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The Complete Researcher: A Practical Guide for Graduate Students and Early Career Professionals
Learning how to do research well is not easy, and for newer scholars the process can feel overwhelming. Using clear and supportive language, this book is designed to help graduate students and early career professionals in psychology develop skills to effectively work through the research process.
Chapters cover the essential character traits and skills that are necessary to become an effective researcher, walk through the main steps for completing a research project from start to finish, and discuss considerations when building a career and research program.
Rather than the nitty-gritty of research methods, authors Joshua N. Hook, Don E. Davis, and Daryl R. Van Tongeren focus on the big picture of what is required in research. Chapters in the first section address overarching principles—the personal growth, attributes, and habits that are important to develop to become a successful researcher. The second section illustrates the key steps in completing a research project from start to finish, from formulating an idea for a project, to completing a literature review, collecting data, analyzing data, and writing up the results. The third section discusses developing a research program and transitioning from graduate student to professional—topics such as collaborating with others in research and mentoring students. This section is full of practical advice the authors learned from mentors and from personal experience.
Written for people with a broad range of career goals, and with the mentoring relationship in mind, the book helps mentors and students form productive relationships that feel mutually beneficial and rewarding. Each chapter aims to help students and professionals along their research journey, and teaches them not just how to survive the process, but thrive.
Chapters cover the essential character traits and skills that are necessary to become an effective researcher, walk through the main steps for completing a research project from start to finish, and discuss considerations when building a career and research program.
Rather than the nitty-gritty of research methods, authors Joshua N. Hook, Don E. Davis, and Daryl R. Van Tongeren focus on the big picture of what is required in research. Chapters in the first section address overarching principles—the personal growth, attributes, and habits that are important to develop to become a successful researcher. The second section illustrates the key steps in completing a research project from start to finish, from formulating an idea for a project, to completing a literature review, collecting data, analyzing data, and writing up the results. The third section discusses developing a research program and transitioning from graduate student to professional—topics such as collaborating with others in research and mentoring students. This section is full of practical advice the authors learned from mentors and from personal experience.
Written for people with a broad range of career goals, and with the mentoring relationship in mind, the book helps mentors and students form productive relationships that feel mutually beneficial and rewarding. Each chapter aims to help students and professionals along their research journey, and teaches them not just how to survive the process, but thrive.
428 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 15, 2023
5 people are currently reading
12 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 30, 2025
Whether you're a student (either undergrad or grad) or a faculty member, anyone interested in the research process should read this book! It really is a practical guide.
I went into this book thinking it would be dry and a grind to get through. Anything that claims to be a "complete" or "practical" guide usually tells me it's going to be a snooze-fest. However, The Complete Researcher, was incredible! It's broken into three sections: (1) Principles: Building Yourself Into a Successful Researcher, (2) Plan: The Research Project From Start to Finish, and (3) Program: Developing Leadership Skills and Jump-Starting Your Research Career.
1. Principles: Building Yourself Into a Successful Researcher
- This section discusses the essential building block of effective research, which is YOU! You can't do great work if you aren't motivated, supported, nourished, and ready to learn.
2. Plan: The Research Project From Start to Finish
- This section discusses where to start when you're beginning a research project. By "beginning", I mean you haven't even selected a topic yet. This section helps you figure out how to choose a topic for your project, conduct a literature review, research design, and other mission-critical aspects of a research project in its entirety.
- If you are writing your thesis or dissertation, this section should be bookmarked!
3. Program: Developing Leadership Skills and Jump-Starting Your Research Career
- This section discusses what to do once you've landed your (hopefully) dream research job. You're no longer a student and are now expected to take on leadership and service roles, build a lab, mentor undergraduate and graduate students, and continue your own research, all while balancing your personal life.
- I found this section to be more geared toward academic-track students, but the general leadership advice is helpful for any discipline.
If you're a student, I recommend reading this as early as possible in your program to get the most out of the feedback and example timelines provided at the end. While I recommend reading this as early as possible, it is never too late to learn tips, tricks, and skills, so I genuinely recommend it to researchers at any stage.
I went into this book thinking it would be dry and a grind to get through. Anything that claims to be a "complete" or "practical" guide usually tells me it's going to be a snooze-fest. However, The Complete Researcher, was incredible! It's broken into three sections: (1) Principles: Building Yourself Into a Successful Researcher, (2) Plan: The Research Project From Start to Finish, and (3) Program: Developing Leadership Skills and Jump-Starting Your Research Career.
1. Principles: Building Yourself Into a Successful Researcher
- This section discusses the essential building block of effective research, which is YOU! You can't do great work if you aren't motivated, supported, nourished, and ready to learn.
2. Plan: The Research Project From Start to Finish
- This section discusses where to start when you're beginning a research project. By "beginning", I mean you haven't even selected a topic yet. This section helps you figure out how to choose a topic for your project, conduct a literature review, research design, and other mission-critical aspects of a research project in its entirety.
- If you are writing your thesis or dissertation, this section should be bookmarked!
3. Program: Developing Leadership Skills and Jump-Starting Your Research Career
- This section discusses what to do once you've landed your (hopefully) dream research job. You're no longer a student and are now expected to take on leadership and service roles, build a lab, mentor undergraduate and graduate students, and continue your own research, all while balancing your personal life.
- I found this section to be more geared toward academic-track students, but the general leadership advice is helpful for any discipline.
If you're a student, I recommend reading this as early as possible in your program to get the most out of the feedback and example timelines provided at the end. While I recommend reading this as early as possible, it is never too late to learn tips, tricks, and skills, so I genuinely recommend it to researchers at any stage.
December 7, 2024
4.5. i loved how this book was organized. there was quite a bit of helpful information in this book. i appreciated how the chapters ended with a section for graduate and undergraduate mentors. also loved the acronym for deep work/studying; (a) It is Designed, (b) it occurs at the Edges, (c) it is Engaged, and (d) it is rePeatable." this is a great resource. I will definitely be sharing some of the stuff i learned with my undergrad mentees and saving the stuff about jobs for future reference!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews