Div. 5 of APA offers eight annual awards to recognize the contributions of members to qualitative and quantitative methods in psychology. Nominations for awards are posted in The Score, the SQIP newsletter, and the Div. 5 website. At an awards ceremony organized by Div. 5 at the APA convention, all winners will be recognized and the Distinguished Awardees for Scientific Contributions and Contributions in Qualitative Inquiry will each present an address.
Quantitative Awards
Committee: Richard Gonzalez, Rochelle Michel and Yu Liu
Anne Anastasi Dissertation Award: Samantha Anderson
Samantha Anderson’s dissertation, Missing Data in Randomized Pretest Posttest Studies: A Growth Curve Approach, focused on methods for evaluating intervention effects in randomized pretest-posttest designs under different missingness mechanisms. The work introduces new estimation approaches that remain unbiased under a wide variety of conditions. In the words of Scott Maxwell, “Samantha stands out for her brilliance, her intellectual curiosity, and her dedication to making a difference. She is one of those all too rare individuals who truly relishes the opportunity to contribute to knowledge and to spread the word about science, not only through her teaching but also through her research.”
Anne Anastasi Distinguished Early Career Award: Adrienne Beltz
Adrienne Beltz’s major research line tackles the analysis of time series data in the context of high dimensional problems. Her framework combines two general approaches: structural equation modeling and time series analysis. Applications of this general framework include the analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data and the trajectory of hormones across development. In the words of Patricia Reuter-Lorenz, “Dr. Beltz is an extremely talented, sophisticated methodologist, and exciting young scholar. She is passionate about leveraging her talents with data analytic methods to address novel questions about behavioral-hormonal interactions and applying these methods to understand complex network interactions and brain function over time.”
Jacob Cohen Award for Distinguished Contributions to Teaching and Mentoring: David MacKinnon
David MacKinnon has made important contributions to teaching and mentoring of quantitative methods throughout his career. He is most known for his research contributions to statistical mediation, and this scholarship led to his Introduction to Statistical Mediation Analyses, which has become the standard resource in the field. He has taught national and international workshops and has provided formal and informal mentoring to scores of students. In the words of Leona Aiken, “he is a superb teacher. He is as effective a mentor as I have ever encountered in my long career.” Former students and mentees provide consistent praise about his teaching and mentoring style, which are best captured through the words of Matthew Valente “Professor Mackinnon does not teach and mentor students but instead, he teaches and mentors people.”
Samuel J. Messick Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions: Philip Podsakoff
Philip Podsakoff has made major contributions to organizational research methods, applied psychology and management. Notable are his contributions to our understanding of measurement bias and validity that have influenced many applied researchers. He has been recognized by the Institute of Scientific Information as one of the “Most Highly Cited Authors” and two of his publications are in the top 20 most-cited research methods articles in the social sciences. In the words of James LeBreton, “He is truly one of the most influential scientists in psychology and the social sciences. He has made distinguished methodological, empirical, and conceptual contributions.”
Qualitative Awards
Committee: James Christopher Head, Heidi Levitt, and Nisha Gupta
Distinguished Dissertation in Qualitative Inquiry Award Winner: Gabriel Velez
Gabriel Velez’s dissertation, Conceptualized Peace: A Study of Colombian Adolescents’ Meaning Making, is ambitious, rigorous, and reflects the need to mobilize complex research designs when exploring multiple modes of interconnected meaning-construction. Drawing from three distinct data sets, Velez wove two analytic methods to examine the connection between governmental discourse and students’ conceptualizations of peace, experiences, and social positioning. In so doing, he demonstrates the significance of internalizing discursive practices that locate peace within the individual, render it as internal states and/or attitudes, and manifest it via personal responsibility. In the words of Margaret Beale Spencer, Velez presents “a rich layering of insights” and his dissertation “contributes to literatures and practices observed around the globe regarding peace and citizenship education and contributes to understanding critical developmental processes and specifically identity formation which shape how youth respond to educational initiatives.”
Distinguished Early Career Contributions in Qualitative Inquiry Award (two winners)
Distinguished Early Career Award Co-Winner: Elizabeth Fein
Since earning her PhD in 2012, Elizabeth Fein has made valuable contributions to qualitative inquiry, the mentoring of students pursuing qualitative inquiry, and the institutionalization of qualitative approaches to research in psychology. In the words of Dr. Laura Sterponi, “Elizabeth’s research is original and sophisticated both methodologically and thematically. She deploys a repertoire of qualitative methods that allow her to examine phenomena at different levels—from the individual to the societal—and the interrelationships between them.” Her recent book Living on the Spectrum: Autism and Youth in Community (NYU, 2020) is a powerful example of her incredible scholarship. After years of nurturing her students’ research, Elizabeth was recently elected to serve as chair of the Psychology Department of Duquesne University, which has long been a hub for qualitative inquiry in the United States. Less visible are Elizabeth’s contributions to development and functioning of the Society for Qualitative Inquiry in Psychology (SQIP). For the past several years, Elizabeth’s fingerprints are evident in nearly every one of this society’s endeavors. If you have attended a SQIP conference in the past four years, read an article in SQIP’s newsletter, listened to SQIP podcast, or tuned in to one of the SQIP virtual salons, you are participating in an activity that would not have been possible without Elizabeth’s thoughtful and tireless contributions.
Distinguished Early Career Award Co-Winner: Dennis Wendt
Since earning his PhD in 2015, Dennis Wednt has been incredibly prolific and has made substantive contributions to qualitative inquiry in psychology. He has published 27 peer- reviewed articles, which, in the words of Dr. William E. Hatmann, have advanced “Indigenous issues through collaborative, community-based research,” underscoring “the essential role of qualitative inquiry… and methodological and epistemological pluralism.” In 2016, he won the Division 5 Distinguished Dissertation in Qualitative Inquiry Award and has since contributed to the division by chairing a symposium at a SQIP conference, writing for the SQIP newsletter, and publishing in The Score. As an Assistant Professor at McGill University, he has chaired numerous students’ capstone projects, theses, and dissertations that were based on qualitative and/or mixed methods research. Through his scholarship, service, and mentoring, Dennis has demonstrated a commitment to advancing qualitative inquiry, and in so doing, has paved the way for future generations.
Distinguished Contributions to Teaching and Mentoring in Qualitative Inquiry Award Winner: Dionne Stephens
As an associate professor of developmental psychology at Florida International University, Dionne Stephens has taught her Qualitative Research Methods in Psychology course in a way that promotes community and collaboration while serving as a valuable mentor to her students. In the words of Hector J. Peguero, one of her former students, Dr. Stephens “has developed a supportive community of graduate and undergraduate students that not only turn to her for help, but also one another… She represents the best in qualitative mentorship in terms of training, building community across the academic pipeline, and providing support throughout the research process.” Stephens has also supported students outside of her home department (including a Fulbright Scholar), led qualitative workshops, offered qualitative consultation, and was selected to be an Academic Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Critical Qualitative Health Research. In the words of Purnima Madhivanan, Dr. Stephens “clearly exemplifies what distinguished contributions to teaching and mentoring in qualitative inquiry is all about.”
Distinguished Contributions in Qualitative Inquiry Winner: Linda McMullen
Linda McMullen is professor emerita of psychology at the University of Saskatchewan. Throughout her career, she has contributed to the field of qualitative inquiry immensely. She has been a leading voice in the scholarship of discursive psychology and discourse analysis. She has been a driving force in advancing the teaching of qualitative inquiry. Even after retirement, McMullen has continued to publish works that benefit students of qualitative inquiry and establish the curricular foundation for those who will study qualitative inquiry in the future. She has played a significant role in the institutionalization of qualitative inquiry within the APA. In addition to being a former president of SQIP, she has gracefully served in a variety of positions within both SQIP and Division 5, and in so doing, has endeavored to lay a more solidified pathway for those who will follow in her wake. In the words of Dr. Cynthia Winston-Proctor, “Dr. McMullen’s body of work in health psychology, discursive psychology, and the teaching of qualitative inquiry in psychology has been pioneering and generative. Our discipline of psychology is deeply indebted to her career-long dedication to qualitative inquiry in psychology across the spectrum of teaching, research, and professional service.”