Researcher Interview: Dr. Lisa A. Hollis-Sawyer

Dr. Lisa A. Hollis-Sawyer is an Associate Professor in the Psychology department and Coordinator of the Gerontology program at Northeastern Illinois University. Dr. Hollis-Sawyer has more than fifteen years of experience in publishing research and writing books. Dr. Hollis-Sawyer has co-authored four books, with two books as the first author and primary book developer, and has authored or co-authored 22 scholarly publications. She is also a reviewer for JSBHS.

1. Please briefly describe your current research.

My general research agenda is best conceptualized as encompassing the topic of positive aging and quality of life outcomes into later adulthood. My recent research interests range from the impact of an aging global population on many aspects of individual and societal functioning (e.g., quality of life standards in living environments and associated community planning strategies) to psychological reactions to specific social and environmental contexts (e.g., “aging in place” needs and motivations). 

2. How did you come to be in this area of study?

I have always been interested in working on improving older adults’ quality of life outcomes since I was a young girl growing up with my maternal grandmother who had Alzheimer’s disease.  My grandmother’s behavior and memory lapses had a long-lasting impact on my desire to help improve older adults’ lives in a meaningful manner.

3. What do like best about doing research?

I enjoy every step in the research process, from the conceptualization of the research idea to the analyzing and writing of the research study’s culminating results.  It is an exciting process of discovery that stimulates my teaching and community service initiatives also.

4. What do you dislike the most about doing research?

Nothing!  I am always excited to work with colleagues and students to discover new ways of thinking and possible solutions to existing issues of concern with a growing aging population.

5. Advice for new researchers who would like to be published?

My best advice for new researchers who would like to be published is to never be discouraged when receiving feedback from the manuscript submission process and to utilize all feedback received as an opportunity for growth and improvement as a writer.

Rewriting Your Dissertation into an Article: Discussion

The final text section of your paper is the Discussion, similar to the dissertation's Chapter 5. In your discussion, you will evaluate, interpret the results, and draw conclusions about them. Emphasize the theoretical or practical consequences of your findings. Be very careful that you are not misinterpreting or misrepresenting your findings (e.g., "the results are clear that older adults…" Did you examine ALL older adults? No? Then do not over generalize).

Begin your discussion with a clear statement of support or nonsupport for original hypotheses (it can also be structured in term of your research questions). Relate the findings to the previous literature, how do your results fit in with others' work? Your interpretations should take into account sources of bias and threats to internal validity. Also, consider limitations or weakness or your study. Bring in the theoretical implications of the study; does it fit with previous theories- why or why not? If not, could the theory be modified to account for your findings? Finally, end with problems remain unsolved, and what future areas of research have you identified?

Now you should have a draft of your paper, in a future post we will consider polishing the paper before submitting it to a journal.

Researcher Interview: Dr. Ellen Levine

1. Please briefly describe your current research.

             Right now we are still conducting data analyses and writing up results from a longitudinal study of breast cancer survivors who we followed for two years after end of treatment, measuring quality of life, mood, spirituality, and social support. We have a lot of qualitative and quantitative data that we are mining. I’d also like do conduct similar research with ovarian cancer survivors.

2 How did you come to be in this area of study?

             When I was nine years old my father developed prostate cancer. He was an ophthalmologist but he began to examine the cancer literature, looking for the most recent medical breakthroughs in prostate cancer. So by the time I got to college I knew a bit about cancer. I had already decided that I didn’t want to be a MD (I’m too squeamish) but the year I started college was the year the term “behavioral medicine” was coined. My father sent me an article on that and I immediately decided that’s what I would do with a focus on cancer. The term “Psycho-oncology” hadn’t been coined yet (it would be around 10 years later) but that’s what I knew I wanted to do.

3. What do like best about doing research?

             I love working with the people involved-other researchers, students, participants as well as writing and data analysis. It’s like solving a mystery, collecting clues and analyzing them. I like grant writing but it’s so hard to get funding these days that it gets very frustrating so I much prefer actually having the grant and carrying it out.

4. What do you dislike the most about doing research?

             Coping with rejection from grant sources and journals. Putting my heart and soul into something just to have it rejected.

5. Advice for new researchers who would like to be published?

             The person with the most grants and publications has the most rejections. I live by that thought. Be tenacious and don’t give up. Somewhere there’s a journal for you. But make sure it’s a reputable journal and not one that will make you pay to publish. If your grant covers that OK. But don’t spend your own pocket money on it.

Some sample publications I have had recently:

Levine, E. G., Yoo, G., Aviv, C., Ewing, C., & Au, A. (2012). Spiritual coping among breast cancer survivors from different ethnic groups. In CA Stark & DC Bonner (eds.) Spirituality: Belief Systems, Societal Impact, and Roles in Coping (p. 61-84). New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Levine, E. G., Yoo, G, J., & Aviv, C. (2016). Predictors of quality of life among breast cancer survivors from different ethnic groups. Journal of Applied Quality of Life. DOI: 10.1007/s11482-016-9447-x

Yoo, G. J., Sudhakar, A., Le, M-N., & Levine, E. G. (2015). Exploring coping strategies among young Asian American women breast cancer survivors. Journal of Cancer Education, Published online October 8, 2015.

Levine, E. G., Vong, S., & Yoo, G. J. (2015). Development and initial validation of a spiritual support subscale for the MOS Social Support scale. Journal of Religion & Health. Published online Feb 14, 2015. DOI: 10.1007/s10943-015-0005-x

Lagman, R. A., Yoo, G. J., Levine, E. G., Donnell, K. A., & Lim, H. R. (2014). “Leaving it to God” Religion and spirituality among Filipina immigrant breast cancer survivors. Journal of Religion and Health, 53(2), 449-460. DOI: 10.1007/s10943-012-9648-z 

Yoo, G. J., Levine, E. G., & Pasik, R. (2014). Breast cancer and coping among women of color: A systematic review. Supportive Care Cancer, 22, 811-824. DOI: 10.1007/s00520-013-

Rewriting Your Dissertation into an Article: Results

The results section of your article is taking Chapter 4 of your dissertation and reducing it to the essentials. I find it helps to discuss the results through your research questions. Your results should be unbiased and provide enough detail that others can interpret them. Do not hide ones that did not come out as expected. Indicate whether your data violate the assumptions of the statistics you used.

It generally makes the most sense to set it up based on your research questions, keep it concise and to the point. Do not include unnecessary figures and tables. A good rule of thumb is if you discuss the data in detail in the text, do not also include a figure, or table on it.

Quantitative Studies

Keep your reporting of results non-biased and assume your reader has a professional knowledge of statistics (so not explain basic concepts or give citations for common procedures). Be sure to explain how you handled any missing data in the analyses, and the percentage that were missing.

Qualitative Studies

Report your findings in a nonbiased way; explain how you went about your analyses. Provide participant quotes to illustrate your themes. It is a good idea to assign pseudonyms to participants and briefly provide any relevant information after each quote (e.g., Rose, age 68). Discuss any discrepant cases, and how these were addressed.

The next section in your paper is the Discussion, we will examine this in a future post.