Tag Archives: Research

Transgender in Science: The Power of Mesearch

This blog post is a part of the series, “So Good,” developed by the APAGS Committee for Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. This series will discuss current events and how these events relate to LGBTQ+ graduate students in psychology. If you are interested in contributing to the “So Good” series, please contact Mallaigh McGinley (they/them).

I believe that science can help us move towards a more kind, more just, and more equitable world, and that science can truly change lives for the better. When I initially attended undergrad from 2004-2006, I found I was consistently questioning myself and my life’s path. I felt, as I had for my entire life, that there was something wrong with me. No matter how hard I tried, I could not come up with the answers I needed to be successful. What I needed was to take the time necessary to figure out what I perceived was wrong with me, and to figure out what my path could actually be. I finally returned to continue my undergraduate degree in the Spring of 2015 after pursuing a completely different career in the restaurant industry. While I hadn’t exactly figured out what felt off, I did have a path – I saw the way the world treated those who did not fit within the standard conceptions of what was “normal” (e.g., transgender people, queer folks, BIPOC), and I wanted to do something to make it better. It’s the typical undergraduate student’s reason for pursuing an education in psychology: I wanted to help people. Less than one month after returning, I began to see news articles about the first in a series of papers from a longitudinal study following transgender children (Olson, Key, & Eaton, 2015). Reading the coverage of this article, and eventually the article itself, helped me realize that there were children out there who felt the way that I had felt as a child, and that they were remarkably similar to their cisgender peers. What this told me in that moment was that the way that I had felt all my life wasn’t beyond normal human variation; there was nothing wrong with me. It was then that I realized the power of scientific research to impact individuals and societies, while engaging in positive social change. While we have talked many times since I initially reached out to her, I don’t know if I have ever actually told Kristina that the article itself actually led me to becoming comfortable with who I am, and it led coming out. So… thanks, Kristina!

But we still live in a world where transgender people are misunderstood and discriminated against, in spite of landmark court decisions like Bostock v. Clayton County as well as the so-called “Transgender Tipping Point” that Time magazine declared in 2014.

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Who Researches My Communities? Speaking Out About the White Academic Gaze

As a queer Vietnamese American graduate student interested in pursuing an academic career, I sometimes worry about sharing views that may challenge dominant norms and ideologies. Some established academics of color have recommended I keep my mouth closed until tenure or after tenure, whereas others have said that if I minimize my voice, I will assimilate into the system that silences more radical perspectives. Because I value social justice, I wanted to reach beyond my fear to name and confront an issue I witness in academia that I will refer to as the white academic gaze, or when white researchers conduct research on people of color, especially without including them in the research and publication process.

Tweets from user @nigreaux
These tweets exemplify the invasiveness of what I refer to as the white academic gaze.

The white academic gaze constitutes a serious issue in the field of psychological research because even though white people who conduct research on people of color may have good intentions, the act of doing so can feel extractive as well as an overreach of power. For example, years ago before I entered a PhD program, I spoke to a woman of color working as a doctoral student under a white woman in a clinical psychology program who researched Black and Latinx youths’ health outcomes. This doctoral student informed me that even though her PI published on Black and Latinx youth, she would often microaggress her own graduate students of color. I myself have witnessed white people who have published on Asian American communities who have proceeded to harm actual Asian Americans in interpersonal interactions. It saddens and angers me that white researchers can benefit from the struggles of communities of color even while hurting members of those communities.

Furthermore, even if a white researcher did not commit racist acts, their engagement with research on people of color still feels extractive. Racial inequity in psychological research persists in that while research on race is rare, even when research on race is conducted, it is often executed by white researchers. For example, I have observed white researchers win large grants to study the experiences of queer men of color. As a queer person of color myself, I first wonder if those researchers have examined their own complicity in racism, and I then wonder about all the marginalized queer researchers of color I know who struggle to enter academia or to make it in academia because they do not have the access to data necessary to publish. Given the numerous benefits of having faculty of color in university settings, I feel curious about what we can do to promote academics of color securing opportunities to conduct research on and with their own communities, so we can build a more equitable academy.

Though many perhaps consider science objective, I feel that privilege and oppression play a large part in who gets to conduct science. I will implicate myself here – for my undergraduate honors thesis, I examined the role of feminine norms on college women’s eating behaviors. Though I am in the process of exploring my gender identity now, at the time I had identified as a cisgender gay man who had always leaned into his femininity. I felt interested in examining how femininity may influence food intake, and I found the measures examining femininity within men lacking. After I graduated, I became sole author of that paper and proceeded to publish it. Looking back, I wish I had done more to include a woman on that paper, even though I had already written the entirety of the paper, such as by asking for help with the revisions. Or, I wish I had interrogated my privileges earlier on in the process and had collaborated with another woman in addition to my advisor from the beginning of the process. At the time I had identified as a cis man, so I wish I had asked myself: as someone who has benefited from male privilege, was it my place to conduct this research at all?

I will admit that as a queer graduate student of color, it does feel a bit scary to share these beliefs on a public forum. I remind myself though that I am allowed to make my voice heard and that I can thank the many writers of color who have come before me for guiding my own growth. For example, I think about Myriam Gurba, a queer Mexican American woman who courageously called out a white woman for advancing her own career through writing about Mexican people’s stories. Gurba’s intelligent, impassioned post sparked long-necessary discourse on how the publishing industry privileges white writers even when they write about communities of color. I feel that psychological research could benefit from a similar reckoning, especially given the American Psychological Association’s stated commitment to dismantling systemic racism.

As a future counseling psychologist, I firmly believe that both individual and systemic-level change are necessary. As an aspiring academic, I am committed to actually checking in with my students and asking them how they feel about my relationship with them, to mitigate the potential for harm and to practice actual accountability if I have hurt them. I will name power differentials that come from my position as an advisor as well as the power dynamics that emerge from our various privileged and marginalized social identities. I will continue to educate myself so that that burden does not fall on my students. Furthermore, I commit to knowing my own lane and supporting researchers doing research on and with their own communities, while reading more about how I can help decolonize research overall. I do hope academic journals will institute policies and practices that empower academics of color. At this point though, as a graduate student and early career researcher, I try to focus on what I can control. I do my best to take accountability for my own actions as I engage in advocacy and activism. I also remember to practice gratitude for the mentors I have had who have nurtured my passion for social justice-related research, as well as those who have nurtured my voice and my desire to speak out about injustices in the academy overall.

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Thomas Le, MS, is a doctoral candidate in Counseling Psychology at the University of Maryland, College Park. His research integrates counseling, cultural, and health psychology by focusing on how gender socialization and racism impact the development and maintenance of eating disorders and substance use in marginalized communities (e.g., Asian Americans, LGBTQ+ people of color). In their free time they enjoy laughing and processing with close friends, reading books about social justice and interpersonal relationships, and listening to Blackpink. You can contact him at tple[at]terpmail.umd.edu.

Careers in Science-Related Policy, Part 1: Balancing Research with Policy Interests in Graduate School

Mary Fernandes, Melanie Arenson, Elyse Mowle

The number of PhD graduates that pursue traditional tenure-track faculty career paths is declining yearly (Horn, 1999). Many graduate students choose to pursue “alternative” careers in business, industry, policy, education, practice, and more. Unfortunately, while most PhD training programs adequately train students for research-based careers, few are able to support the needs of students with alternative goals. As a result, graduate students are left to supplement their training with experiences aligned with their career goals. But how? Well, if you’re interested in pursuing a career that integrates science and policy, you’re in luck! Below, we have listed some helpful educational and training resources to help you build your policy-related skill-set, as well as some tips to help you balance your research responsibilities with such opportunities. 

Resources/tips for students interested in policy 

  1. Look for policy trainings locally and/or at the conferences that you attend (e.g., SPSSI’s 2019 Policy Workshop). 
  2. Get involved in policy-making or policy-influencing bodies at your university (e.g., Graduate Association of Student Psychologists, University Executive Committees, etc.). 
  3. Get involved in your local Psychological Association and/or other mental health organizations that include a strong advocacy or policy component. Ask to get involved in these roles. 
  4. Seek advice from psychologists in your area of study who currently hold policy positions of interest to you. Ask them what their path to their position was and try to emulate it. 
  5. Align your research and practice work with your career goals as much as possible. In your research, think about the policy implications of your work (see this blog post for more information). Stay updated on policies relevant to your clients. 
  6. Apply for training grants that might allow you to pursue a more full-time educational experience while in graduate school (e.g., the Predoctoral Fellowship in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services). 

Tips for balancing policy interests with research and clinical work

  1. For most students, the ability to pursue opportunities outside of graduate school will likely require the approval of a mentor or department head. Be prepared to justify the experiences that you wish to pursue and how they align with your career goals. Consider ways to gain buy-in from your mentor. 
  2. Prioritize your interests. If you have a clear picture of your ideal career endpoint, that might help you prioritize. If you do not have a clear endpoint, do not panic! Consider prioritizing experiences that might help you explore potential careers of interest. 
  3. Practice saying no in an assertive and kind manner. In order to make room for the experiences that you wish to gain, you will need to say no to ones that are less aligned with your goals.
  4. Budget your time. As a graduate student, you’re probably already well-versed in this skill. However, adding additional responsibilities might require more skills. Consider blocking out chunks of time or days for different responsibilities (i.e. research: Friday-Monday, practicum: Tuesday, clinical work: Wednesday, policy work: Friday). Make a plan, and stick to it. Try to arrange your policy-related educational experiences around times when you can truly gain the most out of them. This might be during the summer, during a semester when your course load is lower, or during a “gap” year. 
  5. Consider ways in which your policy interests can be integrated with your research interests. This might serve the dual role of 1) having your research inform your policy, and vice versa, and 2) gaining buy-in from your advisor in the form of publications, conference presentations, etc.
  6. Self-care! Adding more to your plate means expanding your mental, physical, and emotional resources. Family time, sufficient sleep, healthy eating, and exercise are important. The more you stretch your limits, the more important these will become. 

Benefits of pursuing policy-related experiences in graduate school

  1. Skills you learn (writing and presenting information for a variety of audiences, speaking to stakeholders and policymakers) are applicable across many fields, whether you go into research, a clinical career, industry, or policy full time.
  2. Sharing your passion about a particular area of interest (eg. specific population, pathology, social-justice issue, etc.) could help you stand out during internship and postdoc interviews.
  3. Networking! Getting involved at the university, local, state, and national levels means meeting and developing professional relationships with more psychologists in your field and area of interest.
  4. Exploring and narrowing down career interests. You might find novel ways to use your skills and pursue an interest that you hadn’t thought about before delving into a policy opportunity. 
  5. Gain a different perspective. Engaging in policy work might allow you to form a more macro-level perspective than is typically afforded when primarily working with individuals in clinical or research settings. A more systems-based perspective, might, in turn, inform your research and clinical practice. 

Increasing Research Transparency in Psychological Science: How Can Graduate Students Participate?

Written by: Michelle Rivers, Rachael Soicher, and Dr. Morton Ann Gernsbacher

  1. What is transparency in research, and why does it matter?

Research transparency, also referred to as “open science,” is the process of making research and its dissemination accessible to all levels of society. Practices that increase research transparency accelerate progress toward solving the persistent problems of society. For example, you may have heard about the “replication crisis” in psychology and other sciences. Engaging in open science practices can help make science more reproducible and thus more trustworthy.

As the field of psychology works toward greater research transparency, how can you get involved? In this post, we talk about some baby steps you can take as a graduate student, and we address some common challenges you may face along the way.

2. How can you get started?

Below we’ve crafted a short list of ways you can make your research more transparent. Think of baby steps. Don’t feel like you have to do all of them at once!

  • Pre-register your study design, hypotheses, and planned analyses. Place them in a locked file (hardcopy or electronically) or post them on free websites like AsPredicted or Open Science Framework.
  • Make your study materials, data, preprints, and post-prints publicly available online, such as on your lab’s website or on Open Science Framework.
  • Avoid “Questionable Research Practices,” such as selectively reporting dependent measures/entire experiments, revising your sample size after viewing your data, or so-called “HARKing” (hypothesizing after the results are known).
  • Take advantage of research collaborations. Do you have or need access to a particular demographic sample? Check out StudySwap or Psychological Science Accelerator, online platforms for research replication, collaboration, and resource exchanges.
  • Use free and open-source software so it’s easier for others to reproduce your exact methods and analyses. For example, OpenSesame and PsychoPy are open-source applications for running psychology experiments, LimeSurvey is open-source survey software, G*Power is free software for running power analyses, and R is free software for statistical computing and graphics
  • Practice disseminating your research to diverse audiences. For example, one of us, Michelle, manages a blog (cogbites.org) run by early-career academics that focuses on translating scientific research about the study of mental processes to a general audience. To learn more about science communication and outreach, consider applying to attend ComSciCon, a workshop for graduate students, by graduate students.
  • Stay informed! If you have an advanced stats or methods course in your program, encourage the instructor to include recent readings on research transparency. One of us, Morton, teaches an open-access active-learning Research Methods course, and you can find other teaching resources here. Consider starting a reading group with other students in your program!

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Positioning Your Research as a Graduate Student to Address Social Injustices

By Kevin Wagner and Gabriel Velez

Social injustices involve power relations and unequal access to privileges based on domination and subordination (Miller, 1999; Prilleltensky & Gonick, 1996). Examples abound across the globe, and given their prevalence and impact on human suffering, conducting research to address social injustices are particularly important. As a graduate student, it can feel like there are so many problems in the world and there’s nothing we can do about it. A first step in this journey is recognizing the problems we are most passionate about, identifying our role and resources to address the problem, and then acting in our roles as emerging psychologists. This article is how to do that as grad researchers in psychology by offering an overview of the dissemination and implementation (D&I) literature as a guide to position research to address social injustices. It emerges from our own reflecting, asking ourselves, how can we position our research as graduate students to address social injustices? Below we draw from the D&I literature to outline four guidelines to position research as a graduate student to address social injustices.

Tenet One: Planning Your Research

Bartholomew & Mullen (2011) assert that effective research is guided by theory and empirical evidence. Planning your research to address social injustices means selecting appropriate theories and understanding what empirical evidence provides a strong foundation; design research based on theory to provide sound structure to your investigation. One common framework from the D&I literature to develop change programs is intervention mapping, which includes six core steps: 1) describing the problem (e.g., a phenomenon related to social injustices), 2) developing metrics to measure change (how will you measure the impact of your research, program, or intervention on addressing social injustices?), 3) implementing theory-based intervention to promote change, 4) organizing materials to produce the program cogently, 5) implementing the program with fidelity and with support from others, and 6) creating an evaluation plan to assess the effectiveness of the program (Bartholomew & Mullen, 2011).

Tenet Two: Conducting Your Research

Whether qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-methods, a critical component of research with a social-justice focus is attentiveness to positionality, diversity, and validity. The many facets require more space than we have here, but we believe it is important to highlight that the research process itself must reflect and be forthright about the social justice orientation of the researcher (Morrow, 2005; Ponterotto, Mathew, & Raughley, 2013). Specifically, best practices to consider for reflection include, 1) cultural competence of the researchers, 2) research focus, 3) selection of research design, 4) composition of research team, 5) power dynamics with participants, and 6) data collection and analysis (Fassinger & Morrow, 2013).

Tenet Three: Disseminating Your Research

Disseminating your research is necessary to share your message and involves spreading information to targeted audiences using determined strategies (Tabak, Khoong, Chambers, Brownson, 2012). In the context of social injustice, it is vital to have your research accessible to relevant stakeholders that can utilize it, such as policy makers, clinicians, advocates, educators, and community members. Of course, sharing your research to non-academic audiences means you will need to communicate academic findings as if you were not an academic. This is difficult, especially when we don’t usually get trained to write that way, so this may involve some self-learning through reading instructional blog posts, finding exemplar writers in your area, and examining APA policy statements. You should also anticipate and plan to address potential barriers, such as costs, time, relationships, and partnerships needed to disseminate your research.

Tenet Four: Implementing Your Research

Once you have conducted your research and generated knowledge, implementation entails applying it to make a difference (Tabak et al., 2012). There are always barriers to doing this. Considerations include: how can the research inform actual policy and practice; what are barriers within applied connects; is the local political and social climate going to be supportive; will a community be receptive to or want to participate in a community-based intervention (Klein & Sorra, 1996)? Observing the organization, conducting surveys, and making connections with desired organizations – that is, studying and caring about the local context – can help you successfully implement the research.

Conclusion:

Social injustices are rife but can be studied and addressed through a psychological lens. As graduate students we were simultaneously in a position of vulnerability (e.g., advisors, programs, student debt) and privilege (e.g., highly educated; access to university/professional resources). Therefore, in many ways graduate student researchers are in a unique position to be keenly aware of injustices and have the resources to make a real difference. Some of these resources can be found in relevant professional and community organizations, such as APAGS subcommittees (e.g., Science, Committee for the Advancement of Racial and Ethnic Diversity, Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity, Advocacy Coordinating Team). Having an overall guiding framework can help provide structure and clarity in how to draw on these supports. Therefore, we have offered a brief overview of the D&I literature as a first step for other graduate students interested in delving further into questions of social justice and integrating them into their own work and development. With this goal in mind, we end with a list of some resources for further exploration.

Further Resources for Exploration:

  1. Journals/Volumes
  2. Articles for General Reflection
  3. Organizations

References:

Bartholomew, L. K., & Mullen, P. D. (2011). Five Roles for Using Theory and Evidence in the Design and Testing of Behavior Change Interventions. Journal of Public Health Dentistry, 71, S20-S33.

Fassinger, R., & Morrow, S. L. (2013). Toward Best Practices in Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed-Method Research: A Social Justice Perspective. Journal for Social Action in Counseling & Psychology, 5(2), 69-83.

Klein, K. J., & Sorra, J. S. (1996). The Challenge of Innovation Implementation. The Academy of Management Review, 21(4), 1055-1080.

Miller, D. (1999). Principles of Social Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Morrow, S. L. (2005). Quality and Trustworthiness in Qualitative Research in Counseling Psychology. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 250-260.

Ponterotto, J. G., Mathew, J. T., & Raughley, B. (2013). The Value of Mixed Methods Designs to Social Justice Research in Counseling and Psychology. Journal for Social Action in Counseling & Psychology, 5(2), 42-68.

Prilleltensky, I., & Gonick, L. (1996). Polities Change, Oppression Remains: On the Psychology and Politics of Oppression. Political Psychology, 17(1), 127-148.

Tabak, R. G., Khoong, E. C., Chambers, D. A., & Brownson, R. C. (2012). Bridging Research and Practice: Models for Dissemination and Implementation Research. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 43(3), 337-350.

About the Authors:

Kevin Wagner is a second year Ph.D. student in counseling psychology at the University of Texas at Austin (Email).

Gabriel Velez is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago (Email).