This program is designed to provide a capstone opportunity for seniors within psychology or closely related social science disciplines (sociology, anthropology) to conduct independent research projects within a supportive intellectual environment of other researchers. Research projects may be inductive or deductive in their approach, and may utilize qualitative or quantitative methodology. Research may be aimed at testing a well-established theory, replicating a study, crafting an elegant psychological experiment, designing and executing a written survey, conducting interviews, or engaging in observational ethnographic research. 

Students will form research groups within the program based on shared research interests (or methodological interests or theoretical interests). Faculty will provide structured support to these learning communities across all aspects of the research process. Students entering this capstone program should do so with a particular research project in mind, although faculty will work one-on-one with students to help shape the nature of their project in both practical and theoretically meaningful ways.

Students will attend the annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association (WPA) in Long Beach, CA, from April 28-May 1, 2016. This field trip will provide direct exposure to researchers in psychology, enabling students to talk with other researchers (many of whom are undergraduate or graduate students), find out about the latest trends in research psychology, and be intellectually stimulated by poster sessions, panel presentations, and talks by well-known scholars in the field.

Students who successfully complete this capstone program will have collected, analyzed, and written up their findings by the end of the spring 2016 quarter. This program is timed to correspond with the November 2016 deadline to apply to present research findings at WPA the following spring of 2017. Those who wish to continue their project work past the end of the quarter in order to prepare their work for conference submission or even publication in an academic journal may inquire about developing an Independent Learning Contract with the faculty in the summer of 2016.