Many people argue that academics today are losing their touch while moulding very acute students who are fully equipped to meet the demands of the marketplace. The loss of quality in education has been a common trend worldwide with cases of poorly trained workers in the workplace. Students in the field of psychology, to be specific have been significantly affected by these inefficiencies. For quite some time now, psychological students have been victims of poor research studies that have been attributed to the fewer opportunities they have received in the job market. It has been rumoured that their tutors are not extensive and innovative enough to nurture them well to the cost of their careers in a field with so many opportunities. This paper looks at some of the evidence as to why this has been experienced with the aim of showing that there is this trend currently in the psychological sector.
The use of different methodologies in psychology course work has not fully tackled by many people (Barron & Apple, 2014). The use of one or more methodology courses is quite imperative in the raising of a psychologist who can understand and put into application the basic research methods found in psychology. These research methods are inclusive of research design, data scrutiny, and data interpretation. According to Barron & Apple (2014), this kind of study approach has been incorporated by at least 98% of all undergraduate programs. That sounds so compelling but it is nevertheless as functional as presumed.
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The use of methodology requires the presence of a well-organised structure and sequence to ensure maximal student learning outcomes (Barron & Apple, 2014). As discussed in the case study by Barron & Apple (2014), it is evident that most psychological students are victims of poor sequencing in school. They are taught on the methods before being taught on the statistics involved. This is a setback as it is expected that students learn statistics first before engaging in any methodologies of research.
Moreover, Pliske, Caldwell, Calin-Jageman, and Taylor-Ritzler (2015) argue that statistics and research methodologies should not only be taught separately but integrated together. Their argument is that students tend to have transitional issues when it comes to linking an aspect they have learned from one class to the other. This means that by learning statistics first and then carrying on the knowledge to the methodology class could be quite a strenuous and tedious study structure for them. Caldwell et al. (2015) argue that this could still be one of the reasons as to why there is a kind of deficiency in psychology students. They are of the idea that to ensure efficiency; this two must be co-taught alongside one another in a classroom.
Further, students in psychology are not directly involved in research. Research involvement is one very critical aspect of educational practice that should be upheld by all professionals (Jansen et al., 2015). The field of psychology is well known for not involving their students directly in their research activities. The lack of direct involvement in research takes away the student’s ability to learn how to put what is learned in class into practical application in their various field.
With this, the student is thus unable to seize the opportunities that are right before them which can only be realizable by allowing students to engagement actively in research activities. Jansen et al. (2015) studied the effects of student involvement in research and realised that most of the students who actively participated in the practice ended up taking up more successful careers in nursing as compared to those who did not. They had an easy time fitting into the job market because they had already knew what kind of work they were enrolling for. In contrast, involving psychology students directly in research makes them fully equipped to face the kind of labour market that they are bound to face.
Again, most psychological schools do not integrate service learning into their curriculums. Service learning is yet another paramount teaching strategy. Its impact on student performance both in class and in the actual field cannot be compromised at any cost. Service learning is an advanced way of student involvement in research. They are allowed to collect and analyse real data, formulate research questions, and also to understand the role they have to play as statisticians and as members of research teams (Bringle, Reeb, Brown, & Ruiz, 2016). Service learning brings the working research experience to the student. Now, with most psychology programs placing less focus on this value, it has eaten in their ability to engage successfully in research even while taking their career jobs.
It has also been noted that most psychology institutions do not make use of peer mentors (undergraduate teaching assistants) in their curriculum. They forego the significant role that these persons play in academics. To show how crucial teaching assistants are, Crowe, Ceresola, and Silva (2014) embarked on a case study. They used four classrooms in their study, where two of them had undergraduate teaching assistants and the other two did not. After a given period, it was discovered that those students with these teaching assistants performed much better than their counterparts. Their participation in class and other co-curricular activities was quite high. Significantly, the use of such peer mentors in a psychology classroom could be a very great step towards achieving success. It could make the students more motivated to engage in research and also become more passionate about their course.
In conclusion, institutions need to learn how to incorporate ways of ensuring maximal participation of their students in both inside and outside the class activities. There is dire need to make sure that the job market receives students who are already aware of what is expected of them. This save will save most organizations the hustle of having to take new employees through training as they will already know what to do.
References
Barron, K., & Apple, K. J. (2014). Debating curricular strategies for teaching statistics and research methods: what does the current evidence suggest? Teaching of Psychology , 41(3), 187-194.
Bringle, R. G.; Reeb, R. N.; & Ruiz, I. A. (2016). Service learning in psychology: enhancing undergraduate education for the public good. American Psychological Association . Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/14803-010.
Crowe, J., Ceresola, R., & Silva, T. (2016). Enhancing student learning of research methods through the use of undergraduate teaching assistants. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 39(6), 759-775.
Jansen, D.; Jadack, R.; Ayoola, A.; Doornbos, M.; Dunn, S.; Moch, S.; Moore, E.; Wegner, G. (2015). Embedding research in undergraduate learning opportunities. Western Journal of Nursing Research , 37(10), 1340-1358.
Pliske, R. M.; Caldwell, T.; Calin-Jageman, R., & Taylor-Ritzler, T. (2015). Demonstrating the effectiveness of an integrated and intensive research methods and statistics course sequence. Teaching of Psychology , 42(2), 153-156.
