How To Become A Research Psychologist: What It Is and Career Path

What is a research psychologist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Terry Pettijohn Ph.D.,

Shelly Lesher

If you're a psychology student, you might have gotten a taste of just how diverse the field can be. If not, you should keep in mind that this field can lead you to several different career paths and options. Like many other psychology areas, becoming a research psychologist is not a "one size fits all" career.

There are many different degrees that you could potentially pursue. However, it is crucial to consider what type of research you want to perform and what specific topics interest you the most. To become a research psychologist, you will need an undergraduate degree (four to five years of college) plus a doctorate (four to seven years of graduate school). For this specialty area, most people will spend between eight to twelve years in higher education.

According to BLS, The graduates who gravitate towards this field end up laying claim to annual earnings of $95,000. Among research positions in educational institutions, those in university-affiliated research institutes have the highest median salary at $98,500. However, this figure can vary significantly depending upon your experience, skills, and academic qualification.

What general advice would you give to a research psychologist?

Terry Pettijohn Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology, Gupta College of Science

My general advice for a new psychology graduate would be to be flexible and draw upon your undergraduate training in psychology to highlight your excellent communication and critical thinking skills. Given changes to the way people are working today, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, communication skills have never been more urgent. Flexibility is needed to meet the changing work environment, whether working in a newly designed office space, out in the field, or from home.

The critical thinking skills learned from studying research methods and psychology content areas will be crucial to solving new problems in the future. Just think of how your life is different today than it was a year ago, before the pandemic hit with lockdown orders, social distancing, and mask-wearing. Psychology graduates are specially trained for dealing with people, emphasizing creative and adaptive ways to solve problems, communicate, and think critically to help others. Psychologists will be quite valuable to tackle the unique challenges of increased mental health issues related to COVID-19.

ScoreResearch PsychologistUS Average

Salary

7.1

Avg. Salary $90,440

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.6

Growth rate 14%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

3.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.20%

Asian 3.34%

Black or African American 6.18%

Hispanic or Latino 10.44%

Unknown 3.44%

White 76.39%

Gender

female 49.27%

male 50.73%

Age - 42

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 42

Stress level

8.6

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

7.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.9

Work life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a research psychologist

Explore research psychologist education requirements

Most common research psychologist degrees

Bachelor's

54.0 %

Doctorate

23.8 %

Master's

20.3 %

Start to develop specific research psychologist skills

Skills	Percentages
Research Projects	14.39%
Research Studies	8.78%
Technical Reports	8.44%
Mental Health	7.27%
Statistical Analyses	6.71%

Complete relevant research psychologist training and internships

we determined that most successful research psychologists start their career with internships. These can be paid or unpaid. The main purpose of an internship is to give the intern valuable real-world experience.

Research research psychologist duties and responsibilities

Manage investigator initiate and cooperative group correlative studies to identify biomarkers to ascertain tumor burden and clinical outcomes in lymphoma.
Maintain a leadership role in APA accredit internship and externship match program.
Facilitate therapy groups for children and adolescents.
Provide cognitive-behavioral supervision to 3rd and 4th year psychiatry residents.

Prepare your research psychologist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your research psychologist resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a research psychologist resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable research psychologist resume templates

Build a professional research psychologist resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your research psychologist resume.