The majority of my workload for the first half of July was spent working towards IRB approval for my project. This was a fun challenge as I got to experience a taste of how this process works in the real-world. Though it was confusing and stressful at times, I obtained approval to begin the conduction of my survey on the Prolific survey platform.
When approaching the publication of the survey, I spent several days creating the questions in Qualtrics. This was the largest area of growth and learning for me in this project thus far. I have not used Qualtrics this extensively yet, and there were a handful of trials and errors. Creating the survey required careful attention to detail and critical thinking about every possible aspect of the survey. After receiving feedback from friends and family, my thesis advisor and I felt prepared and officially published and paid for the survey.
My work in this area is important because it takes a much closer look at the ways perceptions of juvenile crime can be influenced by extralegal factors. It adds to a foundation of evidence advocating for a more fair and unbiased criminal justice system. With juveniles specifically, ensuring that they are being treated with the highest level of fairness, where criminal justice actors can strive for impartial decisions influenced by concrete evidence alone is critical. Previous research suggests that unfair and/or aggressive criminal labels given to juveniles can be highly damaging and may lead to self-fulfilling behaviors and a lifetime of crime or repeat offending. Future and more in-depth research into the ways that implicit biases within the criminal justice system as well as the public can impact outcomes for juveniles will help us better understand how to effectively treat juveniles in the criminal justice system. Additionally, simply being aware of the presence of even the smallest implicit biases can contribute to a system where potentially biased decisions are better anticipated and thus prevented.
On a much smaller scale, I am proud to be a part of a research community full of undergraduate students who are contributing meaningful work to several different disciplines. I feel very grateful to Florida State for offering these kinds of opportunities, not only because of the experience it gives us as students, but because it encourages those who will come after us to lean into their ambition and work towards incredible goals and research in their fields as well.
This journey has been wildly fulfilling, and I have learned so much about the research process. Upon returning to campus, I will focus on moving forward with the raw data I’ve collected via Prolific, and I will work with my thesis advisor to analyze our data. Dr. Sheppard will provide me with the necessary training in the relevant software for data analysis and, together, we will produce digestible graphs and tables that I will use in my final Honors in the Major defense (Spring 2026) as well as my presentation at the President’s Showcase (October 2025).
As I am graduating in the coming spring semester, I have to be thinking about my next steps beyond Florida State University. I will likely be attending the graduate school to pursue a PhD in clinical psychology with a forensic focus. I will be spending the next few months continuing to prepare for the GRE and applying to graduate programs. I know that my experience with IDEA Grants, Honors in the Major, and UROP have helped me get to a point where I feel confident in my ability to grow wherever I end up.
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