Thursday, February 3, 2011

MY SIP!!!!

Alright guys, here's the deal. I found a SIP! SIP stands for Senior-Individualized-Project, and is a Senior Thesis that every graduate of K must complete. I've spent the last few weeks talking with different psychologists at U of M, and trying to find someone with whom I can work with over the summer. I've found her!

This summer I will be doing my SIP with Dr. Terri Conley, a psychology professor at University of Michigan. Dr. Conley's research interests are broadly based in stigma and sexuality; reactions to and experiences of sexually stigmatized people, the effects of such stigmatization and potential advantages of culturally stigmatized relationships. I will be working as a research assistant this summer, doing any and all of the following:
- finding citations by using PsychInfo (a website) and other databases
- creating and editing Qualtrics surveys and data
- recruiting participants
- coding data
- reading manuscripts and preparing them for journal submissions
-ETC

I'm very very very excited about all of these things. I asked Dr. Conely what type of research she thinks we'll be up to this summer. She said that they're usually rotating between a few different things, but that we will PROBABLY be doing project(s) related to:
- gender differences in sexual desire
- examinations of perceptions of monogamous couples and relationship satisfaction
- stereotypes about heterosexuals held by the LGBQ (Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Questioning) Community
- the morality of public health messages and perceptions of risk

Cool, yeah? It should be a good summer. I know it'll be a tough project, but I'm glad I already have some things worked out! Ahead of the game I say.

Hope you all are well! I will be seeing Mom and Dad in a little over a week. Woo-hoo!