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The present article addresses the problem of raising the interest of doctoral students in conducting basic psychological research within a clinical program. While many Tier 1 research institutions have little difficulty attracting graduate students and faculty who see research as their top priority, graduate students who choose to attend a clinical program primarily designed to produce clinicians may not only place less value on conducting basic research, but may likely have both greater demands to develop their clinical skills and fewer resources to support quality research. Three suggestions, provided in the form of challenges facing programs, are discussed: (a) placing a high priority on research mentoring when hiring new faculty, (b) conducting research that is relevant to clinical students, and (c) motivating students to develop good research skills.
One of us (Hill) has a son who played basketball throughout junior and senior high school. His seventh grade team was atrocious, losing their first game 62-8. They won only two games all year. It was, however, a very successful year. The coach was not interested in winning; he was interested in developing good basketball players. Under the watchful eye of the local high school coach, the practices in the 7!h grade repeatedly emphasized such basic skills as dribbling, bounce-passing, quick footwork, jumping, shooting skills, aggressive defense and, most importantly, the discipline necessary to keep working at those skills, even when the players just wanted to play basketball. Thus, the program was not designed to win ball games in the 7* grade, but to win games in the 11 ,h and 12,h grades. During their senior year, that same group of guys, none of whom were particularly gifted athletes, won 20 of 24 regular season games and went far in the state playoff competition. All of the hard work developing those basic skills paid off - a point not forgotten by the son who is now a young adult.
In principle, clinical training and practice are based on the science of psychology, and this is the basis for national doctoral-level standards for clinical psychology established by the American Psychological Association (APA, 2007). Guiding this principle is the perspective that the science and practice of psychology are in a symbiotic relationship and, therefore, the development of basic...