Psychology employability: Work experience reflections from our students. Blog 1, by Haniya Zaka

During my second year of my psychology degree, I completed a placement as a research assistant with Dr. Anat Bardi. My main tasks were to assist in data collection and to contribute to lab meetings. The first study I collected data for was a paradigm investigating whether values can influence what we hear, specifically, whether holding benevolence- caring values make us more likely to hear the word ‘help’. Since I was able to dedicate lots of time to this experiment, we were able to get to the required number of successful participants by the beginning of the second term. The second study investigated whether values affect what we see. It involved the use of an eye tracker and administration of a value questionnaire. Lab meetings varied from giving feedback on draft papers, brainstorming potential explanations for unexpected findings and helping develop highly specific research paradigms. These edits and suggestions allowed for more rigorous scientific practice.

One of the most interesting things I learned was how the research process actually works and how many years of dedication and hard work it can take before research is publishable. The more practical elements of the research process – such as how hypotheses and participant numbers are normally pre- registered to prevent malpractice – provided me with a much deeper insight to publishing in scientific journals. Further, I developed a more theoretical understanding of value-related research, something that I had initially learned in the first year of my degree but developed further awareness of during this placement. Because my placement was in the psychology department, I felt that I was able to apply much of the knowledge and skills that I had developed from my degree in my work (and vice versa!). In particular, research methods modules I had studied allowed me to quickly understand the tasks required of me. Crucially, I learned that it is also worth taking longer to reflect on papers and reports that needed critical feedback, something which inevitably helped in all my assignments! Whilst I always read the papers at least a day in advance, I often read them only once, make some notes and then attended the meeting. As a result of this minimal reflection time, I felt that I lacked the ability to explain my suggestions in detail, which would have been more useful and would have perhaps generated more ideas. This could definitely have been improved by going back to read and think about the paper/report a few more times in the days leading up to the meeting. Undoubtedly, all the skills which I have learned as part of my degree were further polished and developed as a result of this experience.

Initially, I was very keen to jump into further study immediately after finishing my degree. Through learning about research and the research process, as well as the dedication it takes to make a livelihood from it, I will probably take some time initially to gain some experience in other settings. I hope to pursue a career in teaching and/or educational psychology. Whilst this work experience opportunity was not directly related to teaching or educational psychology, the skills I was able to hone, such as attention to detail, communication skills and working as a team, I feel would be incredibly valuable in these fields and the further study I plan to undertake in educational psychology in the future.