Dr. Susan Long: Psychology, Statistics, and the Rest of Our Lives
Information doesn’t live in a classroom, nor is research isolated in a laboratory. Scientific progress within modern society requires that people are always producing, absorbing, and sharing information through their actions, feelings, and words. In order to study the collective minds and behaviors of people around the world, the field of psychology has developed in leaps and bounds as modern technology bridges gaps between communities and issues. The variation of a sample (from which data is collected) can now be analyzed with complex statistical programs in order to better define the limits and applicability of a study’s results. Dr. Susan Long of Lake Forest College leads the students in her classes to a better understanding of these ideas, focusing on psychological research, statistical analysis, and a variety of communities and cultures, all the while performing her own research outside of the classroom. Yet, her intention is not wholly to feed students information. She emphasizes the development of a student’s critical lens and their ability to apply lessons to situations outside of the classroom even as she covers the subject matter.