Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) Student (Summer 2016)

“During my summer as a Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) student, I worked with Dr. Catherine McDonald on her web-based intervention for risky driving project. The goal of this project was to evaluate the feasibility of a web-based intervention for risky driving for newly licensed teens, which was measured via self-report questionnaires, simulated driving assessments, and crash and citation records. 

I worked on many aspects of the project during my time at CIRP, including: creating a data dictionary with REDCap and Excel; video coding of driving simulation data; using SPSS for analysis of interrater reliability and intervention data; and using NVivo for qualitative analysis of free-response intervention data. I have expanded greatly on my previous research experience, learned new software and skills, had my first experience with video and qualitative data, and learned how to work in a large research team. For one piece of the project that I was able to work on independently, I analyzed our intervention data related to teen attitudes about risky driving behavior and discovered a few significant gender differences related to attitudes about risky driving.

My summer at CIRP has reaffirmed my interest in attending a PhD program in Clinical Psychology upon completing my BA in Psychology from Marist College. From my REU experience at CIRP, I’m excited to have gained a greater appreciation for the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration and to have learned strategies for how to move research beyond publishing to making real-world impacts with CIRP’s 'Research to Action' model.”