Lessons from the research program at Virginia Commonwealth University applied to my faculty position.

Hook, Joshua N. ; Davis, Don E.

Engaging students in research can be a difficult endeavor. Students have no shortage of activities and responsibilities vying for their time, including courses, graduate assistantships, and practicum responsibilities. Many students think they will not like research--perhaps they just feigned interest to gain admission to graduate school. More realistically, they suspect they will become clinicians. Even when students know they want to be researchers, they may feel pressure to prioritize clinical work in order to compete for scarce internship positions. Thus, even seasoned researchers have difficulty getting students to prioritize research in graduate school.

This challenge of engaging students in research is what we consider in the present article, based on our recent experience as graduate students at Virginia Commonwealth University. We each graduated in the past two years. Neither of us knew we wanted to pursue careers as researchers upon entering graduate school. Somewhere along the way, however, we both developed a passion for research and writing and now both work at large secular state universities that place a heavy emphasis on research and pursuit of external grant funding. Thus, we wanted to reflect on some of the things that helped us discover and cultivate our interest in research.

Description of Setting and Situation

In some ways, it is probably easier for faculty in settings like ours to engage students in research than in other settings. Our doctoral positions are highly competitive, in part because students receive some combination of tuition remission and stipend. As such, we can choose our graduate students carefully, attempting to select students who want to be trained as researchers, share our research interests, and have the aptitude to succeed as researchers. Furthermore, graduate students enter our program knowing that they will complete at least two independent research projects (for most, a thesis and dissertation), on the way to their degree.

Furthermore, undergraduate students who are a part of our research teams also often express interests and commitment to research. Undergraduate students who participate in research are generally planning to go to graduate school in psychology, and it is necessary to accrue research experience for successful admission. Thus, although undergraduate students may not have as clear a fit in research interests, they are often motivated to participate in order to obtain a quality recommendation letter for graduate school.

Despite these advantages, we have often overheard highly productive researchers commiserate about the challenges of engaging students in research. Thus, we thought it might be helpful--while our experience as students is fresh in our minds--to discuss aspects of our graduate training that seemed to help us discover and cultivate a passion for research and writing.

Lessons

Orient Students to Scientific Culture

The transition to graduate school is a major one, and it is essential to help students adapt to their new social environment. In my first meeting (DED), Everett Worthington, my research and program advisor, first gauged my career goals and interest in becoming a researcher. I wanted to keep my options open, I told him. So, he helped me understand the experiences I would need in order to compete for an academic position out of graduate school--namely, publishing often and well ("mighty is the pen"). Second, we talked about what I might do for my thesis and dissertation. "Something for you, something for me," he said. This was a compromise in autonomy. Organizing research projects in this way allowed me to increase my own interest and ownership of the project, while at the same time capitalizing on his expertise. Third, he encouraged me to be strategic--"Never do anything for a single purpose." "Graduate students," he explained, "never get held up for not finishing their courses. It's always getting behind on research." He suggested that I plan every class paper and project so that it helped broaden my knowledge base and contributed to my developing research program. Fourth, he gave me an informal 30-page manual on completing a thesis or dissertation. It walked through what he wanted for each part of the project, chapter by chapter. In addition, he had his other graduate students send me their materials. Of course, being a new graduate student, I was anxious, so I read the document in a few days. In sum, the beginning of a mentoring relationship is crucial. It sets the trajectory of a student's experience. Be strategic about how you orient students into your research team.

Put in a lot of Energy in Early

It's a law of physics--and of training graduate students. The natural tendency is toward chaos. To bring order requires the application of energy. If you put in a lot of energy early, it will pay greater dividends as your students become increasingly autonomous and independent. Worthington made these expectations explicit. He expected that we would need more oversight and guidance for our master's thesis, but by the time we were working on our dissertation, we would be working more confidently and independently.

I (DED) still remember getting my first draft of my master's thesis back from Worthington. It looked like a blue alien had died on my paper. I had been warned by other students in the lab to brace myself for lots of ink on my first draft of my master's thesis. Lots of ink there was! Worthington did a full line edit of the entire thesis, treating the manuscript as if it was one of his own. Comments addressed everything from organization to changes in wording to errors in APA style. Worthington later explained that he always spends more time and energy giving feedback on the first few manuscripts. This strategy is an investment in all the later projects that the student completes, both in graduate school and beyond. I learned that he expected excellence and that it would save us both time if I honed my writing skills quickly.

Also, the natural tendency is for things to take longer than they should. So, meet regularly with your students. Do not be fooled! Faculty members are all busy, and many are tempted to abandon regular meetings with students to save a little time. Bad idea! We each met with Worthington once per week. We set writing goals at the beginning of each semester. Each week, we talked about the projects we were working on together. He let us take the lead during meetings. This style enhanced our motivation by regularly having us talk about our work and identifying the next steps. These meetings provided a structure to the mentoring role.

Build a Collaborative and Supportive Research Team

One of the greatest contributors to our growing love for research was our experience in our research lab. Many students think of research as a lonely endeavor. And some parts can be. Long hours are often spent alone, reading journal articles, analyzing data, and writing manuscripts. What many students (or psychologists for that matter) never experience is the joy of being part of a high-performing collaborative research team. Worthington showed us first hand that high-impact research almost always occurs in teams (there are no Lone Rangers anymore).

For both of us, our lab was a highlight of our graduate school experience. We met weekly; discussing projects, practicing talks for conferences or thesis or dissertation projects, and hearing other researchers present their work. We worked together, developed a sense of camaraderie, and were proud of the work we did together. Advanced students helped younger students learn statistical methodology. We learned to collaborate on manuscripts. We shared authorship and were very productive, and we enjoyed the rewards together. We were a family. Building this environment not only helped us to accomplish more projects, but it made research more fun for everyone involved.

Accordingly, choose your students carefully. All faculty members know to examine predictors of success in graduate school and in academia, such as grades, GRE scores, or research experience. We also stress, do not neglect to consider how applicants will fit with your research team. Ask your other students for feedback. Your students will detect things that you do not. Furthermore, soliciting their input will also increase the cohesion of your lab and help consolidate their values and identity.

Involve Students in Writing and Presenting Early

Students often doubt whether they can succeed as writers. Such fears are best treated with exposure therapy. Within our first few weeks of graduate school, it was clear that if we worked hard, we could learn the craft of writing and research. Within our own lab, we saw that older students were publishing regularly and were becoming increasingly autonomous. This was exciting and motivating.

I (JNH) remember that before I even arrived at VCU, Worthington emailed me to invite me to be a co-author on a book chapter he was writing. I was excited about the idea that I could be a published author! Right from the beginning of graduate school, we were rapidly introduced to the norms of collaborating. For example, in our lab, the first author produces a reasonably strong first draft. Then, coauthors make changes directly in the text, rather than making comments or suggestions, which are often unclear. The first author can later accept the changes or deal with the identified issue in another way. However, Worthington made it very clear that despite our inexperience, our perspectives were highly valued in the revision process. If something was unclear to us, it would likely be unclear to other readers (and reviewers).

Of course, our initial contributions were light, but through the process of collaboration, we began to see the kinds of changes that others made. Gradually, we found our voice and discovered our strengths and weaknesses as writers. As we progressed through graduate school, we honed each other's skills in a way that accelerated our growth. The advantage of working in teams is that your students will begin to teach and challenge each other. Watch out! They will even challenge and hone your skills. This is ultimately a good process.

Be an Advocate for your Students

All of the things we have discussed are predicated on a foundation of a mentor--student relationship that is based on trust and respect. At risk of stating the obvious--your students are people. They are individuals. They have unique personalities, skills, strengths, weaknesses, goals, and career aspirations. Some need more direction, motivation, or support than others. They will respond differently to criticism. Be a student of your students. Without flexibility, you will only be good at mentoring students who respond to your natural style.

You also must handle the power of role wisely. You cannot control their interests--nor should you try. Like Tom Sawyer, you are trying to make painting white fences look like fun. What you can do is invite your students to join you in your work. You can be the kind of mentor that is energizing to work with. You can deeply respect their autonomy in forming their career goals and be deeply devoted to their success. You can protect them from program politics, and sacrifice your time and energy for them. Your leadership in these ways will set the climate of your research team.

Conclusion

In this article, we have described five lessons that we learned from VCU's research program that we have begun to apply to our faculty positions. Although perhaps not our original intent, we both left VCU to begin academic careers that have research and writing as large components of the job. We are excited about discovering new things and ways to help individuals and communities through our writing. Much of this transformation was due to the mentorship of Worthington and the lessons described here. We hope that some of these lessons will be helpful for you as you engage your students in research.

Joshua N. Hook

University of North Texas

Don E. Davis

Georgia State University

Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed to Joshua N. Hook, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, University of North Texas, 1155 Union Circle #311280, Denton, TX 76203; joshua.hook@unt.edu

Joshua N. Hook is Assistant Professor of Counseling Psychology at the University of North Texas. His research interests include forgiveness, humility, religion/spirituality, couple therapy, and treatments for alcohol abuse/dependence and sexual addiction.

Don E. Davis is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Georgia State University. His research interests include forgiveness, humility, religion/spirituality, multicultural counseling, and couple therapy.