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Join the Lab

Joining as a Graduate Student

Dr. Savalei is looking to accept graduate students to start in the fall of 2027.

An ideal student would have a keen interest in psychological methods and statistics, and a background in both psychology and mathematics/statistics/data science. Many quant graduate students are double majors in psychology and one of these disciplines. However, this is not a requirement – if you have taken at least matrix/linear algebra and calculus, and at least one more advanced statistics or psychometrics course beyond what is required for psychology majors, your application will be seriously considered! Experience programming in R is also important. However, it is more important that you do not shy away from these more technical subjects and have enthusiasm for learning hard things as needed. Most quantitative psychology graduate students will continue to take upper-division undergraduate courses in mathematics/statistics/computer science, or even graduate courses in statistics, while working on their Master’s and/or PhD.

If you have any questions about your preparation or what to do during the year you are applying for graduate programs, please contact Dr. Savalei.

Please note that the application process at UBC is a little bit unusual: you must apply to the Master’s program, and then if you are admitted, apply to the PhD program in your second year. However, the vast majority of our graduate students continue on to the PhD, and when we accept graduate students, we intend for them to obtain a PhD. That is, we do not intentionally accept students to obtain a terminal Master’s degree.

For more information on our graduate program, click here.

Joining as an Undergraduate Research Assistant

Our lab does not employ many undergraduate research assistants, but we usually have 2-4 students join us per year in various capacities: usually on a volunteer basis first, and then through direct studies/honours or supported by an RAship or Quinn or Work-Learn International Undergraduate Research awards.

All students must have some advanced statistics training prior to joining the lab. If you are an undergraduate student interested in quantitative methods in psychology, we encourage you to first take one of our advanced undergraduate courses: Psyc 359 (Advanced Statistics), Psyc 303 (Psychometrics), or Regression, taught as a special topics course (Psyc 417a). Psyc 303 in particular is ideal preparation for being an RA in the UBCSEM Lab, and we can build on the material from it to train you in SEM.

If you are an undergraduate student majoring in statistics or data science, do not hesitate to contact Dr. Savalei if you have recently learned about quant psych and are looking for research experience opportunities.

If you join our lab, here are some of the things that we might ask you to do:

  • follow a self-guided course to learn SEM (supervised by a graduate student)

  • follow a self-guided course to gain proficiency in using R

  • perform a literature review, particularly pertaining to how statistical methods are used or reported in psychological practice

  • search for publicly available datasets with certain characteristics

  • replicate statistical analyses that are reported in academic papers

Reach out if you have any questions!