<p>Hey all,
I'm a current grad student in a masters program for school psychology at a mid-size, non-research university. However, as a result of my training in the program with cognitive and socio-emotional assessment tools, I have become very interested in the statistical procedures utilized in their construction. I am now considering going to get a doctorate in quantitative psychology, and several of my professors have encouraged me to do so. My research experience is somewhat limited, although I will be working under a quantitative psychologist in a lab this summer. I have also had undergraduate courses in statistics and calculus, and graduate courses in research methods, psychological testing/measurement, and advanced statistics. I would like to apply in the fall, but I don't know if there is anything else I should be doing until then to better prepare myself and make myself a more viable candidate. Would I even be viable candidate? Any help would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Quantitative psychology is an <em>excellent</em> choice. I wish I had known about the field when I was in college (I went into social psychology instead and just took all of the statistics classes I could, and am planning to add an MA in statistics to my PhD). It’s the only subfield in psychology where the jobs outnumber the candidates instead of the other way around.</p>
<p>I’d say that given your mathematical and statistical background you are a strong candidate. Just keep doing your research with a quant psychologist and if possible, take advantage of the opportunity to present your research at regional conferences (or national ones, if you can qualify). Quantitative psychology is less competitive than social or clinical or even cognitive or experimental, simply because there are fewer people competing for the slots (even though there are only a few programs).</p>
<p>Also consider programs that have different names but teach essentially the same thing, like educational measurement, psychometrics, evaluation and assessment, etc.</p>
<p>You may find this site helpful:</p>
<p>[Quantitative</a> Psychology](<a href=“http://www.apa.org/research/tools/quantitative/index.aspx]Quantitative”>http://www.apa.org/research/tools/quantitative/index.aspx)</p>
<p>It lists doctoral training programs in the field (including ones that are not called “quantitative psychology” but are related), how to prepare for doctoral studies in the field, and other interesting and useful things.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. I’m just concerned that I won’t have a ton of research experience under my belt, although I will have some this summer. I did work as a research assistant as an undergraduate for a semester, but I was mostly involved with secretarial work. My original plans were to go into an applied area of psychology, so most of my experiences have involved counseling work and working with at-risk high school students.</p>
<p>The only thing you can do is try to beef up your experience as much as possible, then apply when you are ready. If you aren’t ready yet, there are a variety of options to take. You could work as a research assistant in a psych lab for a few years, although I will say you may not get the quantitative work you really want. A potentially better option is that many testing agencies, data analytic agencies and think tanks hire bachelor’s degree holders with sufficient quantitative backgrounds to do research for them. Educational Testing Services is a big one that hires psychology majors with significant statistical interest to work on their tests, and that is a perfect job to have before applying to quant psych programs.</p>
<p>Bumping this. I just got accepted into three quantitative programs, and I am waiting to hear back from another two. Two of the programs I have been accepted at are housed within the psychology department, while the other is through the education department. In all cases, I will have the opportunity to perform research with item response theory, which is my goal. Does it make any significant difference, in terms of personal marketability, if I earn my quantitative PhD through a psych or ed. department?</p>
<p>In academia, yes. If you get your quant psych PhD in a psychology department, you can work in psychology departments and colleges/schools of education. If you get a degree in educational measurement or psychometrics or something in a college of education, you may be limited to working in colleges of education unless you do some extensive work with psychologists in grad school or a postdoc. Psychologists are funny like that.</p>
<p>Thanks for the quick reply! I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome (I wasn’t going to apply for fear of a limited resume). Is there any other advice you would provide in choosing a program?</p>
<p>If you can, visit the programs that you were admitted to. Talk to the people who would be your mentors/advisors/who you would work to closely. See the facilities/resources, and talk to current graduate students. See the graduate student housing. Visit the library. I did this before accepting my current offer (where I’m a 5th year) and it’s how I knew I could be here - I connected with my future advisor and with other professors in the program.</p>
<p>If you can’t visit, ask the departmental secretary to refer you to a few doctoral students who would be willing to chat with you about their experiences in the program, or contact them yourselves if their contact information is listed on the page. Also, ask if you can speak to your potential mentor or a professor who does research that’s interesting to you on the phone. Visit the website of the school and look at their library resources, databases held, and their lab facilities if you can.</p>
<p>First and foremost, congrats. My D had similar interests but is going to a survey methods program where she combines her interest in psychology with quantitative methods to develop surveys and survey questionnaires. I’m a stat person from way back and also worked on surveys, but if I had to make a choice today, I’d go into the field you’ve chosen, which should be in some demand given the emphasis on student and teacher evaluation in the field of education today.</p>
<p>I think a key to your selecting a program should be, as alluded to by others, the expertise of the faculty and how well it supports your interests. You would do well to try to discern their connections with places who are interested in hiring you for the expertise you would develop. For example, if you’d like to work someplace like the College Board, perhaps you can find out who has relationships with the technical people there.</p>