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The PSYCDATA National Coalition
Founded in 2007
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There are two overarching goals to the work of the PSYCDATA national coalition:
1. Provide a clearinghouse for information about undergraduate education in psychology
2. Provide a mechanism by which national collaborations can be formed to study and better understand undergraduate psychology majors, psychology alumni, and psychology faculty members
This web site is designed to be the repository of the outcomes and contributions of the PSYCDATA national coalition.
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Based on a symposium hosted at the American Psychological Association national convention in 2007, Eric Landrum and Chris Hakala proposed a coordinated effort, based on a national coalition, to systematically study national issues facing undergraduate psychology students, alumni, and faculty members in Departments of Psychology. Part I of this effort is to coordinate national information about psychology departments and programs. Such information is vital to better understanding what our colleagues do, and to identify and share best practices. The creation of a national clearinghouse for this type of information would allow faculty members access to ‘one-stop shopping’ for information concerning undergraduate psychology departments/program characteristics, curriculum matters, outcomes assessment, etc.
Part II of this effort is to organize a national coalition of psychology faculty who coordinate an annual or semi-annual study of psychology majors, alumni, and/or psychology faculty. Many important career and graduate school questions remain unanswered on the national level because no mechanism exists to survey graduating seniors, for example. Individual researchers occasionally publish research based on data from one-institution, but concerns over external validity and generalizability of that information makes this initiative essential to systematically studying undergraduate psychology majors on a continual basis.
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