Expectations | Notion

NAVIGATION

You are free to do whatever you like. You need only face the consequences. —Sheldon B. Kopp

Everyone

I expect everyone to be “good citizens” of the POIS lab. Be prosocial, do good work, and care about what you do.

Research

Be curious. Science is about testing hypotheses, not confirming hypotheses. Frame research questions such that positive or null findings will be informative. Publication bias is real and we may fall into the trap of disdaining null results, but remember that null results are integral to scientific development.
Be intentional about the projects you choose to do. Studies take time, so every time you say “yes,” you are committing tens or hundreds of hours of your life. Make those hours count. Consider how your research can be used to improve someone’s life in some way.
Pay attention to what you’re doing. Quality matters, so it is well-worth taking the time to double- and triple-check your work before putting it out into the world. Ask others to look over your work if you need another set of eyes. Be able to stand behind your work when it is under scrutiny.
When you make mistakes (you will), tell your collaborators as soon as possible. It may seem scary, especially if your collaborators are faculty members, but catching issues early on will make rectifying them much easier. Making mistakes is part of being human and helps us to grow.
Evaluate your work based on how you do it (methods) rather than the outcomes it produces (results). Use rigorous methodology so that null results are interpretable. If you focus on appropriate methodology, it will lead to helpful answers.
Be intellectually grounded. This means knowing what you are about and what you stand for as a clinical psychologist. What is your theoretical orientation? What is your chosen philosophy of science? What are your scientific values? Why? If you are clear on where you stand, it's easier to make the difficult decisions we inevitably face as psychologists.

Lab Culture

Be a team player. Help others out if you have the bandwidth, validate their struggles, and contribute to fostering an inclusive and supportive lab environment. Treat everyone kindly and respectfully. You play a part in shaping the lab culture. A general guideline I try to follow is: Leave a place better than you found it.
Ask questions—lots of them. Even if it seems like you should know the answer. If you ask the question, we can all get on the same page, and someone gets to understand the topic better by having to explain it to someone else. Plus, we often make assumptions about what is “obvious,” and hearing “obvious” questions makes us more aware of these assumptions.
Resolve interpersonal conflicts mindfully and respectfully. It’s usually better if these issues are discussed openly (e.g., DEAR MAN)—even with me—than left festering for the many years you’re in grad school. To quote Carrie Fisher, “Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die.”

Personal Wellness

Take sick and mental health days when you need to. There is no work so important that it takes precedence over your physical or mental health. If you’re one of those people who likes to work when they’re sick, please still stay at home—I don’t want other people getting sick.
Treat yourself like you would someone you care about. If you think the work you’re doing is important, then you are responsible for making sure that you can do that work well—that means having enough sleep, nourishment (including meds if you need them), and movement at minimum.
Set boundaries between work and your personal life. The flexibility of academia is a double-edged sword. While it can be nice to make up for an unofficial long weekend by working through the night, it also means that working through the night will always be an option. No matter what boundaries you choose, (1) abide by them and (2) know that you don’t need to justify them to anyone.
Cultivate interests outside of work. There is more to life than your job. Reframe work-life balance as a work-play balance; work is not in opposition to life.
If you are struggling—as most of us do from time to time—please reach out to someone: a friend, lab mate, or me. Lean on your supports as much as possible. Supporting you is one of my values and I am always glad to listen and help in whatever way you need. Getting through grad school is challenging, and there is nothing wrong with struggling in a difficult situation.

Minutia

There are “mundane things” that always seem obvious in hindsight but are worth stating explicitly anyway.

Learn the lab systems (e.g., Notion, CardBox, Outlook calendar invites) and use them. When you do this, managing multiple projects becomes way easier for me, which also means I’ll get back to you more quickly, because I’m not tracking loose emails. This is the way.
Be on time to your appointments (i.e., be ready at the start time, not within a few minutes of the start time). If you need to cancel or reschedule meetings, let other attendees know as soon as possible and at least 24 hours in advance.
Meet your deadlines or ask for an extension ahead of time. I care less about your specific work hours than that you are getting tasks done. You don’t need to work from 9 to 5 every day, but if you commit a deadline, make every effort to meet it.
Lock the door to the lab and turn off the lights if no one is there.
Keep the lab clean and tidy. Clean up food, pick up litter, put things back where you found them, and keep common areas and walkways clear. Your desk, however, is your domain.
Dress appropriately for professional meetings. “Appropriate” depends on who you’re meeting. For research participants, jeans are fine. For me, PJs and sweats are fine. For the clinic, check with your supervisor.

Graduate Students

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See the ‣ for a summary of grad student responsibilities.

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There are a few expectations in addition to the above, specific to being a Ph.D. graduate student.

Make time for research (at least 6–10 hours/week in addition to your other responsibilities). It’s easy to let research deadlines pass because they tend to be more flexible than class deadlines, so rigidly protect your research time. One way to do this is to schedule writing time and treat it like a meeting. That means you start at the scheduled time and avoid scheduling meetings over it. “Writing” includes everything that ultimately goes into disseminating your research (e.g., cleaning data, drafting outlines, doing literature reviews, submitting IRB revisions).
Contribute to lab projects. If you join this lab, you should be interested in the research we do. You don’t have to be on every single lab project, but I expect you to be working on more than one lab project at a time—in whatever capacity (e.g., running analyses, writing, running participants)—on top of your independent projects (e.g., thesis, dissertation). Sometimes, this may mean working on a project that doesn’t completely align with your research interests, and that’s OK. It’s important to get exposure to related topics so you get breadth in your training.
Give back to the research community and hone your critical thinking skills by completing at least one peer review a semester (this will be a co-review between us initially but independent once you’re further along). If you submit manuscripts, you will benefit at some point from someone else volunteering precious time to review your work and provide constructive feedback, so this is part of being a team player. Unfortunately, the problems with the academic publishing industry are endless, and many (over 20,600 as of July 2024) researchers have understandably chosen to boycott Elsevier. If you choose to take this or a similar stance (i.e., refuse to review, publish, or do any editorial work for journal publishers whose practices you disagree with), I respect that and won’t ask you to do this.
Meet program milestones (e.g., thesis, dissertation). Know when deadlines are and plan accordingly to ensure you meet them. Sometimes there are specific submission requirements, so make sure you’ll have everything done before the deadline. If you need help, ask for it and I will support you.
Proactively seek out research opportunities. Propose study ideas, find collaborators whose interests overlap with yours, and ask about ongoing lab projects. Because this is a research-focused lab, I expect its members to be curious and motivated to participate in multiple projects besides their theses and dissertations. As a general rule, aim to have at least one empirical study and one manuscript in progress at all times.
Begin to develop your program of research. Ideally, your dissertation builds on your thesis and further clarifies the direction in which you see your research going. You don’t need to know exactly what the rest of your career will look like, but by the time you’re planning your dissertation, you should have in mind a big-picture topic or problem you’re motivated to spend hundreds of hours on. Literally, hundreds.
Make your dissertation count. Whether you like or agree with the academic model, a dissertation is ultimately what gets you your Ph.D., so in that sense, it’s the culmination of the time and effort you’ve put into graduate school. Select a topic you care about and that will have a meaningful impact on the population you wish to help. Experimental or longitudinal process-oriented designs are okay; cross-sectional surveys are not.
Apply for funding and awards as often as you can, especially if the application is relatively simple (e.g., abstract and CV). It doesn’t hurt to try, and it’ll be nice to get additional funds for your research or travel. Sometimes, these awards are less competitive than they seem. Another plus: they look good on your CV.
Think of yourself as an active contributor to your graduate school experience. There is a lot that is challenging about grad school (e.g., taking out loans, navigating power dynamics, juggling multiple roles) and there is a lot outside your control. However, there are also things within your control (e.g., engaging with class material, single-tasking during meetings, doing research with integrity). I expect you to take ownership over the parts of grad school you can control. As my adviser once reminded me, you don’t have to be in grad school. If you’re choosing to be here, be intentional about that choice.
Opt out of conversations that pollute your training environment. The department will always be messing up in some way, your instructor will be a jerk sometimes, and I will do things that frustrate you. In turn, you will find it tempting to complain or vent to other students who reinforce that behavior. The result is you feel validated in the short-term, but the air we all breathe becomes more toxic. Instead, problem-solve (e.g., talk directly to the person you are upset with), complain to people outside the department, or find another way to get what you need without adding to program pollution.

Research Assistants (RAs)

All of the above (except the graduate students part) applies to you, but it might also be helpful to know what you can expect from being an RA in this lab.

Generally, you’ll start with simpler tasks (e.g., testing surveys, putting up flyers), then progress to more involved tasks (e.g., meeting participants, managing data) as you demonstrate competence. I’m hesitant to risk a poor study experience for a participant or mismanaged data, hence the task scaffolding.
You’ll be directly supervised by a graduate student or me. If you find yourself without a lab member you regularly check in with, please let me know. Part of this is for quality control, but the other part is making sure you’re developing the skills you need/want for the next step of your career.
Related to the point above, you should be receiving regular feedback from your lab supervisor. If you don’t know how you’re performing, please talk to your lab supervisor or me about it. It’s totally reasonable to expect your lab supervisor to give you regular feedback on what you’re doing well and what to work on.
Let your lab supervisor know what you want to get out of your RA experience. That will help them figure out what kinds of tasks and support to give you. For example, you might want to learn more about how to apply to a clinical psychology Ph.D. program or get feedback on your CV—great. Tell them that.
I expect you to produce work roughly equivalent to the number of weekly hours we agree upon, whether that’s 2 or 20. If you happen to be super efficient and complete your tasks early, that’s fine. You won’t be penalized for being efficient. Conversely, if you take longer to complete a task than expected, cap your work hours and don’t do more than your weekly number.
The lab holds weekly lab meetings. You’re invited—but not required—to attend. If you do attend, it counts toward your weekly hours.
Ask all the questions. It’s already mentioned above, but I’m repeating it for emphasis. You’re not expected to know anything about research, so please ask away.