Directed Research in Psychology

PSYC 391 is a one-on-one apprenticeship in actually doing psychological research: you partner with a faculty supervisor and run a single project end-to-end, from literature review and hypothesis through methodology, data collection, analysis, and an APA-style write-up. The work is independent rather than lecture-based, so most of the semester is spent in the lab or with your dataset, meeting your advisor to troubleshoot design and interpretation. It's the bridge between learning research methods in coursework and producing something that resembles a real study, which is why it matters for anyone considering a senior thesis, lab assistantship, or graduate school in psychology.