At the time of choosing my major for college, I was convinced Psychology would be useful to manipulate my opponent in the court room given my understanding of the human mind (side note for people considering this: undergrad will not teach you this. Sorry folks). As the complexity in my worldview rose, that stoped being my purpose. In fact, the information in psychology remained interesting, but was too limiting for me. There is one thing that I have valued deeply. Psychology’s emphasis on the importance of research.
Research is the most essential part of academia. However, an appreciation of this process is not widespread across fields. Engineers for example, take classes where they learn concepts, all of which were researched by someone, but never touch the actual research. Instead they are taught the information they receive is natural law. Psychology, in contrast, holds a different perspective, namely that research is the most essential piece to the field and without a critical lens, there can be no field of psychology. Even undergraduates are encouraged to read published studies even if they cannot fully comprehend the content. They are trained to look at the methods with a critical lens.
Unfortunately, while psychology does value this, it still is not perfect. There is still an elitist attitude toward who can do research. Undergraduates, on a research track, are encouraged to create research process despite the simplicity of these studies (often just replications of well replicated studies). The assumption is that undergrads cannot fully understand research or contribute to the field.
This attitude is a plague in the world of academia. I imagine Gonzaga University as a Humanities education is better than most schools but still lacks in truly preparing students for the real world. In business, studies are often cited or considered, but there is not an expectation that people will read the studies with a critical lens. Even research within an office could be vague.
I feel lucky to have a mentor that has shown me the ins and outs of the research experience. The entirety of the research process. Preparation, data gathering, writing, peer editing, and publishing. We were asked to read his own studies with a critical lens. These opportunities have prepared me for the academic field. Frequently, I come across research questions, and prepare a study plan for a later time. I wish in the future this could be everyone’s experience. I understand that access to databases is limited because of the cost of research, however, in my dreamworld people would have access to studies. This way there can be more growth in knowledge.