The ReMa-IDA contains four internal traineeships. The internal traineeships allow students to acquire hands-on experience with diverse aspects of research. Each traineeship has a different primary goal, covering knowledge and skills required throughout all phases of a research project in the following sequence: knowledge/skill acquisition (Traineeship 1); research design (Traineeship 2); data analysis and reporting (Traineeship 3); and peer-reviewing (Traineeship 4).
In the Internal Traineeship 4, students will gain expertise in peer-reviewing research materials. Although the specific details are established in agreement between supervisor and trainee, it is necessary that the traineeship involves the peer-review of more than one type of research material among the ones that the supervisors can provide (e.g., scientific articles, research or grant proposals, students’ theses or essays, etc.).
In practice, the fourth traineeship gives students the opportunity to develop the necessary skills to critically evaluate scientific work from a reviewer’s perspective. Students learn how ot assess research quality, clarity and methodological rigor, and provide constructive feedback across different stages of the research process. This allows them to become familiar with the standards and expectations of academic peer review in practice.
Students review a broad range of scholarly materials, reflecting different stages and types of academic work. These include full scientific papers and academic manuscripts, as well as book chapters, conference abstracts, grant proposals, and registered reports. In addition, students may evaluate more preliminary works such as thesis proposals, first-year papers, and bachelor or master theses.
While the focus of this traineeship is on evaluating research quality rather than specific subject matter, the materials cover a wide range of psychological topics. These include psychopathology (e.g., depression, personality pathology, COVID-19 related mental health), cognitive processes (e.g., memory, memory suppression, depressive realism), as well as aging and cognitive change. Other work focuses on health and intervention contexts, including mindfulness during pregnancy, EMDR, and diabetes and lifestyle. Other topics include response styles in Likert cales, prediction and explanation mdoels, and small-scale research projects.