Fourth-Year Psychology students present their research

Students enrolled in Psych 4891 presented the culmination of their semester on Monday, March 26, 2018 in Vitali Lounge.

Psych 4891 is a full-year course where students complete research under the direction of a faculty member. Fourth-year students have been working closely with Psychology faculty since September on their individual research projects. Students also have a second reader (another faculty) for their work. The second reader examines the research presented on the student’s poster and provides feedback.

Dr. Cathy Chovaz researches mental health and deafness. She had two thesis students this year, Dominica Chorostecki and Chris Plimmer. She was also a second reader for two other thesis students.

“The quality of the students’ thesis work is really outstanding. As a professor, it is pretty amazing to see these young people grow in their ability to think critically, formulate a research study and then conduct rigorous data collection and analysis.  Both of my students have been accepted to present their work at the 7th Annual Interdisciplinary Conference in Psychology at the University of Ottawa in May. I feel pretty proud of them!” says Dr. Chovaz.

Fourth-year student, Frances Schell researched the role of friends in cyber dating abuse. She believes she is the first scholar to research this specific topic. “I could not find any research that looks at my area so it was exciting to do this topic,” she says. The role of friends in offline dating has been explored but the role of friends in cyber dating abuse has not. “This is a very new field of research. Dating violence has moved online with new technology,” Schnell explains. Her research findings show that friends influence if a person will commit cyber dating abuse.

“This process was a good learning experience in undergraduate thesis writing. My advisor helped me know how to approach my topic. It was a lot of hard work! It is great to see my work up on a poster!” says Schnell. After convocation, Schnell plans to take a year off from studies and then pursue a Master’s in Psychology.

Students, staff and faculty from various departments attended poster day. Student presenters were able to practice delivering their research topics and findings to individuals and groups. They answered questions and discussed their topics.

Well done, King's scholars.