Battling Imposter Syndrome in Academia

June 16, 2016

By guest blogger, Ima Syke Many months ago, following a reader request, I was tapped to guest blog on the topic of Imposter Syndrome (cue internal voice asking, “Am I worthy of writing this post? Did they ask me to write it because they know I don’t belong here? How did they figure me out?”). I’ve been assured the invitation had nothing to do with anyone’s perceptions of my inadequacy but rather a belief that I could do a great job and hopefully help many others similarly plagued by this type of pesky internal monologue. So here goes…Imposter Syndrome is generally defined as a collection of feelings of inadequacy that are prevalent despite success. Researchers have found this is more prevalent among women, graduate students, academics and interestingly, among those with evident success. This topic interested me for personal reasons; I have battled with aspects of Imposter Syndrome for years. While this is not a DSM diagnosis, it has impacted my career in academia in various ways. Let me give you a few examples from my professional life, hopefully others can relate.Recently, I sat in a meeting with a group of fellow academics as we prepare to write a large-scale collaborative grant. As I hear what other people can contribute to the data collection, writing the grant and other key aspects of this work, I wonder, “What can I contribute that others can’t?” and “My section will not be nearly as strong as theirs” and countless other comments revolving around self-doubt that ran through my mind. In other situations, I have remained silent during conversations that directly relate to my teaching or research for fear of “intellectual fraudulence.” And don’t even get me started regarding reading vitas! Others with Imposter Syndrome may feel like “luck” has more to do with their success than ability, or they may downplay their success. While I logically know that these behaviors hinder my productivity, collaborative relationships, and ultimately my perception in academia, I also never knew how to change these feelings until working on this blog post.Like any good academic, I started my assignment by doing research (i.e., investigating what has already been written on this topic). Perhaps unsurprisingly, Imposter Syndrome has been addressed in numerous academic magazines and blogs because it is all too common. Below are some strategies I have found in the literature for battling Imposter Syndrome.Recognize it within yourself and in others. Imposter Syndrome does not necessarily relate to low self-esteem or confidence; these are two different issues. If you suffer from chronic self-doubt and feelings of intellectual fraudulence, these are signs that you are battling Imposter Syndrome. If you see these traits in others, acknowledge what you see and allow for conversation on this topic.Regularly remind yourself of your accomplishments. Create lists or email folders of accomplishments and refer to them when these feelings of inadequacy strike. Part of Imposter Syndrome is the inability to internalize accomplishments, even when highly successful.Become keenly aware of your strengths. Learn what you excel in and utilize these abilities often, especially in collaborative relationships. This will heighten feelings related to your usefulness and contribution. Utilize others to help you with this task as it may be challenging for some to identify personal accomplishments.Discuss Imposter Syndrome with your students. Recognize patterns within the classroom (such as comments from students that may indicate these feelings) and have open discussions about this topic. Furthermore, talk with your students about how you overcame your own doubts or how you are still working to overcome them.Seek support. People who have Imposter Syndrome may find benefit in seeking therapy to improve their coping mechanisms. Group therapy might be particularly beneficial as relating to others and their experiences and coping strategies can be powerful.If you are interested in learning more about how to overcome this problem, Academic Coaching and Writingis offering a free webinar, Managing Imposter Syndrome in Academia, on June 30th, 2016.Additional resources on this topic:Feel Like a Fraud by Kirsten Weir in APA’s gradPSYCH MagazineFaking It: Women, Academic, and Impostor Syndrome by Kate Bahn in VitaeThe Imposter Syndrome, or, as my Mother told me: “Just Because Everyone Else is an Asshole, it Doesn’t Make you a Fraud” by Phyllis Rippeyoung for The Professor Is In‘I’m not worthy!’ – Imposter Syndrome in Academia by Jay Daniel Thompson for The Research WhispererAn Academic With Imposter Syndrome by Joseph Kasper in the Chronicle of Higher EducationDo you have any further coping strategies for imposter syndrome? What works – and doesn’t work – for you? Don’t be afraid to share. You are not alone.

Forming a Healthy & Productive Relationship with Your Office of Research Compliance

April 18, 2016

By Dan Gadke & Kasee Stratton, Mississippi State UniversityAs a researcher, there is a strong likelihood that you are familiar with the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and your University’s Office of Research Compliance (ORC). There is no doubt you are up to date on your institutional training requirements, whether they be from the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI; www.citiprogram.org) or a program your university has put together. And, you are well versed in the importance of the IRB for the protection of potential participants. Each time you design a study, you make sure to follow the appropriate IRB submission protocols and wait for approval prior to beginning the project, which is exactly what you are supposed to do—at least in most cases.That being said, many folks are unaware or unfamiliar with other IRB options outside this most common submission procedure; however, there are two other options that are of particular use to school psychology faculty: (1) the use of archival data sets and (2) the development of a memorandum of research understanding with your ORC. While both of these may look slightly different at your respective institutions, we provide our experience as an example. The ORC at Mississippi State University has full accreditation by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP; http://www.aahrpp.org), following the most rigorous of standards for ethics, quality, and protection of human subjects.

Archival Data

From a bare bones perspective, archival data is exactly what it sounds like, existing data. These data may have originally been collected with no intention what so ever of being used for research purposes. Given our field is driven on data-based decision making and treatment questions are often analogous to research questions (e.g., which intervention is most effective for this child?), it is no surprise we might have data lying around that was not originally intended for research. We have found valuable use of archival data sets in school and clinic settings.Schools. Often we have graduate students out in the school setting for practicum and other field-based experiences conducting evidenced-based assessments and interventions. At our institution, when students are on practicum they are required to complete what we refer to as a data-based project in either academic or behavioral intervention, assessment, or consultation. Students are expected to provide services under a best practice model, which often involves measuring treatment integrity, interobserver agreement, comparing interventions to choose the most effective and efficient one (e.g., experimental analyses), and so on. In some cases, these projects, which were originally designed for training purposes related to service delivery, yield novel and unique data that are dissemination-worthy, particularly when we think about presenting (i.e., poster or paper) or publishing in the world of research-to-practice.When data are generated in the school setting during routine practicum training requirements that you decide you would like to use for dissemination, it is time to prepare an IRB application for the use of archival data. At Mississippi State University, we have an approved “data agreement form” we worked to create with our ORC for these specific instances. In short, the data agreement form is used to obtain parent or administrator consent for data collected on-site might be used for scholarly dissemination. If it is used for these purposes, the data are di-identified (i.e., stripped of any direct identifiers) and the university ORC reviews the use of the dataset prior to dissemination. When our students are working with a child in the schools, we often send the form to their parents/guardians to sign in the event that their child’s data are ever pursued for research use. Additionally, a school administrator signs the form and agrees to release a de-identified (i.e., no direct identifiers) version of the dataset to us. After supplying the ORC with the IRB write-up, the data agreement form(s), and evidence of de-identified data, we are often then able to use those data for presentations or publicationsClinic. Like many other programs, at Mississippi State University we have our School Psychology Services Clinic (SPSC), to provide our students with additional training opportunities. At the SPSC we provide supervised intervention (i.e., academic and behavioral) and assessment services. These include individual services, groups, and summer camps. Similar to what was outlined in the school setting section above, the data collected during treatment may be dissemination worthy. In these cases, we follow the same protocol mentioned before, without an administrator. Parents are asked to sign a data agreement form during the intake appointment. That being said, our MOU (described below) provides an exception for data collected from 3 or fewer participants in our clinic.Other. There are large existing data sets available through different organizations (e.g. NCES) or even your university that may be of interest to you. For example, we wanted to evaluate college satisfaction differences between college students who had a registered disability on campus to those who did not. Many university exit surveys conducted through the Office of University Effectiveness (or a similar entity) ask students these varied questions (i.e., do you have a register disability with the university and satisfaction related questions). Many of these surveys also have a question(s) indicating if their data can be used for research purposes in the future. In this situation, we had university administrators sign the data agreement form and we completed an IRB application. After receiving approval, we requested the de-identified data sets be sent to us. In a single day, we had approximately 14,000 data-points from the previous five years to analyze.Key points on use of school-based archival data:

• Great option for data collected in schools and clinic but not originally intended as a research project.
• Great option for large existing data sets.
• Make sure to have a data agreement form providing permission for data to potentially be used in the future.
• Make sure to complete an IRB application as soon as you decide to use data for dissemination purposes.
• Meet with your ORC representative to discuss how to best use archival data sets from your institution.

Memorandum of Understanding

A memorandum of understand (MOU), which may be called something entirely different by your ORC, is essentially an agreement that outlines the parameters of research activities allowed in the absence of an IRB application submission. MOUs are particularly useful for individuals conducting single-subject, clinic-based research. We modeled our MOU after Johns Hopkins Medicine IRB policy and their Behavioral Psychology Department (for their full policies, see here).Our MOU has several key features, including:

• Clear overview and break down of the services provided at our clinic (i.e., School Psychology Service Center; SPSC).
• Clear policy on research and publication of data
  • All research requires Human Research Protection Program (HRPP) approval
  • Boundaries between research and practice
• Guidelines for use and publication of clinical data
  • Defining “clinical data”
  • Defining “single case report” (i.e., clinical data collected from 3 or fewer participants)
  • Defining “case series” (i.e., clinical data from more than 3 participants)
• Reporting requirements to the HRPP

Essentially, our MOU states that as long as we follow all procedures as outlined in the MOU, when using data from 3 or fewer participants, we do not need to submit for HRPP review; however, bi-annually, we need to report all projects disseminated this way. If a project has more than three participants, than we have two options: (a) if it was a pre-planned research project, submit IRB first as you typically would; (b) if it is archival clinical data, submit an archival data IRB request. In all instances, regardless of the number of participants, data need to be consented for use using the approved data agreement form mentioned under archival data.While the MOU is particularly handy for disseminating single-subject design data involving 3 or fewer participants, it also makes all other IRB (i.e., traditional and archival) applications easier because the ORC had a clear understanding of your procedures.

MOU Use Examples

Single Case Report – 3 or fewer participants not requiring HRPP review. You have 3 children come to your clinic, all needing reading interventions. You have parents/guardians complete the data agreement form prior to beginning treatment.  You conduct a brief experimental analysis comparing the effectiveness and efficiency of a non-electronic intervention to an iPad app. You find the non-electronic intervention is more useful than the iPad app. You deliver the non-electronic intervention across several weeks, alternating its use with a control to ensure long-term effectiveness. In the end, you realize you have interesting data that are unlike anything currently in the literature. As long as all procedures were followed as outlined in the MOU, you have consent to use the data, and you report this project in the bi-annual report to the ORC, you can disseminate the data without HRPP review.Case Series – more than three participants. You do the same intervention outlined in the single case report above, but it turns out you have 5 clients the intervention worked for. You decide after finishing the intervention that the data are worthy of dissemination, you must submit for IRB review of archival data.Thus, with some advanced planning, researchers can put into place procedures that allow for efficient segueing class, fieldwork, and clinic activities into research publications and presentations (see a list of the scholarship that has resulted from these efforts). This is particularly valuable where practices are implemented systematically as part of training and lend themselves to analysis of effectiveness. This also presents an ongoing opportunity to integrate teaching and research activities and model a scientist-practitioner orientation to professional development and teaching for our students. We hope that you find this information useful when working with your ORC and IRB.  If you are interested in seeing an example of our MOU, please email us and we would be happy to share.

Give Yourself the Gift of No

December 14, 2015As an early career scholar, you have a finite amount of time so there reaches a point where saying yes to one thing means saying no to another—or where you risk overburdening yourself to the point where your performance in many or all areas of work suffers.  Saying yes to x often means less time for y. This becomes problematic when x is a nonessential, unwanted task and y is a highly valued or necessary task (e.g., writing).  Ideally, such decisions are driven by your professional and personal goals in conjunction with institutional expectations, especially if you are concerned about promotion and tenure. Maintaining any sense of balance in one’s professional roles and with one’s personal life will likely require accepting that we cannot and do not have to do everything. Often, this requires releasing ourselves of unrealistic expectations of personal perfection and pleasing everyone around us. Further, protecting the time needed to do well the things you need and want to do will require learning to say no to other nonessential opportunities and tasks.Learning to say no first requires identifying your priorities so that you can easily identify requests and opportunities inconsistent with those priorities. After identifying priorities it can be helpful to build time for necessary and desired tasks into you schedule and calendar. Just as you block out time for commitments to others (e.g., class, advising appointments, committee meetings), you should schedule time for commitments to yourself to better account for your time and to ensure necessary or desired tasks do not fall by the wayside. This is especially important with research and writing time since these are often the first to be sacrificed when faced with competing demands. For many scholars, these are also the highest priority. I routinely schedule writing time on my calendar. Treating these times as nonnegotiable helps to ensure you don't abandon this priority. Few of us would accept competing appointments when we are scheduled to teach, but it is not uncommon to accept competing appointments when we plan to write even though it is counterproductive in both the short and long term.For those who have difficulty saying no, I have a colleague who admitted she notates writing time on her calendar as meetings with administrators so that others who view her calendar won't consider infringing on the time and to remind herself of the importance of these appointments. A similar strategy may work for you if you are concerned that your commitment to research time won't be accepted or respected by colleagues. The important thing is to carefully guard your time so that other activities don't crowd out your priorities and prevent you from being productive and efficient.Another strategy that can make it easier to say no is giving yourself a minimum amount of time to consider any request or invitation. For instances, I know other EC scholars who wait at least 24 hours before responding to invitation or request for time or involvement. This disrupts an otherwise automatic tendency to say yes to everything and provides the time needed to reflect on whether an opportunity or request is consistent with one’s priorities and availability. Rather than blindly saying yes to everything, consider the potential benefits and costs, including the impact on your other work. Mentors and more senior scholars can provide valuable guidance in this decision process.You will also have to accept the need to practice pleasantly and unapologetically saying no. Some people are incredibly uncomfortable with the possibility of disappointing others or are so conflict-avoidant they would rather say yes to everything than risk that discomfort, only to fall short on their own goals. Still others are motivated by some mistaken belief that they are so important that others need them to the point that they cannot say no. This is very rarely the case. Once you've accepted that there are times when you can and should say no, do so simply and unapologetically. It's okay to say no without offering any more justification than you are simply unavailable. That is generally all the requester needs or is entitled to know. Practice saying, "Thank you for the invitation, but I am not available at this time." Or "Thank you for this opportunity, but I'm unavailable." When justification is needed, it can be helpful to link you refusal to you job duties or tenure expectations, or to have a senior colleague--generally your program or area coordinator-- back up your decision (e.g., "My program coordinator advised me against taking on additional service activities at this time."). Certainly some individuals may make requests that you shouldn't refuse, but don't assume every request they make is one of those. Instead, ask for time to consult with your colleagues and verify your availability and then speak with more senior colleagues and/or you program/area coordinator who can help you evaluate the request, and, when appropriate, plan your refusal. At times, your coordinator may want to say no on your behalf depending on who the requester is in order to more convincingly state your need to focus on your priorities.Another helpful strategy for people who tend to reflexively say yes is to remind yourself that no is the default decision unless you can identify sufficient professional or personal benefits to saying yes. For a few years, I posted a small note on my computer that read, "Just say no." For me this visual reminder was needed to counter my knee jerk reaction to accept every research and service opportunity that came my way. In the end, it saved me a lot of unwanted stress and time.In the end, learning and practicing saying no is necessary to bring strategic in managing your time and commitments.  Time management is key to being efficient and productive and avoiding overextension and burnout.  Chances are you'll enjoy your work more when you are judicious with your time. Be kind to yourself by giving the gift of allowing yourself to say no when appropriate.

Foundations for Successful Scholarship in School Psychology

August 31, 2015

This year, the ECF invited Randy Floyd, professor at the University of Memphis and previous editor of SSSP’s Journal of School Psychology to share his advice for early career researchers. In this first installment, Randy offers general recommendations for successful scholarship in school psychology.  Foundations for Successful Scholarship in School PsychologyBy Randy G. Floyd, The University of MemphisAs a participant in the 2005 School Psychology Research Collaborative Conference, I am the beneficiary of the numerous, ongoing efforts of the Society for the Study of School Psychology (SSSP) to enhance the scholarship of the field through professional development activities and generous funding of several initiatives. Thus, I appreciate this opportunity to contribute to the SSSP Early Career Forum and focus on publishing and the peer-review process. I hope to offer, in a series of five blog posts, (a) practical insights from both my experience as a university professor and as a former editor of one of the major journals in the field and (b) information from reviews of the literature and research with close colleagues (including Craig Albers, Tom Fagan, Rebecca Martinez, and Sterett Mercer). Future posts will address employing specific strategies (and avoiding common mistakes) in submitting to peer-reviewed journals, finding the best resources to which to turn, and responding to reviewer and editor feedback. In this post, I want to offer 10 broad recommendations for scholarly success:1.      Be a student of the game. Devote time, money, and effort to securing resources and participate in trainings that will enhance your skill set and strategy use as a scholar. Although the strongest scholars continue to expand their competencies throughout their development, your early career is the time to establish a strong foundation on which the remainder of your career can rest. It is likely, too, that you will have more time early in your career to reach this goal than later in your career, when service responsibilities tend to increase. Find articles, book chapters, books, and blogs that address career success (see for example, Prinstein, 2013), and read voraciously. Seek out and attend presentations at professional conferences and use start-up monies and department funding to attend specialized workshops (e.g., focused on grant writing and advanced statistics and research designs). I will address some of these resources in my next blog post.2.      Finish what you started as a graduate student, intern, post-doc, or early career practitioner. If you have not already, work to publish your thesis and dissertation research. In the same vein, discuss with your major professor, supervisors, and research team members ways to present and publish research results or other projects from your graduate training, post-doctoral experience, or earlier career in practice. Find ways to channel what you have learned from those experiences into other published products (e.g., a narrative review of the literature, a test review, a newsletter article, or a guide for practitioners).3.      Collaborate selectively with others who have a scientific orientation, data analysis skills, or are generally good at writing. The best collaborations are synergistic—or at least mutually beneficial. There is no sense in collaborating for its own sake; some collaborations may produce more cost than gain. As you establish your competencies, know where you are weakest and seek out others who will complement you. Unless you anticipate more cost than gain, continue research and writing collaborations with major professors, supervisors, and research team members (as previously noted). Do not hesitate to contact more senior members in the field about collaborating in areas of their most intense interest. They may be overjoyed to team with energetic early career scholars and very willing to provide guidance. Their contributions will likely complement your own; they will be less likely to generate text for a manuscript but more likely to offer advice regarding study conceptualization, manuscript preparation, and viable publication outlets.4.      Identify when and where you work best and protect it. Focused, productive writing and thinking time is vital to the success of an early career scholar, so give generously of your time to service throughout the week, but do not hesitate to say (without elaboration) that you cannot meet during sacred periods. In selecting them, reflect on what time of the day you are at your cognitive best, and complete your most challenging work then. Save less demanding tasks (e.g., responding to emails) for when you are not at your cognitive peak. Although these periods may change throughout your career (and due to variable home and work schedules), strive foremost to protect your best time. In addition, work where there are few distractions—which often means not in your university office. Many of the most productive faculty work at home—often staying home at least a day a week or during long mornings or afternoons throughout the week. Others find hiding places on the university campus (including library study carrels or empty classrooms) or in coffee shops (when neither home nor work offices are quiet options). Consider employing time management strategies (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique), but whenever and wherever, turn off email, text, and phone message notifications during these thinking and writing sessions.5.      Spend at least 8 hours (1 work day) a week writing. As you consider your schedule each week, stay aware of the amount of time you engage in writing activities (see Silva, 2007). Writing in the broad sense includes everything supporting scholarship and manuscript development. For example, when you feel unable to produce some semblance of coherent text during a scheduled writing period, reading and taking notes from articles, adding and formatting references, and writing incomplete sentences in manuscripts will support your broad writing goals. Write what comes easiest to you, which rarely reflects the standard Introduction, Method, Results, and Discussion sequence of manuscripts. When writing, many productive scholars start with the most concrete elements—in Method and Results sections—and extend writing from there. For me, each section of the manuscript requires different thinking and text construction processes, so I tend to develop those sections somewhat independently. Reviewing the text structure and content of articles and other publications as models as well as journal article reporting standards (see Cooper, 2011) will assist you in developing manuscripts.6.      Use your breadth of experiences as a foundation for your research. For professors, use readings from your courses, student questions, and student projects to generate ideas and projects to enhance your research agenda. For practitioners, develop manuscripts focusing on research based on single-case studies and program evaluations to address practical questions in the field. Generate ideas for literature reviews from questions posed to you during workshops or from pressing issues facing practitioners and administrators in schools and clinics. You should strive to never be without data or an idea for your next manuscript.7.      Find your publishing niche (or niches). With a variety of publishing outlets—including journals, newsletters, and books—you should consider your interests and skills and how they might be best aligned with these outlets. Rather than always striving to publish in journals, some scholars with strong writing and editing skills publish more authored and edited books than research articles. Others with a strong leaning toward practice-based issues publish in professional newsletters. Still others publish commercially developed assessment instruments, test reviews, and book reviews. In the same vein, let your data analytic skills help fill a niche. Consider ways to develop skills in specific areas that will allow you to use them repeatedly to answer questions in a novel way across parallel projects. For example, some research teams focus on publishing meta-analyses or qualitative analyses and publish multiple studies using these methodologies. Others employ sophisticated quantitative analyses (e.g., structural equation modeling) and archival data sets from test publishers or longitudinal data bases to produce a series of related articles.8.      Consider multiple outlets for your publications. It is easy to gravitate toward submitting manuscripts first to the journals you know best and then giving up when these journals do not agree to publish your work. Do not be disheartened. There are a wide variety of school psychology generalist and specialty journals and professional newsletters that target and publish quantitative and qualitative research, systematic and narrative reviews, descriptions of best practices for the field, test reviews, book reviews, and “thought pieces.” Another blog post in this series will focus on this array of publishing outlets.9.      Use national presentations as motivation. Professional publications (even books and associated chapters) rarely have hard deadlines associated with them. As such, determining when to submit your manuscripts to journals is almost always completely up to you. Some of the strongest scholars in the field (and their students) appear to use (a) proposals for presentations (as posters or papers) at national conventions and (b) the presentations themselves to motivate them to complete their projects. Frequently, these presentations yield feedback that can be used to refine subsequent manuscript development. Plus, each presentation will add to your count on your curriculum vitae.10.     Be a strong mentor in guiding students toward publishing. Just like your collaborations with your major professor and supervisors, your efforts with your students can produce publications about which you can be proud. When well designed, theses and dissertations developed under your mentorship should be publishable. Additional scholarly projects with individual students or across your research team members not only assist the development of your students’ skills and careers but also increase your publishing productivity.ReferencesCooper, H. (2011). Reporting research in psychology: How to meet journal article reporting standards. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.Prinstein, M. J. (Ed.). (2013). The portable mentor: Expert guide to a successful career in psychology (2nd ed.) New York, NY: Springer.Silva, P. (2007). How to write a lot. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.The author would like to thank Dr. Ryan Farmer, Dr. Xu (Lilya) Jiang, Dr. Beth Meisinger, and Dr. Colby Taylor for their feedback on earlier drafts of this post.

Capitalizing on Technology to Facilitate Writing Partnerships

August 3, 2015

By Anisa N. Goforth, University of Montana and Natasha K. Segool, University of HartfordHere’s the challenge: Get two highly motivated research partners and friends to work together on research studies and manuscript writing, while one is working at a young doctoral program that is focused on APA-accreditation in frontier Montana and the other is balancing different priorities in a teaching-focused specialist program across in Connecticut. It’s no small feat, and one with which that we have grappled with for four years. Yet, we have been very successful in developing two large-scale studies and data collection efforts, producing three peer-reviewed articles, two peer-reviewed conference papers, and three peer-reviewed conference posters, with more scholarship underway.The BackstoryWe met in graduate school at Michigan State University’s school psychology program. Currently, Natasha is an assistant professor at the University of Hartford in West Hartford, Connecticut and Anisa is an assistant professor at the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana. Natasha was able to provide some support and advice to Anisa during her academic job hunt and during her transition into her academic position, which followed a year after Natasha’s own career started at the University of Hartford. Given our distance from one another, our friendship has mostly occurred through phone conversations and visits during academic conferences.As early career faculty, we often talked about the challenges of academic life, particularly developing and growing a research agenda amid multiple competing demands for our time. During one of our discussions, we talked about our mutual concerns and questions about the use of social media among our graduate students, some of whom did not appear to have a sense of professional etiquette online.  It was our big “Aha!” moment and we encourage everyone to look out for theirs—it is easy to miss. Prior to this, we had discussed doing research together, but those plans never took shape. We had tried to brainstorm research ideas, often forcing projects in which we had some shared experience. Yet, without passion and genuine interest, these ideas perished tragically in our shared Dropbox with documents that went unedited, and frankly unseen, for months at a time.The key to our success has been capitalizing on our shared questions and curiosity. Once we realized that we were both having similar conversations in our classrooms about professional behavior and etiquette online, we wanted to examine these issues further. However, we were traversing an area of professional psychology that had limited research to turn to related to the ethical and legal ramifications of social networking use. Thus, with little fanfare, we launched into a new phase of our relationship. From friendship alone, we added “collaborative researchers” to our identity. Technology helped with this immensely.The LogisticsOver the past two years, we have designed and conducted two studies related to social media in school psychology. Both projects have led to peer-reviewed journal articles (one article in the Trainer’s Forum, one articleled by our colleague and another MSU alum Andy Pham, and another one currently under review) and conference presentations. All of these projects have been developed and written collaboratively using various technologies. Through these projects, we problem-solved through trial and error to develop working habits that were efficient and effective.Creating accountability.We set up bi-weekly meetings to ensure accountability and keep our projects moving forward. Like many of us who are early career faculty (or mid- or later-career!), competing responsibilities seep in, and consequently, our work often occurred just prior to the upcoming meeting, knowing that our colleague was relying on the other to complete tasks. Our meetings were held using Google Hangouts, which allowed us to use the video call feature from our computers. After our meetings, the project leader sent an email with assigned tasks discussed during the meeting.To organize the meetings, we often used Doodlebecause our schedules were already busy and our two time zones made it difficult to find overlapping work hours. Although it was only a two-hour difference (EST and MST), we had to balance meetings around students, teaching, writing times, and truthfully, our personal lives! Between other responsibilities and our desire to not schedule meetings after 5pm, we were left with a single hour from noon to 1pm on Fridays.  Protecting this time for our meetings was essential, and by prioritizing it, we believe this resulted in our success.Although we did not always have significant progress to report, by meeting face-to-face every two weeks, we held each other accountable. In addition, we were able to consistently discuss our project, our expectations of ourselves and each other, and we were able to problem-solve before major barriers arose and derailed our vision. By seeing each other, we maintained a close working relationship together and communicated effectively.  In retrospect, in the rare circumstances when we canceled our meetings, our emails to one another were indications of being side-tracked or caught up with other competing responsibilities. It was our face-to-face meetings, however, that got us back on track and moving forward.Writing and research materials. In order to collectively work on our project, we primarily used DropBoxto share research documents (e.g., IRB documents, research questionnaires, manuscript drafts, etc.). The key advantages to DropBox were that 1) we were both already using it for our other professional responsibilities, 2) we could easily use it from our work and home computers, 3) it provided notifications to us whenever a document was updated document, and 4) it retained documents in typical formats (e.g., Microsoft Word). At other times, other writing tools have been more helpful. We have used Google Driveand its tools (Docs, Sheets, Slides) while on a Google Hangoutvideo call so that we could work collaboratively on content in real time.Challenges and RecommendationsThere were a number of challenges that we needed to problem-solve, including time zones, accessing files, and troubleshooting technology (e.g., connectivity problems, dropped video call, camera errors). At times, this certainly hampered productivity in addition to causing frustration when we had set aside precious time to work together. In the end, however, we firmly believe that use of video-calling technology and file-sharing technology has facilitated much more productivity and accountability in our work together.  The technology allowed us to meet frequently, feel connected with one another, and have the opportunity to incrementally advance our work. More often than not, we spent our first five to ten minutes checking in with each other about our personal and professional lives before launching into our work, which was important for us to maintain and grow our friendship as well. We see our work together as a win-win!A few other things to consider:

• Some researchers are going to be more adept to technology than others. Expect to provide some on-the-go tech support in addition to developing unique research ideas and empirically rigorous studies.
• Compromise on technology options and choose ones that suit the needs of mostof the researchers. We recommend considering the reliability of the technology, ease of use, and cost effectiveness.
• Be patient when there are technology issues (internet connectivity, video chat drops). Sometimes you just have to shrug your shoulders and laugh.
• Designate one person to be the group leader for the meeting (perhaps the PI or another researcher). As with in-person meetings, virtual meetings are more efficient and effective when someone keeps the meeting on track.
• Designate someone to email everyone after the meeting with a summary and specific tasks, including due dates.
• Build in time to socialize. Expect to spend 5 to 10 minutes chatting and updating about each other’s lives. This is a surprisingly important and rich part of research collaboration!

Resources for Interactive Research CollaborationsVideoconferencing and Communication Tools:Google Hangouts·         Advantages: Allows for video calls with up to 10 people; group conversations are easy and video facilitates understanding and quality interactions; allows for screen sharing to discuss specific issues (i.e., data analysis); integrated with the Google platform, facilitating communication across email, documents, and video.·         Disadvantages: User interface is difficult to navigate and can result in delays making initial connection; requires a Google or Gmail account; requires one time download of Google voice and video free plugin.Skype·         Advantages: Allows for video calls with up to 5 people; screen sharing is free.·         Disadvantages: Requires installing a program onto a computer.GoToMeeting·      Advantages: Allows users to share screen; personal “meeting room” for users; users can connect by computer or phone; can set up a schedule of repeated meetings.·      Disadvantages: Costs $24 to $49 per month; must install a program; voice calls often have feedback.FaceTime·      Advantages: Since many people use iPhones, video calls are easy.·      Disadvantages: Inconvenient for those without an iPhone or Mac; does not yet have a group video chat option.File Sharing Tools:DropBox·      Advantages: Allows users to share documents with a group; documents retain formating (e.g., Word, Excel); backups of files are created and files can be recovered for up to 30 days.·      Disadvantages: Editing must be done one person at a time, otherwise conflicted files are created; any change by a collaborator affects everyone else who has the shared file (e.g., it could be deleted).Google Drive·      Advantages: Allows for real-time simultaneous editing; facilitates team writing and collaboration.·      Disadvantages: Formatting between Google Drive files and mainstream Microsoft documents is problematic.Box·      Advantages: Allows for real-time simultaneous editing.·      Disadvantages: Less commonly used among researchers.

#makingresearchmatter

July 8, 2015

By Julia Ogg, University of South FloridaWhen thinking about dissemination and impact, those of us on the tenure-track typically focus on peer-reviewed journal articles and professional conference presentations. However, a presentation I recently attended at my university showed me how non-traditional outlets such as social media and mainstream publications can extend the reach of our scholarship. Indeed the popularity of TED Talks and websites devoted to making science interesting and understandable illustrate the public’s interest in obtaining information about contemporary research topics. Using non-traditional outlets could increase the impact of our research by creating an opportunity for people to be exposed to our work who would not see it otherwise. This could ultimately lead people to our more traditional and detailed dissemination efforts. Despite recognizing the potential of these venues for getting our research distributed broadly, many in academic positions (including myself) have reservations.  Below I consider a few common concerns in regard to dissemination through popular media and potential solutions.Concern: You are hesitant to share your research in non-traditional outlets like social media or mainstream publications because the information we generate from research is so nuanced.  That is, you do not want to oversimplify or fail to share the intricate nature of your findings.Potential Solution: This is a valid concern; however, one perspective is that getting evidence-based information out there may encourage people to read more in depth on the topic. Although the message may not be understood in the exact way you intended it, by sharing you may open doors. This point was made very eloquently by Jonah Berger, a professor of business and social media expert, when asked if he has ever seen any of his studies misquoted, “That is the danger. And there are definitely quotes where you talk to someone for a half-hour, and they pick out the one thing that you said that you wish you didn’t say. And then you have a choice though. Do you not want to speak at all about your work or do you want to do your best to get it out there in a rigorous way. And if it takes a life of its own, try to correct that. And I think, personally at least, I am interested in making sure that my work is useful to people, and so that’s a risk you have to take” (Scott, 2012). Another point to consider here is that it is important for us to learn how to talk about our research in a way that is both understandable and engaging to the public. Certainly publications in peer-reviewed journals are essential to advance science, but also making our work useful to more people can also be considered an important goal. These two goals do not have to be in opposition. When it comes to writing for mainstream publications, just like writing for peer-reviewed journals, practice and experience will help.  Learn and practice how to succinctly share what you are learning with your research.  What we are doing when presenting our research is telling a story (a non-fiction story of course). Any good story-teller appreciates the utility of a narrative arc.  Authors like Malcolm Gladwell have made a career publishing popular books (i.e., Outliers, The Tipping Point) known for integrating research with a human-interest story.  In addition, adopting other strategies, such as using infographics or pictures, can help draw people into your message in a powerful way.Concern:I don’t have time or this is too overwhelming. This will be way too difficult to sustain. Potential Solution: You do not have to become a media guru by tomorrow, but you do something as simple as joining Twitter and start following others with similar interests.  By becoming a consumer, you can learn about ways to use social media and other non-traditional outlets for disseminating your research. You may also gain information you would not have gotten via more traditional formats. It may be helpful to look at how other faculty use social media to share their work and I have provided a link below to an article on 50 media savvy professors.In terms of sustaining your efforts, one strategy is to try and find ways to make this part of your routine by building in a short block of time to engage each day or week. Using features like scheduling when a tweet goes out (which can be accomplished through Twitter add-ons such as Hootsuite), you can be present at times beyond when you are online.  One other nice factor is that you can also be on Twitter even when you have just a short period of time (e.g., while waiting at the doctor’s office).  Ultimately, you could consider institutionalizing your efforts by including a graduate assistant on grants that assists with disseminating results via these methods.I still have a lot to learn about how to effectively use and manage media to help disseminate my work; however, I think this is a topic that needs to be considered.  Sharing in these non-traditional ways may not be for everyone, but recognizing that the world we live in is changing and that these are increasingly widespread ways for interacting with others is important.  As academics we should consider how we can embrace these changes and use them to help our work inform policy and practice.ReferencesScott, M. (September 28, 2012). Good bye ivory tower, hello social media: academics struggle to make ideas accessible. The Pulse. 50 most social media savvy professors in America.Related Resources of Interest

• The Just a Click Away column in the Communiquéby Dr. Dan Florell is a great way to stay on top of emerging technologies.
• Reviews on mobile Apps on the NASP webpage
• The Best Educational Apps of 2014(these are apps for kids)
• Excellent example of a psychology professor who uses a variety of media outlets for his work ( Todd Kashdan)

In the comments section, please share any apps you use professionally that may be beneficial for others.

Academic Parenthood: Lessons Learned Along the Tenure Track

March 30, 2015

This is the first in a mini-series on Academic Parenthood, a follow up to the ECF session at the 2015 NASP Convention. The presentation is available here. Given the strong interest in the session, we are featuring two of the presenters' perspectives. In the first installment below, session lead Bryn Harris discusses her experiences as a parent and tenure-track assistant professor at the University of Colorado Denver.Academic Parenthood: Lessons Learned Along the Tenure TrackBy Bryn Harris, PhDI want to start this post by saying that raising a family as an academic has many advantages, but is also very challenging. Careers in academia provide flexibility which can allow for unique childcare arrangements; working hours that fit with your family’s schedule (rather than typical business hours); balancing teaching, research and service around family dynamics; and often an academic calendar that coincides with school breaks, among others. However, we also know that women are less likely to get tenure or advance to full professor than men (D’Amico, Vermigili, and Canetto, 2011) and that women with children on the tenure track are much more likely to drop off the tenure track than men (Ginther & Kahn, 2006). Furthermore, among tenured faculty, 70 percent of men are married with children compared with 44 percent of women (Ward & Wolf-Wendell, 2012). While I recognize this issue includes men and women, it is clear that women are impacted by academic parenthood in a unique way and thus my post will focus on my personal experiences as a mother on the tenure track.After reading the above paragraph, you might be surprised to learn that I willingly had two children while on the tenure track—I have a 2 year old and a 3 month old and I submit my tenure dossier this summer—and am so glad I did. I realize the decision to have children is a personal one, and for me I felt it was important to have children when my partner and I were ready, rather than waiting until after tenure. Below, I will provide some suggestions for people considering having children while on the tenure track. I realize that every university setting and personal situation will be different, but I hope these suggestions will be beneficial and promote your own success along the tenure track.Institutional Support. One of the main reasons that I feel I have been successful as an academic parent is the institutional support I received. When negotiating my leave length and responsibilities with my Dean, I prepared a proposal with my ideal scenario and shared this with her. Others might find it helpful to consider working more the semester prior to your leave to give you more time during your leave or other creative options. Could you teach a class during the summer to count toward your future load? Can you teach an online class after you return to allow you more flexibility in your schedule? Is a reduction in administrative responsibilities possible? Having conversations with your program faculty about your leave will also be beneficial. After you return, can you teach classes that you have taught before so as not to have new course preparation? Can another faculty member cover you advising responsibilities during your leave? Now is not the time to take on significantly more responsibilities – especially as you work toward tenure. Advocate for yourself! If you are unsure or uncomfortable with how to advocate for yourself, consider contacting university offices or committees that may be of help. For example, at my institution, the Women’s Issues Committee provides resources to faculty members and the Ombuds Office helps faculty negotiate leave or other responsibilities when there may be contentious relationships at play.Surround Yourself with Supportive Colleagues. I was surprised to find myself in a situation at my institution where there were no colleagues with young children when I had my son. Within the next couple of years, more of my colleagues were having children and somehow that felt less isolating. I found that I gravitated toward collaborating with other colleagues with young children at other universities as well. If I had to miss a conference call because my son was sick, they understood. This made the guilt I felt about missing work or a deadline more bearable. It was also nice to talk to these individuals about their own experiences in academic parenthood. One of my colleagues and I have a monthly phone call where we talk primarily about our success and challenges as parents. I feel this has made our working relationship stronger as well. It is not necessarily important that you surround yourself with colleagues that only have young children, but my point is to surround yourself with people who are supportive and understanding as much as possible.Know the HR Policies. It is important to know the requirements and processes within your own institution regarding leave, FMLA, and short-term disability (if applicable). I believe this should be done far before you think about having children. For example, at my institution we accrue sick leave each year to be used for events such as childbirth. If you do not have sufficient sick time accrued, people are eligible to purchase short-term disability insurance, which would cover additional weeks of leave at full pay. However, this has to be purchased during an open enrollment period prior to having your child. Be careful not to get all of your information from a colleague at your university that recently went on leave. You might fall under different leave policies if you are on a 9-month contract and they are on a 12-month contract, for example. Lastly, it is important to discuss whether you will stop your tenure clock. Some institutions allow faculty to pause or stop their tenure clocks so that the time does not count towards their probationary period when they have children, which can be beneficial when it is difficult to maintain productivity while caring for your new family member. This is a personal decision that should be discussed with your Dean, colleagues within your institution, and other mentors.Publication Pipeline. Hardly anyone I know has been able to time their pregnancy to the exact time they are hoping to have the baby. That being said, I do think this should be something you consider. I had one of my babies in September and enjoyed having the time during the summer to get some publications out the door and prepare for the baby’s arrival. I had my second baby in December (at the end of the semester) and was able to take off the spring semester from my teaching responsibilities, which meant 8 months off from teaching. In terms of research, pregnancy impacts your productivity more than you can imagine and most people find the second trimester to be the most productive time for them. I spent some time during the first trimester planning out all of the projects I would like to finish before I had the baby. I also tried to make my life easier after the baby came by having data collected by the end of my pregnancy so that I could write during my maternity leave. However, I truly believe that spending time with my baby is what maternity leave is for, they are only this young once! Once I returned to work full-time, I had several writing projects that I could delve into right away. This made returning to research tasks much easier. I also broke down my days so that certain days of the week were research-focused days and others were focused on teaching and service. I found that teaching responsibilities easily crept into research days and thus I gave myself a time limit of how much time I would spend preparing for classes each week. Amazingly, I feel just as prepared now than when I spent much more time preparing for my classes. I think that giving myself a time limit to prepare for teaching allows me to be more focused and efficient. There are always more research tasks I would like to be working on, but that was the same scenario prior to having my son. I do feel like I could be more productive with my research if I sacrificed more time with my family—which I am not willing to do right now. I allow myself to work during their naps on the weekend if necessary, but I also value the time I have with my husband and time I can focus on my own self-care.Be Kind to Yourself. When I came back from maternity leave with my son, I felt like I had been gone for years! It seemed like everything had changed at work and I needed some time to catch up. Furthermore, when it came to teaching I found that my confidence was lower and that I had a hard time getting into a “groove.” I think more than anything I was dealing with the fact that I was now a parent and an academic, and trying to balance these roles was tough. Give yourself some credit. You just had a baby. Returning to work can be challenging. But I also enjoyed having an identity other than being a mom when I went to work.Returning to work. Think about when are you the most productive. Do you normally work from home? It will be helpful to think about how the baby might impact your productivity and try to modify your surroundings. I thought I would be able to work from home when I went back to work. We hired a nanny who came to our house to care for my son. I quickly realized that I was incredibly distracted whenever I heard my son cry. I even bought noise-cancelling headphones to help! But I realized that I needed to physically separate myself from my son in order to be more productive. You will need to be patient with yourself as you re-learn how to be the most productive upon your return to work.Set Priorities. When you have children on the tenure track, you need to be especially focused on your productivity. Intimately knowing the requirements for tenure at your institution is the first step. I also recommend having regular meetings with the Dean or Department Chair regarding your productivity, establishing mentorship relationships with people who are also aware of the tenure requirements at your institution, and holding yourself accountable for your own successes. I encourage you to map out your projects and responsibilities as you work towards tenure. These goals can be broken down into 1 month, 6 month, or yearly increments. I also spend 30 minutes every Sunday mapping out my priorities for the week. My research priorities come first since research is incredibly valuable to achieving tenure at my university. It may help to share your priorities with others so you are held accountable.Flexibility. I used to be a person that always got things done on time, usually before I needed to. Those days may have passed! But I have embraced that. I focus on getting my priorities done on time, this allows me to feel productive. But I also know that my son will likely get sick at the worst time possible and that my daughter will refuse to take naps at all some days. I had to let some of that control go. Remember that your career will likely last for many, many more years. You will have other opportunities to do work.Practice Self Care. I find that it is increasingly difficult to find time for myself after my second child, but it is crucial. Maintaining your individual identity is important and makes you a better parent. If you currently have hobbies, think about how you might incorporate your baby or family into them – or how you can continue to do these things by yourself. Spending time with friends is also a critical part of my life and reduces feelings of isolation that you may have. You may consider joining a parent group in your neighborhood to meet other families with young children. This may be incredibly important for people without family members nearby as you can receive support from other parents (and maybe even a babysitting trade!). In addition, eating well and exercising are also important. I find that when I am not eating well I am more likely to get sick. We teach our graduate students about the importance of self-care, now is the time to practice what we preach!Supportive Partners are Instrumental. This may seem like common knowledge but it might be the most important factor of all. Have conversations with your partner ahead of time regarding your pregnancy and leave. What types of supports may you need during your pregnancy? How will you divide responsibilities during your leave? When you go back to work, how will you equitably provide care when a child is sick? When I had my son, I somehow thought I would have time to do the cooking, cleaning and care for my son during my leave. Reality check: if I took a shower that felt like an accomplishment. We are productive people or we would not be in academia. But you will need the support of others, and you will need to ask for help.One of the best things about being a parent is that it adds a new perspective to my research and teaching. It has allowed me to set greater limits with my work hours. I am more focused when I work since I know I have less time to work on something later and I want to spend time with my kids! Finally, careers in academia allow us flexibility that other careers may not and this lends itself well to parenthood. I hope we will all support other faculty members who have children, especially those working towards tenure.What other ideas can you share with us? What scares you the most about academic parenthood? What do you think will be the best parts of academic parenthood?

Developing a Research Agenda

November 12, 2014

By Milena A. Keller-Margulis, University of HoustonDespite how much and how often the term “research agenda” is used, there seems to be no agreed-upon, or formalized definition to be found. Many different entities may have a research agenda including entire fields of study, funding agencies, and of course individuals. We propose the following definition of a research agenda; a roadmap or framework that guides inquiry. A research agenda may be both global and specific. Ideally it is used to specify gaps in knowledge in a specific area and serves to guide the direction and development of new projects and research questions. A clear research agenda serves two important purposes. First, it can help you communicate to others what you study and the area in which you have developed (or are developing) expertise.  Second, it serves to guide your decision-making about what projects or specific research questions to pursue. Ultimately, you must be interested in and excited about the topic(s) at the heart of your research agenda.Strategies for Defining Your AgendaIt is never too early or too late to begin to develop your research agenda. It should not be considered static, as the process of developing an agenda is inherently reflective and ongoing. The best way to determine the general topic of your research agenda is to pay attention to the topics that interest you the most. You might discover this through reading the literature but these ideas may also surface through your practical or field-based experiences. These opportunities help to refine what might be a more global topic area into more specific or narrow research questions that have practical significance. Lastly, do not be afraid to test drive some areas of interest by getting involved in research, seeking out opportunities to explore new areas, and talking to other people with similar interests. These activities will help you narrow your focus to the topics and questions that are the most interesting to you.How to Put Your Agenda into ActionOnce you determine your general topic(s) of interest, the actions you take are what solidify your agenda. The two key ways to accomplish this are to (1) conduct research in the areasthat are the focus of your research agenda, and (2) disseminate the products of your research agenda. Generating new research and then disseminating it through writing for publication is the most critical way to further your developing agenda, and of course, contribute to the scientific literature. This can take many forms including writing proposals for conference presentations, writing grant proposals (small or large), and writing for publication. Dissemination can also be informal and involve reaching out to others who are doing similar work in order to identify potential collaborative relationships. All of these actions serve to communicate your agenda to others while at the same time developing and further refining your ideas.  Ultimately, having a research agenda means that you not only have specific topics that you are interested in studying but that you actively engage in research to advance that literature base.Here are some general tips to consider:

• Use your Research Agenda as your Roadmap: One of the most exciting aspects of working in academia and engaging in research is the limitless topics and projects you can pursue. This is also a challenge because you have to make choices as to where you will invest your time. Evaluate each potential research opportunity for the degree to which it is consistent with your agenda.
• Develop an Infrastructure: There are some logistic or infrastructure elements that you might consider in the early stages of developing your agenda. You should consider what you need to facilitate your work. Do you need space or support in the form of research assistants? Materials? Access to certain settings or populations of interest? Build a team of students to help you advance your agenda.
• Get Connected: Another strategy to further develop your research agenda is to collaborate with other scholars who are interested in the same topics. This can be accomplished in an informal way by meeting at conferences (e.g. attend social hours or networking events) or sending a friendly email but there are also structured mentoring/networking opportunities you can utilize. For example, the Society for the Study of School Psychology (SSSP) hosts the School Psychology Research Collaboration Conference every other year. This opportunity brings together junior and senior scholars to support the development of collaborative relationships. Reaching out to other professionals who work in settings that serve populations you want to study is also a great way to develop field-based research partnerships that are mutually beneficial.

Developing and furthering a research agenda takes time and commitment but having a clear area of interest that you find exciting, ensures that it will be a very rewarding endeavor.

Making the Most of Professional Conferences: More than Presentations

January 27, 2014

Many early career scholars attend conferences to present their research and learn about the work of others, but there is much more to conferences than just research. With the NASP convention fast approaching, scholars should plan to take advantage of the numerous networking and professional development opportunities offered. In particular, these conferences provide distinct occasions to network with individuals from throughout the nation around topics related to one’s professional interests and goals. Early career scholars should keep in mind the value of breakfasts, business meetings, social hours, receptions, and other social events as opportunities to meet scholars and clinicians whose interests overlap with their own. In addition, do not underestimate the value of the informal networking that occurs in hotel lobbies, lounges, and restaurants. Sometimes the best experiences can happen when you are just hanging out.Attending conferences is a valuable chance to meet people, so early career scholars should take the time to get to know other scholars, be it introducing oneself to respected researchers, potential mentors, prospective collaborators, or future colleagues. Conferences are also a great place to become acquainted with people with whom you might later interact with when applying for internships, post-docs, or faculty and clinical positions. You can prepare for these interactions by planning your “elevator speech” to quickly (approximately 1 minute) summarize your training and interests to others. It is useful to think ahead about how you want to present yourself to others in the field, even though you may tailor it for specific individuals.For more introverted individuals, this can be challenging, so it may be helpful to set goals to encourage mingling (e.g., 1. Introduce myself to Dr. Smith, 2. Talk to three interventionists, 3. Attend the SSSP Early Career Forum events, etc.). The key is to be as intentional about networking as you are in selecting sessions to improve your knowledge or skills in a particular substantive area of research or practice.Conferences also often provide opportunities for very targeted professional development relevant to early career scholars. At some professional meetings, these include methods or statistics workshops from brief workshops to multiday intensive trainings focusing on the development of technical skills, typically at reasonable costs. Professional conferences also offer diverse career development opportunities relevant to pursuing academic positions in school psychology and related fields, such as conversation hours and speed mentoring. We at the Early Career Forum are busy preparing such events for school psychology scholars attending NASP and APA.For graduate students and other prospective faculty, conferences can provide valuable opportunities to learn more about faculty roles and the nuances of engaging in the various stages and responsibilities of academic positions. Make time to talk to current faculty (most people are happy to meet up for coffee) or attend relevant sessions.So now that NASP is just a few weeks away, take some time to think about all of the non-presentation related activities you’ll be doing at NASP. What’s on your list?An earlier version of this blog appeared in the July 2013 issue of APA Division 16’s The School Psychologist.

Building and Sustaining School Partnerships

November 29, 2013

By Robert J. Volpe and Amy M. BrieschIf you have had the experience of entering an unfamiliar school and performing a well-rehearsed conference room pitch for some study you would like to conduct only to be rebuffed by the school staff, you are not alone. Although one of the more common concerns voiced by school staff is that there is already too much testing going on in the school, you likely have had the sense that the school staff views you as an outsider, of whose intentions they should be somewhat wary. If this is the case, the school has likely had one or more experiences dealing with what we call the slash and burn approach to conducting school-based research. Building research infrastructure is a lot like farming. Just like farming there are sustainable approaches, but there are also unsustainable approaches, which are ineffective for both the researcher and stakeholders. Research partnerships, just like any other relationship, are built on three principal concepts: a) mutual respect, b) mutual benefits and c) trust. Slash and burn farming involves cutting down shrubs and trees on a plot of land, setting the debris on fire and using the resultant ashes to nourish the soil for the purposes of growing food. Because the nutrients in the soil are rapidly depleted, the farmer must find a new plot of land and cannot return to the original plot until the natural vegetation grows back. School-based researchers often follow an analogous approach to partnering with schools because they fail to ensure that they are providing the school with adequate benefits and do not necessarily seek to sustain relationships within the school. Much like the farmer, slash and burn researchers find themselves repeatedly searching for new study sites because they have burned their bridges with former school partners who do not see the “partnership” as mutually beneficial. Alternatively, a key tenant of sustainable farming is developing and maintaining healthy soil, avoiding erosion, and supporting healthy root growth. A sustainable approach requires a greater investment of time, energy, and resources on the part of the farmer; however, it also results in both a more desirable product and long-term environmental benefits. The same can be said of sustainable research: although conducting an isolated study may require less time and effort than building solid partnerships with schools, the latter is likely to result both in a better study in the short term and fertile ground for future research down the road. In the table below we will compare these two approaches along some relevant dimensions. 

	Slash and Burn	Sustainable
Focus	Short-term	Long-term
Principal motivation	How I can get my study run?	How can my expertise serve the school?
Ideas about collaboration	Preconceived/rigid	Open and flexible
Communication	Explaining	Listening
	Abrupt	Proactive and maintained
Follow-up	Minimal	Maximal
Role	Outside consultant	Partner
Engagement	Low	High

 To build research partnerships that are sustainable requires the researcher to plan ahead. As early career scholars it is not a good idea to wait to contact a school until you need them as a site for a study. Early in your career or early in a new location, you have not yet built your “street cred.” By that we mean that you may have not yet demonstrated whether your relationship with a school is an asset to them or a burden. As a well-trained school psychologist (and perhaps a trainer), you know you have much to offer the school, but you will not know how you can best serve them unless you ask. Listening to the needs and developing research questions in this context is an example of participatory action research. We all want to do something to serve troubled schools, but when we listen to our school partners it helps us pursue informed action. Among the services we have provided to our school partners include:

• Benchmarking (e.g., DIBELS) the school, crunching the numbers, and presenting the data to the school staff
• Conducting staff in-service trainings on PBIS and RtI
• Consulting on challenging behavioral cases
• Evaluating programs
• Converting classes to service learning courses where students implement academic interventions
• Serving as a consultant to school leadership teams
• Engaging in problem-solving with teachers and team leaders to identify and assess appropriate interventions

Each of the aforementioned projects was viewed as a win-win for both the school and us. We provided useful resources and services that the school needed and our students benefitted from the experience. In some cases we were able to publish data generated from these activities. Also, when we approached the school regarding a study we wanted to conduct, the study design was informed by what we had learned about the school and the perception across parties was that the project was another win-win situation. Identifying opportunities for dual benefits and building mutual respect and trust take both time and attention, but these investments will likely pay dividends. The mistake too many investigators make is that they wait too long to plant the seeds of partnership and then are surprised to find that their yield is much smaller than what they had hoped. If you keep these considerations in mind, and implement sustainable research practices, we feel confident that both you and your partners will reap incredible benefits!