The goal of the clinical program is to educate psychologists as scientists and practitioners so that they may pursue a variety of career paths. The Developmental specialty emphasizes research aimed at understanding basic processes of development and the application of these understandings to practical problems. The research focuses on social relations, personality, language, cognition, and perception, as related to normative development as well as to disabilities such as psychopathology, mental retardation, and blindness. In both arenas, an integrated approach to the analysis of change is emphasized that involves in-depth consideration of measurement, research design, statistical theory, principles of data analysis, research synthesis and the reporting of findings. In particular, the program focuses on development and application of statistics, measurement, and research design to applied practical problems in social research generally, with specific empasisis on problems in psychology, education and program evaluation.
Faculty members use a wide variety of methods in their research.
The department is home to the directors of American and Southern Studies, Latin American and Iberian Studies, and Women's Studies. Vanderbilt is a member of the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, and graduate students have access to the consortium's extensive collection of survey data sets.