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Aili Q

- Research Program Mentor

PhD candidate at University of Southern California (USC)

Expertise

Social Psychology, Psychology Research Methods, Statistics

Bio

Hi there! My name is Aili Qiao, but you can call me Alice. I'm a social psychology PhD student by day, and a serious-casual gamer by night. My primary research efforts are in understanding goal-oriented social decision-making; in other words, I spend my days asking "why do people do *that*?" Then, I come up with hypotheses, run research studies, collect and analyze data, and present findings to whoever is willing to listen (mostly at national conferences and in academic journals). Recently, my research focuses on investigating how humans respond to experiences of social rejection. In the past, I've looked at how people judge self-defense actions, as well as what makes people swipe a certain way on dating apps. Outside of academia, you can find me playing video games, hanging out with my cats and succulents, writing songs and poetry, as well as baking delicious sweets!

Project ideas

Project ideas are meant to help inspire student thinking about their own project. Students are in the driver seat of their research and are free to use any or none of the ideas shared by their mentors.

The Proposal

Do you have a vague research idea but have no clue where to start? Then this is the project for you! By working on a research proposal, you'll learn how to define your research questions, pick the best research methodology, and learn some cool stats to answer those questions. Together, we'll discuss the challenges your research project may face, pros/cons of your methods, and the potential significance of your findings. At the end of this project, you'll have a "research proposal" that should convince any reader of the importance of your project (and hope that they'll agree to fund your research)!

The Study

Do you have the perfect research questions and a clear sense of how you want to go about answering them? Then let's do the study together! By conducting a psychology study, you'll put together a research plan, carry it out over a period of time, and learn how to synthesize the data. Together, we'll put your research skills to test, discuss extensively the ethics of psychology research, and take data-analysis step-by-step. At the end of this project, you'll have completed a research study, and earn the life-long bragging rights among family and friends!

The Write-Up

So, you conducted the study and collected the data. Now what? Well, it's time to put your findings into writing! By writing a research report, you'll learn to clearly outline your methods, understand how to present data, and talk about the significance of your findings. Together, we'll break down the structure of a good research report, work on the manuscript iteratively, and discuss the nuances of scientific writing. At the end of this project, you'll have a copy of your research report! Whether it be academic (like a peer-reviewed paper) or general (like a blog post).

The Literature Review

You wanna learn more about existing research in the field of your choice? I got you. Whether it is to find patterns in past empirical findings, summarize cool theories in a field you like, or lowkey diss the methods used by past researchers, doing an extensive review of the existing literature is the way to go! You'll find research papers, read them critically, and synthesize what you've found. Together, we'll go through the criteria of a "good" research paper, the ways to go about obtaining research papers, and talk about the findings you come across. Choose this project if you're down to read a lot and want to feel like an utter expert on a topic!

Or, if you're open to one of my research interests...

I'm interested in anything that has to do with social decision-making. I've worked on dating-app behavior, jury decision-making on criminal cases, and in-game player social behavior. We can find a cool project for you along those lines!

Coding skills

SPSS, R

Teaching experience

I've taught undergraduate psychology research methods at the Univ. of Southern California during Fall 2019, and am currently mentoring several undergraduate research assistants at my lab.

Credentials

Work experience

University of Southern California (2019 - 2019)
Graduate Student Instructor
University of Southern California (2019 - Current)
Research Project Lead

Education

University of Southern California (USC)
BA Bachelor of Arts (2019)
Philosophy
University of Southern California (USC)
MA Master of Arts (2021)
Social Psychology (minor in Quantitative Psychology)
University of Southern California (USC)
PhD Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Social Psychology (minor in Quantitative Psychology)

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