Just got more feedback (from week two, assignment two) from the professor whom I find intimidating, but still want to impress (since he’s in the field I’d like to enter):

Allison your first paragraph may be the best I’ve read anywhere on this topic, and your post as a whole is as good or better than any I’ve received on this assignment.

KICK. ASS. Remind me why I was so afraid to get started on this? What I’m finding is once again, when I hit a level of flow with a project, the words just pour out. Of course, it took me several hours of research and outlining to get to flow (sheesh, for a flipping three-paragraph paper), but still…I’m feeling pretty good.

The piece in question was for this assignment: Discuss in a posting whether or not and in what ways you think scholarly psychologists (scholar-practitioners) who understand scientific methods in psychology are indispensable in the process of resolving contemporary social problems or issues and achieving constructive social change. In what ways might the future well-being of humankind hinge on greater input from psychologists and social scientists from related fields? What obstacles might there be to addressing these problems and issues more scientifically?

My response:

Chocolate, meet peanut butter.

“Scholar.” For me, this word conjures images of serious-minded academics, rising above the fray of daily minutiae, engaged in highly important (if, perhaps, irrelevant to daily life) research about their chosen subject. This (admittedly stereotypical) scholar relies on the scientific method for accurate findings, and uses proven techniques in the testing of promising hypotheses. The scholar might also be a bit removed from reality, and the discovery process may move along at a red-tape-induced trudge. “Practitioner.” A practitioner is what I have always imagined myself becoming, in some way, shape, or form. The practitioner gets things done, helps people in a real-world sense, and has a firm grasp of the issues facing society. Yet, this word, too, is not without worrisome connotations. As a practitioner, I fear I could find myself so buried in the day-to-day workings of my field that I fail to notice when the world (or proven technique) changes around me. Or, if I neglect to apply critical thinking in my practice, I may fall prey to lazy thinking and the next “big trend” in helping my clientele. By bringing together these concepts, I will have the best of both worlds as a scholar-practitioner: the scientific method matched with insight about which subjects to investigate, innovative ideas with a foot firmly planted in reality, and the ability to view from both a 10,000-foot and 10-milimeter perspective. I believe the scholar-practitioner mode of professional practice is indispensible for solving the problems that face our society.

To see the potential impact of a scholar-practitioner approach, one need look no farther than the American Psychological Association’s annual award winners in applied research. Recent winners have changed how the insanity plea applies in the courtroom (‘Award,’ 2008), quantified actual effectiveness of various forms of psychotherapy (‘Award,’ 2007), and opened avenues of government funding for further behavioral health research — funding that was previously only available to “hard” medicine (‘2006 Award,’ 2006). A scholar-practitioner doesn’t have to wait until becoming a lifetime achievement award-winning psychologist to have an impact. Even at the level of a single middle school, a counselor can employ the scientific method to determine which factors help students achieve, develop intervention programs, and assess the value of those programs (Ware & Galassi, 2006). Sometimes, change happens in great leaps; more often, the well-being of mankind is supported one student at a time.

The interplay of research and application certainly has impact; but, the road to application is not without bumps. Anti-scientific attitudes — postmodern thought, the belief in pseudoscience, and a lack of understanding of what is (and isn’t) good science — allow many unproven ideas to propagate at a much quicker rate than is possible for well-grounded research (Ruscio, 2006). In some cases, researchers encounters resistance from people who assume they already have the answers, as in educational psychology, where “just about everybody, having gone to school, thinks he or she is an expert on education—‘funding is abysmally low,’ ‘practical problems are intractable,’ the Feds don’t understand us,’ and so on” (Burkhardt & Schoenfeld, 2003, p.13). In still other instances, both the research and its application are unknowingly tainted by unconscious bias. In one English school teachers began to see special needs students where they didn’t exist. They had been given statistics of special needs students (statistics that were, in the first place, based on questionable research design) and started to unconsciously categorize their students to fit the expected ratios (Thomas & Loxley, 2005). Throughout the profession of psychology, purists to the assorted schools of thought may hinder progress with all-or-nothing approaches to the application of beliefs they hold close.

Regardless of the difficulties I may encounter, I am motivated to become what Dr. (Hard-Ass) referred to as “an eclectic applied psychologist,” someone who can recognize the value of the various perspectives and apply them as I see fit. It is my goal as a student — and future practitioner — to recognize reality for what it is and move forward accordingly, with the best information the scientific method can supply.

References

2006 award winners: award for distinguished professional contributions to applied research (2006). American Psychologist, Retrieved December 11, 2008, doi:10.1037/0003-066X.61.8.875b

Award for distinguished professional contributions to applied research (2008). American Psychologist, Retrieved December 11, 2008, doi:10.1037/0003-066X.63.8.773b

Award for distinguished professional contributions to applied research (2007). American Psychologist, Retrieved December 11, 2008, doi:10.1037/0003-066X.62.8.854b

Burkhardt, H. & Schoenfeld, A. (2003). Improving educational research: toward a more useful, more influential, and better-funded enterprise. Educational Researcher 2003; 32; 3. Retrieved December 11, 2008, from Sage Online Journals.

Ruscio, J. (2006). Critical thinking in psychology: separating sense from nonsense (Second Ed.). Belmont, California: Wadsworth , Cengage Learning.

Thomas, G. & Loxley, A. (2005). Discourses on bad children and bad schools. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 38(2), 175-182. Retrieved December 11, 2008, from Education Research Complete database.

Ware, W. & Galassi, J. (2006). Using correlational and prediction data to enhance student achievement in K-12 schools: A practical application for school counselors. Professional School Counseling, 9(5), 344-356. Retrieved December 11, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.

I should mention here that I simply love researching, to the point where I have to MAKE. MYSELF. STOP. AND. FREAKING. WRITE. ALREADY. The flow of ideas for “Oh! I could write about this! Or this! What about this!” is a total thrill for me. Yes, I am *that* nerdy.