?

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[erg923]

Any local academic medical center will certainly have some psychologists or psychiatrists doing research. Local VAs as well. Other hospitals, rehab centers, outpatient mental health clinics often have something (usually small scale) going on as well that you might be able to assist with. Large group private practices often keep databases for research purposes, as there is often someone there who does at least some very small scale stuff. Google or Craigslist will turn up something in your area (assuming you are in/near at least a moderate size city), I'm sure.

 

[livetosail]

I've been pretty much focussed on the D.C area, since that is such a hub of research. I figure that there is bound to be someone I can hook up with to get some more experience. I'm just not really wild about moving into such a concrete jungle and dealing with the traffic...

Craigslist? Really? Never even considered that! Thanks.

 

[bmedclinic]

As a disclaimer, I'm from Texas. I havent lived there in four years (grad school whatnot) but I'm a texan. Refused to even change my license plates and driving license when I moved to that state I live in now.

That said, If I were moving somewhere on the coast, and I was going to live there for a few years, Corpus Christi would be close to the last place I'd live.