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Undergrad RA opportunities for summer/fall 2018

Diverse Family Relationships Lab - Psychology Research Opportunity for Undergraduates and Non-GW students  (Summer and Fall 2018)

We are seeking several motivated and responsible students to work on a research project involving young, low-income parents.  The goals of the project are to understand the barriers and facilitators of father involvement, including the ways in which parents manage their co-parenting relationships, the gatekeeping roles that mothers play, and the effects of father involvement on children’s psychological adjustment.  In addition, we often have other research studies going on in the lab studying relationship and family issues: 1) family and friend social support among first-generation college students and 2) help-seeking and family support among Asian American college students and international students.

Undergraduate Research Assistants (RAs) will assist the research team in a variety of ways including: recruiting participants and developing partnerships with community agencies, interviewing participants, observing and coding video-taped interactions, data management, completion/updating of Institutional Review Board applications, and library research. In addition, the lab occasionally collects data on family processes and romantic relationships; research assistants may be asked to participate in data collection and data management tasks related to these projects.

Requirements/Preferences:

  • Students may receive credit for Psych 3591 credit (3 credit hours) which counts towards the 100-level course requirement and the honors requirement in Psychology. Time commitment is comparable to that of a 3-credit course (5-6 hours per week during the semester 10-12 hrs/wk during the summer for at least 10 wks. However, in many ways, experience as a volunteer RA looks better on a resume than research for credit, thus this option is encouraged for anyone looking to go to graduate school.  Note that enrollment preference is given to RAs with seniority so you may not be able to sign up for 3591 every semester.
  • Strong preference is given to those who can commit to two or more consecutive semesters (e.g., Summer, Fall, & Spring). For non-GW students, a one calendar year commitment is required.
  • RAs must be able to attend weekly lab meetings in the Psychology Bldg. In addition, interviews with participants may occasionally occur during evenings and weekends.
  • Applicants should also be comfortable working with ethnically diverse, urban communities, and be comfortable traveling by public transportation.
  • RAs will need to travel to local sites in DC to recruit/interview participants.  Access to a car would extremely helpful, but is not a requirement for the position.

This is an excellent opportunity for students who are interested in low-income and ethnic minority research in psychology and who intend to apply for graduate school.

If you are interested, please complete the Undergraduate RA interest form (attached) and email it to Dr. Christina Gee at cgee@gwu.edu – please cc graduate students, Rachel Mack ramack@gwu.edu, and Barunie Kim barunie@gwmail.gwu.edu

Applications will accepted on a rolling basis, but preference given for applications received by March 25th